Author Topic: Dental Woes  (Read 1876 times)

Dental Woes
« on: 29 July, 2021, 01:29:23 pm »
I've had a lot of dental work in my time - my mother didn't believe in dentists (or toothpaste come to that).
I recently went for a 'regular' check-up, the first in a long while because of Teh Plague. During this examonation the dentist found a 'problem' with one of my remaining upper molars. I can't remember what the exact issue was, but a crown was the preferred (only) way to fix it because it had been filled previously.
I was persuaded to have a white crown because 'it would save more of the tooth as it required less of the original material to be removed'. Neither the temporary crown nor the final crown were pain free - in fact over a couple of weeks the permenant crown has been causing me severe gip whenever I eat or drink - a sharp pain which settles to a dull ache that is relieved with small amounts of paracetamol, but has left me feeling drained and fed-up.

So - I go back this morning to have it looked at. And, no surprise, I need to have root canal treatment on the tooth. And, the root canals are severely curved so my dentist cannot do it, and he's not sure if the 'practice expert' will be able to either. Whoopee-doo! The local NHS providers aren't taking NHS referals at the moment so I'm looking at >£600 (plus the cost of the original crown). I've suggested just taking the tooth out, which he is not willing to do.

I'm going back tomorrow to have the nerves removed (I'm confused how this is different to root canal treatment, but I'm almost past caring) so that he doesn't leave me in pain over the weekend. But it looks like I'm buying a dentist a new Pinarello in the coming weeks.
Bugger.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #1 on: 29 July, 2021, 02:20:29 pm »
Is there a dentist training hospital near you?

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #2 on: 29 July, 2021, 02:22:46 pm »
OUCH!
Hope you're sorted painlessly soon and they don't extract too much cash!

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #3 on: 29 July, 2021, 03:16:44 pm »
Is there a dentist training hospital near you?

Having had extensive treatment at my local training hospital (Eastman, London) I'm not sure I'd go down that route again.  All 8 procedures (6 re-root canals and 2 apisectomies) failed within months and the teeth (10 counting 2 bridges) had to be removed.

I understand they were treating bad situations that the dentist wouldn't touch, but in effect the only people to benefit were the trainees.  I had the inconvenience of long waits (up to 4 hours in the waiting room on occasions) and the additional pain & discomfort.

I know my experience is purely personal and anecdotal but there you go.  I've ended up getting several implants over the subsequent years privately, all of which are sound.  In retrospect I wish I'd just gone direct to implants - the lure was getting something for "free".
The sound of one pannier flapping

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #4 on: 29 July, 2021, 07:23:11 pm »
If this is a private dentist, just tell him to take it out, even if it will dent their profits. I’ve been fortunate, the only failed root canal I had, like you, from curved canals, was a filled tooth. And the three crowns I’ve had without root canals all seem to be ok, one being over 10 years old now.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #5 on: 29 July, 2021, 10:00:12 pm »


If this is a private dentist, just tell him to take it out, even if it will dent their profits.
And herein lies The Big Question - how much is clinical opinion (in my best interests) and how much is profit driven (in their best interests)?

I fear that in coming years we may all be asking this question in relation to all sorts of health related issues.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #6 on: 30 July, 2021, 12:55:51 pm »
That's going to depend on the individual dentist. Surprisingly, not all dentists share the same operating procedures or moral compass.

My own experience (and it is substantial) is that as a generalisation, you will get a better dentist in private practice than you will in the NHS, but personal recommendation and critical judgement is called for.

I'm of the generation that suffered from extensive trough filling from NHS dentists paid by the filled tooth, so I start from a sceptical base. More recent NHS dentists have been better motivated, but ultimately dentists in private practice have more time and greater incentive to keep you happy.

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #7 on: 30 July, 2021, 01:47:08 pm »
I used to have a very good NHS dentist, but got farmed off to a "recently qualified" lad in his practice who went drill happy and soon moved away elsewhere.  As a result I had too many unnecessary and substandard fillings which failed and left me in bad dental health.

Having moved I ended up with a local NHS dentist practice, and random people.  Some good, others less so.

My wife needed root canal, and my daughter also had an abscess needing a child's tooth out.  We had all switched to a private dentist by then and I have no faith in him at all.  My wife was (pre-root canal) told "it was a bruised gum, but in case here are the antibiotics" which resulted in a week of pain and tablets while on holiday - but at least she had the pills packed.  My daughter was told that the extraction would end up with extensive orthodontic work later in life, but at least we got a 2nd opinion and better treatment elsewhere.

Both children recently had a checkup, which took less than five minutes in total for both of them and I think was nothing more than a case of counting the teeth and then claiming the NHS fees.

I have also been given his usual spiel re my bite being wrong (as if I can change genetics and shape of my jaw).  Apparently I have a damaged filling that needs to be replaced, but it can wait until covid is over.

I really ought to do something about this, but I don't know who to go to as I don't trust this dentist and I don't know how to find a new one I could trust.    I'd really have thought that if somebody is trained and qualified then that should be sufficient... but it's a bit like taking the car to the garage or the bike to the local bike shop, and in hindsight finding you went to the wrong place.

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #8 on: 30 July, 2021, 02:00:30 pm »



My own experience (and it is substantial) is that as a generalisation, you will get a better dentist in private practice than you will in the NHS, but personal recommendation and critical judgement is called for.

Snip
. More recent NHS dentists have been better motivated, but ultimately dentists in private practice have more time and greater incentive to keep you happy.
We went to an excellent (and expensive) private dentist for many years, who we trusted and got on well with.
He was struck off due to claimed financial irregularities, although I and others believe that the case was founded on racism (long story). He now manages several practices, but specialises in cosmetic work, which is where the money seems to be.

I fear the current direction of travel may lead to 'back street' tooth pullers and lots of poor dental hygiene with associated general ill health.
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #9 on: 30 July, 2021, 03:54:02 pm »
I don't have a dentist, cos I can't find one who will do basic deaf awareness, stop fucking babbling at me in Brummie or turn off the fucking telly/radio/flickering-lights. I need them to not-babble cos I can't tell what is important words and what is just whitter and it sends my stress sky high.

The last NHS dentist I tried claims to specialise in anxiety but that seemed to be him going around saying "I KNOW what causes anxiety so I shall TELL YOU IT" and ignoring everything I was actually saying. He was also dodgy in that he kept insisting he wouldn't do mercury amalgam fillings and insisting we paid 3x as much privately for the other type.

I ended up looking on Cochrane about amalgam v the alternatives; no significant evidence of harm and amalgam tend to last slightly longer. Mr Arrogant Dentist didn't like me citing Cochrane at him and insisted I went to his "dental practitioner" who gashed one of my teeth with the drill. None of them would let me use my blue lenses, turn off the fucking flickering blaring telly and the juniors just babbled constantly.

That filling then fell out a few weeks later, Mr Arrogant hauled me into his room - I thought to look & fix, but then proceeded to have a blazing row with Mr Dental Practitioner about fixing the filling right in front of me; which was incredibly awkward.

I was getting 3 days worth of migraines each time I went. I didn't trust them. So I haven't been back since.

The dental hospital removed a failed crown in 2009 from one of my frontish-molars at the same time as doing a coronectomy (alternative to wisdom teeth removal). That dentist was AMAZING, calm, clear, understood me signing that I was in pain and where by hand-shape, fixed the issues and was just generally brilliant. No questions asked about tooth removal, I'd had the gap for about 18 months by that point and I clearly couldn't afford implants.

I don't know what I will do if I need dental care, probably go to dental hospital and hope for the best. I was pondering trying the local one again, making them book sign language interpreters (to stop the babble) and then Covid came along.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #10 on: 30 July, 2021, 05:13:27 pm »
Meanwhile, I'm a patient of barakta's last dentist.  I can cope with the strobe-o-vision lighting and blaring TV/radio, and won't take any nonsense about amalgam fillings.  He wants to replace all the (apart from one, only necessary due to dentist meddling) fillings from my early teens.  While I agree they're going to fail at some point, I believe in the bathtub curve, and intend to leave them well alone until they actually cause problems.  He does seem to be obsessed with anxiety, to the point of not really understanding "I haven't seen a dentist because I moved house and didn't have any problems with my teeth for 8 years.".

When I had to have a filling, he farmed me out to his colleague, who did a frankly amazing job of completing drilling and filling a wisdom tooth with my mouth barely open due to TMJ syndrome.  He's also one of the few who understands that the pain from the cooling effect of the suction can be as bad as that of the drilling.  It's a shame that barakta had a bad experience with him.

ian

Re: Dental Woes
« Reply #11 on: 03 August, 2021, 09:48:08 am »
I got a big list of exciting dental things (fillings and stuff) from a dentist about 25-years ago (and a price tag to match). I've been putting off having any of these things done ever since to no notable detriment. I think they take the precautionary principle to the max, if they were doctors they'd lop off your foot on the off-chance that you might get an ingrowing toenail in future.