NHS dental service re: root canal

sofsofsof

Hi guys while i appreciate i am a paying nhs patient i cant help but feel confused and let down by my dentist and would like advice / opinions!

I have root canal pending and have since June 2017. (due 22nd Jan) of course as is typical with me i have tl have issues only 2 weeks before it..
So i had to book an emergancy dental appointment, i went in and dentist offered me EITHER anti biotics or a go in clean etc basically it seems part root canal treatment i took clean thinking be best. It took him from 2.30-2.45 to remove temp filling and clean and replace temp filling i was happy thinking it will go. 4pm anesthetic wearing off and its awful , i thought it was bad before but omg this was the worst pain i had ever had and to make it worse i now had a new rock hard lump on my cheek/gum that pained to touch even from outside. I went to an emergancy private dentist as 111 couldnt help and the nos they gave me wouldnt see me, there they scanned tooth said infection is severe and surprised only took him 15mns to do what he had done. He had also just capped the tooth with a filling and left a massive hole underneath.
I rung my dental specialists (the ones i had a referal to for root canal) up next day to explain tooth absses and that i needed it done asap as i was feaverish , blurring vision and feeling unwell. Their response was.. "even if we did have an appointment for root canal today we wouldnt give you it as you have to have a hygienist appointment first". Please guys tell me is this a standard thing/practise a nhs reffered dentist can say and refuse you earlier treatment based on? I tried to explain that if infection remained bad and tooth sore i would not want a hygienist touching it anyway, but not interested!

To add i cannot eat at the moment and when you drink it pulls almost on the tooth!

Thanks for any advice given and as i said while i appreciate i am lucky to be a nhs patient it has not stopped this tooth in 6 months costing me £350 so far

brook2jack

Is it a NHS root canal specialist you have been referred to ? If so I am very surprised as I there are next to none in the country.

You will have been referred because the root canal treatment is too complex for the NHS dentist to carry out. That puts them in a difficult position when you have pain because they cannot carry out the root treatment which is what will sort your pain out. Your private dentist perhaps thought a root treatment had been carried out rather than emergency treatment. 15 mins would be a standard time to attempt drainage and dress a tooth.

They are left with two choices either to give you antibiotics or attempt to drain the tooth as best they can. That means drilling a hole trying to drain the tooth and then putting a temporary filling in . That is why there is a hole under the filling it is where antiseptic will have been put . They cannot root fill the tooth but can only do the best to sort your symptoms out within limits.

A tooth that has been left for 18 months needing root treatment is one that is going to be difficult to settle as the infection has taken so long to build up.

If it is a NHS dental hospital you have been referred to they will only attempt root treatment if there is a good chance of saving your tooth and if your oral hygiene (cleaning) is excellent. Otherwise the best step is to take the tooth out.

it is very very very rare to have specialist root treatment on the NHS. As a result waiting lists would be massive , all of the people on them would be in the same situation as you. Your own dentist has done what they can to get you out of pain but are limited in what they can do in the circumstances.