I visited my dentist yesterday and was told to my chagrin that as I had not visited for 15 months that even though I have been a patient for over 25 years I am no longer on the NHS list and as that list is "full" the dentist will only see me privately from hereon.

Also I need a crown - this is to cost £400 and he told me if I was to pay "cash" instead of on a credit card it would be £40 cheaper. I am a bit bemused by all this as this is the way I usually pay builders not a dentist and wonder what others think?

I have heard this happen to others MariaRob - and no i dont think its right.

The whole dentist thing is a bug bear of mine. I cant afford to go privately - so i have always gone NHS. I went to my old dentist every 6 months, and i havent had any work done since i was 13 years old.

But when i moved to Suffolk i had to leave my old dentist behind. There is one ... yep one NHS dentist near where i live, and i am now on a waiting list. I have been waiting for over a year, and when i called recently to ask how much longer until i get to register i was told it 'might' be the end of summer.

That isnt good enough - what if i got toothache and needed treatment !!

I think 'merchants' can charge differently for cash or credit, as they have to pay the card companies a %age of the transaction. But I also thought that they should have this information displayed clearly.

However I could be totally wrong, or out of date :huh:. Your credit card company should be able to advise you though, or Trading Standards.

£400 for a crown :ohmy:.

Anyone else finding PJ extremely attractive these days? :wink2:

I've always found PJ extremely attractive. :naughty:

It annoys me all this private Dentist stuff. Dental health is a very important part of your overall health. Makes me mad we are paying National Insurance for something that is becoming increasingly hard to find.

I despise going to the dentist, i hate having to lie still in the chair with my mouth wide open, i always feel like a blow up doll! and then the dentists voice ringing in my ears ' Mrs Baker could you open your mouth wider please'.:huh: i don't like tools in my mouth.

It annoys me all this private Dentist stuff. Dental health is a very important part of your overall health. Makes me mad we are paying National Insurance for something that is becoming increasingly hard to find.

One of the girls I work with feels extremely strongly about this & went as far as phoning her National Health department/centre or whatever & she asked for a list of what her National Health payment is used for. She was asked to put her request in writing together with a reason for the request which she did. She wants to know if she goes private for her docs & dentist stuff, if she gets a National Health reduction. I told her pigs might fly first but she has a letter saying they are looking into her request......

It annoys me all this private Dentist stuff. Dental health is a very important part of your overall health. Makes me mad we are paying National Insurance for something that is becoming increasingly hard to find.

One of the girls I work with feels extremely strongly about this & went as far as phoning her National Health department/centre or whatever & she asked for a list of what her National Health payment is used for. She was asked to put her request in writing together with a reason for the request which she did. She wants to know if she goes private for her docs & dentist stuff, if she gets a National Health reduction. I told her pigs might fly first but she has a letter saying they are looking into her request......probably only a form letter to acknowledge her letter but you never know :kid:

Jaycee do you always do everything twice? :wink2:

Huh. Dentistry is a stone age profession!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4882968.stm

Huh. Dentistry is a stone age profession!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4882968.stm

:shocking:
OMG, it's bad enough going to the dentist as it is, but can you imagine if he came out with a flint drill:shocking:

"You won't feel a thing":eek:

I also got chucked off the list at my NHS practice nearly three years ago and have been trying to get back on ever since. Reason they took me off was that I hadn't made an appointment in over a year. Reason I wanted an appointment at that time- I had tooth ache. Reason I didn't go before then (in the last 12 months) becasue my teeth were fine :ranting:

I was offered Middlesborough as the nearesst NHS dentist. Over 100 miles away :wacko:

When I were a lad you got your bad teeth pulled by the barber in the travelling fayre. Them were the days.

Expensive dentists in the village stocks pelted with rotten fruit - that's what I call a DenPlan.

I visited my dentist yesterday and was told to my chagrin that as I had not visited for 15 months that even though I have been a patient for over 25 years I am no longer on the NHS list and as that list is "full" the dentist will only see me privately from hereon.

Also I need a crown - this is to cost £400 and he told me if I was to pay "cash" instead of on a credit card it would be £40 cheaper. I am a bit bemused by all this as this is the way I usually pay builders not a dentist and wonder what others think?

Hello MariaRob,

This sounds like someone trying to take you for a ride. £400 is excessive for a crown. So if that is his price to you as a private patient it may be best to shop around and get a price from other prviate dentists . I would not offer to pay cash either as this is a convenient way for it not to go through his books.
If my dentist suggested this to me, I'd think he'd changed profession from dentist to crook.

If you desperately need a crown, and you have a local dental hospital near you it might pay you to check this out, to ask them whether they would undertake the work. Years ago as a student myself I always had my teeth done at the dental hospital as opposed to a private dentist. From the photos of me in 'A question for the ladies' thread, as you can see my teeth are fine. The work is always supervised by a qualified dentist, and I assure you the students are very considerate of your pain threshold, as they just do not want to mess up. It is after all a golden opportunity for them.

Good luck in finding a dentist.

Maureen
Northern angel.

I despise going to the dentist, i hate having to lie still in the chair with my mouth wide open, i always feel like a blow up doll! and then the dentists voice ringing in my ears ' Mrs Baker could you open your mouth wider please'.:huh: i don't like tools in my mouth.

Hello Bridge,

Mm yes, quite. I have a low pain threshold and my first private dentist after having such thoughtful and considerate treatment for years at a dental hospital, suggested hypnosis. Well I never, being such a sceptic I thought that will never work, so he began talking to me and drilling, I became acutely aware that I was not under as I could feel every single motion of the drill, than I began rising higher in the chair and I gurgled something about a nerve.He stopped thank god. When he spoke he told me that having all these needles to freeze out the area was a bad thing as it lowered your threshold to other things which could be wrong. I rinsed my mouth out, and spoke up. "If you don't want to freeze my gums fine, I'll find another dentist. In fact I'm going now". I got up and he waved a piece of paper at me for signing, "Some nerve, sorry I'm not signing that either".

I found another dentist straight away and two hours later I'd been given an antibiotic and a needle to freeze the gums. What little remaining filling was removed and the tooth packed with oil of cloves and another but temporary filling. My new dentist informed me that I needed to write a letter terminating the services of the first dentist before he could go any further. After this I was given another appointment to complete the filling a week later.

I think in this case I did the right thing, not signing for the services of the first dentist. He would have been paid for that shambles of a filling, by terminating the work I was not eligible for any NHS charges. The second dentist would have picked up the tab and I paid him the normal fee, for the filling.

I'm not really all that fond of visiting the dentist, as when I feel that my teeth are fine you never know whether he or she will come up with some new work or old work removal and redone. Still, your teeth and your gums are a sign of how healthy you are, and as such a good dentist is essential to your well being.

Maureen
Northern angel.

I'm treated by an NHS dentist ...In Harley Street no less :p

I'm still on the NHS, my dentist is a rather young dishy scottish chap....which is nice.

Whilst I do agree that the situation regarding NHS dentists is appalling right now, I'm a little tired of people whinging about being taken off their dentist's NHS patient list when they haven't even been for over 6 months or so.
Fair enough, if you don't think there is anything wrong with your teeth then fine, but that is no excuse for not going for a routine check-up, which should be every 6 months.
You dentist should send out notification when your next check-up is due. If they don't, then you should call the practice to find out why you haven't been notified and arrange a check-up appointment.
If your dentist does in fact inform you, yet you simply ignore it because your "teeth feel fine", then why should the dentist keep you on their NHS list when there are literally hundreds of other patients willing to attend regularly for check-ups and leave it to the dentist to decide whether their teeth are 'fine'?

And Maureen, as for this comment:

I'm not really all that fond of visiting the dentist, as when I feel that my teeth are fine you never know whether he or she will come up with some new work or old work removal and redone

...this seems to be a common misconception that a lot of people have. Yes, you will get the odd shoddy dentists who will remove perfectly sound fillings just to get some dosh but the majority of dentists do not work like this and will only do work that is necessary to prevent further deterioration of the dental tissues or work that the patient requests, within reason. Just because you teeth "feel fine" should not be an indication that you don't need any treatment or indeed that you dont even need to visit the dentist for a check-up. This is where most people's problems come from - because they don't bother going for check-ups as they feel their teeth are fine, therefore, any sign of disease is not caught early.

One abscess was enough for me to make sure I had regular check ups at the dentist and I make sure my family go 6 monthly without fail. Prevention is better than cure as far as I'm concerned with dentists. Much easier to get a small filling than to have it deteriorate into much bigger stuff IMO. My dentist has just gone private, but I am sticking with them. No point in changing to another NHS dentist just to have them go private on me in a few months time.

Whilst I do agree that the situation regarding NHS dentists is appalling right now, I'm a little tired of people whinging about being taken off their dentist's NHS patient list when they haven't even been for over 6 months or so.
Fair enough, if you don't think there is anything wrong with your teeth then fine, but that is no excuse for not going for a routine check-up, which should be every 6 months.
You dentist should send out notification when your next check-up is due. If they don't, then you should call the practice to find out why you haven't been notified and arrange a check-up appointment.
If your dentist does in fact inform you, yet you simply ignore it because your "teeth feel fine", then why should the dentist keep you on their NHS list when there are literally hundreds of other patients willing to attend regularly for check-ups and leave it to the dentist to decide whether their teeth are 'fine'?

And Maureen, as for this comment:



...this seems to be a common misconception that a lot of people have. Yes, you will get the odd shoddy dentists who will remove perfectly sound fillings just to get some dosh but the majority of dentists do not work like this and will only do work that is necessary to prevent further deterioration of the dental tissues or work that the patient requests, within reason. Just because you teeth "feel fine" should not be an indication that you don't need any treatment or indeed that you dont even need to visit the dentist for a check-up. This is where most people's problems come from - because they don't bother going for check-ups as they feel their teeth are fine, therefore, any sign of disease is not caught early.


Hello PJ

I know you are right it is a common misconception, another case of tarring and you justifiably stand for those who only do what work is essential for the prevention of further deterioration. You are also right in stating that because an individual feels that there teeth are fine that it is not an excuse to not having a regular check up.

The reason why I brought the subject up is due to the fact that as a child a dentist wanted to remove all 4 of my wisdom teeth in one go. The reason for this is that they can cause you problems in later life, and having them done as a child was less traumatic than as a teenager or adult. So I was told. Certainly at least two should come out. So out two came, these teeth had given me no problems whatsoever, but they still came out. When my family changed dentists the next dentist voiced the contention oh well two less teeth to think about. 'Would you like the next two out"? I was a teenager, "they aren't a problem thank you", so I kept them. In my twenties they were still no problem to me. In my 30's the dental hospital removed one, as at that stage I was experiencing severe tooth ache the other I still have today. But no end of dentists have wanted to remove it.

I do regularly have my teeth checked and given a scrape or clean once a year, recently I have started using a teeth cleaning system in addition to my normal regime. Of the last wisdom tooth removed I keep it in a jar as it is most unusual in shape. The dental surgeon removing it offered it to me as it has a additional calcified pearl shape in the centre of its crown. A relic of a by gone era apparently.

My current dentist is great fun, and I'd trust him with my life.

Maureen
Northern angel.

I'm treated by an NHS dentist ...In Harley Street no less :p

Hello Slipper,

Lucky you. I had to had an urgent appointment with a laryngologist once in Harley Street. As my Uvula had swollen once and my singing voice had disappeared for 24 hours, apparently as an allergic reaction to something I'd eaten or drank. Was back on form the next day.

Maureen
Northern angel.

I've got an appointment at 10.30am tomorrow to see my lovely dentist, he's young and scottish and sings away to the radio as he prods my gums. I am NHS too.

Need a bit of a clean at the back of the lower front teeth - red wine stainage.

:laugh:

I went to the same dental practice since I had teeth...had two different dentists there during that time...they went private...they had always done a good job on my teeth (unless I got the wife who is an old bag) but I felt no sense of broken loyalty when a new NHS place opened up in the town and I was able to get in there. :wink2:

As far as I was concerned if my old dentist expected me to remain loyal he should have given me more of an incentive than oiking up the prices to unmanagable hieghts (well at least to me they were beyond my grasp if anything went wrong with my teeth)! :evilmad:

I now have a lovely Polish dentist who has the most gorgeous blue eyes and yummy voice...:naughty: Who, incidentally, told me that the filling my old dentist said I would have to have the next time I went (at a cost of £42) was certainly not required as after a good root around in my gob he said there was no decay...makes you wonder doesn't it!

I've got an appointment today and am just off for a good flossing.

I'm with Denplan because my dentist stopped doing NHS patients a few years ago. I've been with him for over 15 years and although I have to travel a fair way to get to him I can't be bothered with the hassle of changing.

Dentist's charge a fortune over here, and most work is not covered by our PRSI payments - something that hopefully will change over the next few years.

too late for me though, I have to have my four front teeth ground down to stumps and built up again as they cannot be refilled.

cost per tooth - €890.00
total: €3,560.00

I have been saving for two years to get this done, as although a lot of people here go up to Northern Ireland to get work done as they are around half price, the amount of visits necessary for this procedure makes it unviable.

I'm gonna cry now.:(

I have to re-register with my dentist, because it's been so long since I've been that I've been archived! :ohmy:

I'm only going because I have to re-register in order to get Denplan. They'll probably have to take a couple of x-rays and give me a poke (bonus) and a clean. Should be around £70. Not too bad for a 10 year absence.

Of course, I could be unpleasantly surprised and told I'll have to have loads of work done. My gums are receeding. Age you see. I may look 30, but ................ :ninja:

I may look 30, but ................ :ninja:

*Splutter* :shutup:

Fur balls, Bons? :glare:

Fur balls, Bons? :glare:

Yeah i guess that must of been what it was .... it couldnt of been the thought of you looking 30 could it :unsure:

Yeah i guess that must of been what it was .... it couldnt of been the thought of you looking 30 could it :unsure:

*humour bonnie please, she gets upset*

I saw 'Stephen' today (will your clients be calling you PJ or King Dong PJ?

He is maturing nicely - he must be all of 28 now :naughty:

Apart from - and I'm sorry if I offend here - its the poster in the waiting room that puts me off: Jesus loves U as U R, too much to leave you as U R.

I actualy find this quite insulting.

I saw 'Stephen' today (will your clients be calling you PJ or King Dong PJ?

I think I'll just settle for 'your majesty' :pimp:

Seriously though, I would be offended if they didn't call me by my first name. I hate all this "Mr..." malarky.

We get 2 free cleanings a year with hubby's insurance and procedures like crowns and fillings and stuff like that, the insurance pays anywhere from 60-85%. On othodontial (sp?) they will pay up to $2500.00 dollars...what ever that is in pounds (FEEEEEE!!!). Msboy #1's braces were $5000.00, and because I paid in full up front my part, I 1)got a discount of $620.00 and 2)got a refund of right at $500.00 after he got them off. We had ceramics but on the top so they wouldn't be so noticeable and regular metal on the bottom. He had to wear them 23 months and he has to wear clear snap on retainers at night for 3 years.
Msboy #2's teeth are come in willy nilly so I may have to hock all I own to get his teeth straight...:wacko:

I now have a lovely Polish dentist who has the most gorgeous blue eyes and yummy voice...:naughty: Who, incidentally, told me that the filling my old dentist said I would have to have the next time I went (at a cost of £42) was certainly not required as after a good root around in my gob he said there was no decay...makes you wonder doesn't it!

One problem with always being in different countries is having to change dentists all the time. I was told early in the UK that if the dentist says you need some work, DONT DO IT. I was told 15 years ago I needed a filling by a UK dentist, and after about 30 more check-ups, the tooth remains unfilled. I have even asked quite a few times in later check-ups if they could look at the suspect tooth (looks fine to me) and been told absolutely no problem.

Its all luck, but I have found Australian and US dentists the best in my experience. Careful, thorough, and very informative about what they are doing. Worst experiences have been in the UK. I had about 8 dentists there over the years and didn't like any of them.

The only major work has been when I broke a tooth on a stone in some cereal once (one of those big ones at the back too) and had to get a a crown on it It only cost 60 pounds as I was in central america, but has been there for a couple years now and very comfortable (subsequent dentists have said "nice work"). She injected me with that stuff they use three times as I wasn't going numb, and she finally gave up and just did it anyway, so all the drilling was memorably painful. My friend never uses anaesthetic by choice, thats amazing (to me). I'm a wimp, and never want to go through that again - hurt like crip.

One of my clients has a Lithuanian employee and apparently that's the place to go for treatment. A week in Vilnius and top dental treatment for a fraction of the UK costs.

Poland and Hungary are supposed to be good too. Anybody had any experience?

Poland and Hungary are supposed to be good too. Anybody had any experience?

Erhmm...yes and he does seem very competent!

I have to go today. :( Think of me at 3.30. :cold:

I'm scared. :ghost:

Well, I've been. Thanks for the vast support. :glare:

I went in, already feeling sick and sweating. I warned the dentist what I particularly hated and asked him not to do it. He, of course, completely ignored me and went ahead anyway.

I haven't been for almost 10 years, because everything hurts and I'm a big wuss (slipped in under the wire just before junior P was a year old) and I was going for a check-up and Denplan assessment. Had the check-up and a couple of x-rays, then he gave me a little polish (which he didn't charge for, because it was minor and my dental hygiene was very good :smartie:) and said that there would be no point me going on Denplan, even on the basic £9 per month plan, because even if I went once a year for a check-up and a clean, this would work out less than the monthly payments.

I am soooooo relieved, although I didn't think there was anything wrong. I have been 3 times in the last 20 years and guess I'm just very, very lucky.

I'm rambling, aren't I? :huh:

Well, I've been. Thanks for the vast support. :glare:

Hey you asked us to think of you .... and thats what i did (I did honest). You didnt say "spam this thread with masses of support and well wishes for me cos im a wuss" ... did you, huh, did you ?

Im glad you have gone and got it over and done with. Im still waiting for my 1st NHS appointment, but if they dont call soon i think i will have to go privately. Ive thought of the Denplan thingie, but i really dont need another direct debit hanging around my neck at the moment.

Hey you asked us to think of you .... and thats what i did (I did honest). You didnt say "spam this thread with masses of support and well wishes for me cos im a wuss" ... did you, huh, did you ?

:cry: You should just know.

:cry: You should just know.

*shakes head in a patronising Jeremy Kyle type manner* - come here and have a cuddle Pats :p

well on the strength of bon's hugs to pats I went into the dentist at lunchtime [nearly sh at myself] and made an appointment for next tuesday at 3.30. Dreading it, so you should all be nice to me come tues.

please. :cry:

All the best TE...I'm sure you will be fine...just lay back and think of Ireland...:)

Be gentle with him, TE. ;)

Good vibes from here TE. Be strong. You are a woman of wonderous strength and tenacity...if that isn't working, ask for gas and drugs!!:cool:

thanks guys. went yesterday at 3.30 and it was as bad as I'd feared. My front teeth are Still hurting me even today.

Got a re-quote from him for the extensive work needed. Four grand for the specialist who has the lovely job of removing correctly the nerves and root canals from the front 4 teeth, and e850.00 per tooth for the crowns / caps. Total is now seven and a half grand. Other wise I'll be a gummy budgie with a top denture..............:sad: :cry:

Jeez, H, that's a helluva lot to fork out. No drinking for a month for you.

;)

not funny.:sly:















It'll take at least 6 weeks to recoup that amount.:w00t: