Dental Villainy

TychoTMA

Some months ago, the private dentist whom I had been seeing for ~15 years retired and a new chap took over the practice. Straight away he told me that I have a big cavity in a wisdom tooth, and he has now filled that, but he told me he’s not optimistic that the tooth will survive and that it will probably need to be removed.

It quickly emerged in discussion with him that I had not had a dental X-ray since 2014. He reckons that an interval of no more than 2-years would be good practice. I must admit that I’ve never kept a record of how often I’ve had dental X-rays, it never occurred to me that this was negligence on my part. I wonder if I am the only patient who was getting ripped off?

Talking to solicitors, they are saying that it would be hard to win a case of negligence against my old dentist, who has now taken himself off the General Dental Council's register.

I’m really very unhappy about this, beside the loss of the tooth, I suspect it is likely I’ll soon be paying increased monthly payments to cover the work that’s involved in the remedial work. If anyone can suggest any course of action for gaining recompense (short of hiring a hit-man), I’d be please to receive any suggestions.


T

POPPYOSCAR

Never heard of that before.

I have only ever had an x-ray if my dentist thought I needed one for a particular problem and the last one was a few years ago.

I would not want to have one just for the sake of it.

worried_jim

I used to go private but felt they were always looking for unnecessary work and saw me as a source of cash, the final nail in the coffin was when they asked if I was happy with my smile and they looked surprised when I said yes. Had excellent care back with the NHS for ten years now and I am still happy with my smile. Cheeky so and so's.

Toothsmith

I think you're being quite hard on your old dentist here for very little reason.

Wisdom teeth are very unimportant teeth that tend to sit right at the back of your mouth, are hard to clean properly, tend to decay very easily, and don't contribute very much to the function of your chewing, or anything to the look of your smile.

So unless you've lost a lot of other teeth already, then having to have one out is no great shakes. It certainly shouldn't lead to an increase in your monthly plan, as no other 'remedial work' will be necessary because of it.

There are all sorts of factors involved in the intervals between x-rays. Someone with poor dental habits, who need fillings quite regularly should have x-rays taken more frequently than those who are better, and don't have a filling in their head. As the poster said above, you shouldn't have x-rays just 'for the sake of it'. Dental x-rays are very low dose, but radiographic doses add up through your life, and are not 'risk free'.

4 years between checks does sound a bit on the long side, but I'm not sure what factors are there to be considered with you. It's easily possible that there could have only been one appointment with your old dentist before he retired when it would have been due, and any number of circumstances could have conspired to mean it was overlooked at that appointment.

So from what you write above,

Your old dentist retired. He last took an x-ray of you in 2014.

We're not sure when you last saw old dentist, or saw the new one, but 'some months ago' was when dentist retired, so it could be that at that point you were 2 or 3 years overdue one, but if your risk factors are low and it was early this year you saw the new dentist, or even late last year, you could be not very overdue at all.

He found a large cavity in a wisdom tooth. As I said above, these are hard teeth to look after, and cavities can get quite big quite quickly. But they are unimportant teeth, assuming you have all your others.

He filled this tooth, but was pessimistic about its chances of survival. So you haven't even lost it yet, and you've not reported any trouble with it yet - so you still have it. I'm assuming if you're on a monthly payment scheme, you probably didn't even need to pay anything extra to get it filled, or indeed, need to pay when/if it needs to come out?

If your new dentist has planted the thought in your mind that what has happened here is major negligence, then frankly, I think he is the 'bad guy' here, and you should probably look around for another dentist.

If it's you that feels that what has happened here deserves language like 'Villainy' and 'rip off' and you've popped off to a solicitor already looking for a pay out, despite 15 presumably happy years with this chap you now want to hire a hit man for - Then it just saddens me.

TychoTMA

It's always useful when dealing with people from the 'medical profession' to recall the name of Dr Harold Shipman, the NHS GP who became the most prolific serial killer in world history. It's also worth noting that he quickly committed suicide after his trial was over, an action which meant that his family would get part of his pension, which they would not have received had he stayed alive.

I work in hi-tech engineering and everything we do is covered by a 'Statement of Work' (SoW), which means that the customer and ourselves know exactly what is and what is not going to be done. Dates and deliverables are included as is a list of any caveats and assumptions. A well-written SoW should mean that everyone is happy with what is done. It seems to me that any dentist could give each new client a SoW, which nominally, would all be the same, and against which the client can assess what has been done for them.

Toothsmith

The problem there is that you're not accounting for the huge degree of variables that apply to biological systems as opposed to mechanical systems.

No two people eat the same, drink the same, chew the same, brush the same etc etc.

So a SoW can only reflect exactly what can be seen at a particular time.

Predicting where things will go from that point onwards is pure guesswork, as there are an infinite number of variables that come into play.

So what treatment may or may not be necessary given an initial 'status report' can and does vary hugely from dentist to dentist, depending on their skills and experience.

From a given starting point, you can be presented with many options of possible treatment plans. None of them could be 'right' or 'wrong'. All would have their risks & benefits.

The patient needs to find a dentist they trust, and who's treatment planning fits in with their goals for their oral health.

Not sure where Shipman comes into all this, although his 'quick' suicide after conviction was actually 4 years! A time period pretty much exactly the same as the 'tardy' interval between radiographs that you would hire a hit-man to get revenge against your 'monster' dentist

fred246

I really don't know how dentists put up with all this stupidity. I've got a dodgy tooth so I have seen a solicitor. It must be so demoralising.

suejb2

Sitting completely on the fence here! You’re rather keen to dish out blame for negligence towards your dentist can he not say you’re negligent in not looking after your teeth.

brook2jack

There is no set time for taking x rays on a person. You may have to take xrays more often on someone who has bad oral health habits , less often on someone who has good oral health habits. The range is anywhere from 3 months to 48 months https://www.bda.org/library/student-services/PublishingImages/radiographybundle/RB-Radiog-6.pdf

Taking x Rays doesn't prevent decay and if you are at risk of decay the important thing is to make the changes you need to , to prevent further problems.

A dentist doesn't cause decay , poor diet and cleaning choices cause decay . You would be better off discussing with the dentist the changes you need to make to these to avoid any more problems with decay.

fred246

X-rays are harmful too. I hope your dentist warned you about that or it could be worth another trip to the solicitor.