Why UK dentists suck

[jonjon]

Not exactly my favourit topic... EVER!

It's my number 1 phobia and because, i haven't seen a dentist in 9 years. Done well up until now, one of my teeth has starting giving me crap and actually turning brown. I think i'm guna loose it. But there's nothing i can do about it.

I have no money to get it sorted, and even if i did, i'd have to travel far and wide to find one who'll put me to sleep during the process of getting EVERYTHING sorted. If i'm not asleep, then my phobia wouldn't let that dentist anywhere near me before i killed him.

This is how bad it is... not even properly thinking about it and i'm shaking and partly crying about it.

So yeah... major sucks. I dont know what to do.

[Wing Walker]

Hi, Wishy,

I can understand the phobia of dental work.  It's pretty common.

I don't live in the UK but I do have an idea.  Go to a hospital emergency room and complain of tooth pain.  It would be my hope that such a problem, pain and a discolored tooth, would be covered by national health insurance.  Complaining of pain, I hope, will cause them to do something for you.

What do you think?

Hope this helps.

Wing Walker

[jonjon]

the only way i'd co-operate was if they knocked me out first... I dont really care how - baseball bat, steel pole, hammer.... as long as i'm not consciously there for the event, i'll be fine.

I'll think about it. I know it's something that has to be done... but as of now i can only think about it. I need a friend who'll perhaps knock me out before hand and drag me there. Guess i could leave a note in my pocket suggesting what i'd like done lol

[Wing Walker]

Getting anesthesia should not be a hard thing to do.  See if you can get a prescription to sedate you to the point where you don't know where you are.  That will eliminate all fear.  I did that when I had my eyelids done a few years ago.  I needed a friend to see me home but it worked for me. 

Please avoid the other blunt instruments as they tend to be rather indiscriminate of brain cells.

All jest aside, complain of enough pain, even if you fake it, and anesthesia should be easier to get.

I hope that this helps.

Wing Walker

[jonjon]

Is that the stuff where you're still awake yet dont know whats going on?

I know someone who had that.... and he explained to me how it felt... I think i had continuing nightmares for the rest of the week after that.

I had anesthesia once when i was little. I had to have all 4 of my back teeth out and went to the hospital for that. That really did send me to sleep and that was great! Cos one minute i was kicking and screaming my head off... the next i'm being walked up and down the room. I want that again.

Well... i dont.... but i do.

[Wing Walker]

Is that the stuff where you're still awake yet dont know whats going on?

I know someone who had that.... and he explained to me how it felt... I think i had continuing nightmares for the rest of the week after that.

I had anesthesia once when i was little. I had to have all 4 of my back teeth out and went to the hospital for that. That really did send me to sleep and that was great! Cos one minute i was kicking and screaming my head off... the next i'm being walked up and down the room. I want that again.

Well... i dont.... but i do.

Yes, that's something like it.  You take what's prescribed about 30 minutes before you arrive at the dentist and you might be able to pour yourself into a chair but that's about it.  You won't have any fear because the prescription relieves the ability to fear.

I also believe that if you take the hospital emergency room route you might have a better chance of getting full anesthesia because you would be demonstrating lots of pain.  Also, you don't have a dentist who provides you with regular care.  That's one less reason for the hospital to not get involved.  Who knows, they might have a dental surgeon on-staff or by referral.

Either way you should have someone with you because you'll be rather wobbly afterward.

Wing Walker

[OtherWorldJJ]

Up here in Scotland the dentists are awesome, or at least mine is! I came up from the UK in '05 and had awful teeth. The dentist down south I finally managed to see (in the next county, Somerset...) was telling me all sorts of teeth would need to be pulled out and I'd lose my canines etc etc, so I was really scared about going, and put it off for ages, years.

My current dentist is 2 minutes from my front door and part of a practice dedicated to excellence.One of tech joint owners, Abid Faquir, was on TV not too long ago doing root canal under hypnosis with no anesthetic and my dentist, Dr Dunlop, is awesome too. I got all my teeth fixed up except one which was so badly gone (molar) that they had to saw it in half and pull each root out seperately lol. Anyways, was all done under the HS...

I hope you do find someone to see soon and don't get yourself in the same state I did cause its so not worth it hun, even with a little pain! I know its not a nice thought, but just think of it as a practice for any future pain you might encounter, should you decide to have any surgery etc

Jj x

[Pica Pica]

I haven't seen a dentist in six years, but that's because I can't  find an NHS one and I am not made of money. However, in all that time I have never had so much as toothache.

[SusanK]

I kind understand the reluctance to see a dentist, I didn't very often until just past 40 and I almost lost a tooth. But while people argue against dentist, especially those covered under a national or insurance plan, what's stopping you from using a private one? After all, what's the alternative, losing your teeth and then have to see one, especially a national or insurance one, for dentures? What don't people understand it's your only teeth, they don't heal or grow back?

Ok, enough ranting about. I went to a preventive work/maintanence dentist I've had now for over 15 years. I go 2-3 times a year for cleaning and/or exams. My insurance doesn't pay squat for it and most plans in the US don't pay very much anyway. It's one of those just get out the checkbook and write the damn check issues of life. Or face the alternative, paying more for having no teeth and wearing dentures for the rest of your life.

So have you asked yourself, "If I don't do anything and lose this tooth or these teeth, then what?" Is that what you want?

[jonjon]

I dont want to loose my teeth no... But it's a real bad phobia i have.

When i was little i hated it to begin with, but we had a crap dentist and he never gave me the right amount of anesthetic so it hurt soooooo damn much, plus he'd start on my teeth then run out of time and leave the job half done so i would have to go away and suffer so much damn pain for like 3 months until i could go back to get it finished. After that i just associated it with unnecessary pain and just plain old developed irrational fear towards going.

But i want nice teeth But i really am so scared to go

[Purple Pimp]

Try living in a country without health insurance.  I'd love to see a dentist (it's been about 5-6 years now), but no insurance.

[Purple Pimp]

Sorry, my previous post came off unnecessarily bitchy.  I had just read today's NY Times' article on dentistry in Kentucky:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24kentucky.html?ex=1356152400&en=3c096536bf488353&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

We'll be a truly first-world country one day.

Lia

[SusanK]

When I went into the dentist after over a decade of misuse and not going, here's what the dentist told me. "After you turn about 40 your gums and teeth don't get any better and the best any dentist can do is prevent them from getting worse." So whatever you have at 40 is the best you can have and from there it's downhill. So going to a (good) dentist before you're 40 is so important. And the more routine cleanings (2-3 times a year) and exams (once a year) you have the better you'll keep your teeth the rest of your life barring the obvious. And having only 24 of my original 32 teeth, I can swear to it and am almost religious about them.

There are so many new and better techniques to treat them and save what you have with the minimialist proceedures, there's no excuse for not taking care of them. Including fear of pain. It's the reality of having good teeth for the rest of your life. What else is there, more pain from care and treatments you ignored for fear of pain? What do think happens if you have bad teeth, they heal or grow back?

Otherwise no cleaning becomes cavities and gum disease. Cavities becomes caps, caps become crowns, crowns become root canals-crowns, and after that there's no tooth to do anything with so it's extracted, and it's bridges and/or dentures. Bad gums become loose teeth which becomes no teeth, which becomes the same, bridges or dentures.

Find a way to work through your fear of them because it's you. Or else face the alternative of not taking care of them.

--Susan--

[LostInTime]

OK, I decided to go to the dentist who worked across the hall from my office one day. He had seemed nice enough and we had exchanged a hello here and there as we passed in the hallway. I was still trying to pass as male and working for an International company who had not paid any attention to their IT dept and had thus lost all of the staff. I made the appointment expecting a rather normal visit.

Oh wow was I wrong. He had Dr Laura and then Rush playing over the speakers. I still had to carry my sidearm most of the time back then due to a dangerous lunatic so I could talk to him about 2nd Amendment issues which thankfully were the focus of Rush that day. However, it took a dark turn (which is not a good thing when the dentist has pointy sticks in your mouth) when the daytime talkshow shifted to taxes. Evidently he had not been paying them and had managed to actually win a couple of small victories in court. I managed to escape that day and did not make a followup appointment. I was really thankful that I had bound my chest that day and wore my layered clothing.

Not too long after that Bush won the election. So Mr. Dentist decides to send President Bush an e-mail detailing how taxes were illegal and whatever. Well the President must have taken notice. A few days later the US Marshalls moved in. They are the most powerful branch of law enforcement in the country, able to move in and put whole State Police barracks under their command if it is needed. Locally only a County Sheriff could trump them (and in the state I live in they have actually blocked FEMA from coming into certain counties where the residents did not want them). The Dentist was arrested, hauled to jail, had a very speedy trial, convicted, and had to serve two years in prison.

So much for not having to pay taxes in the US.

BTW, I am way overdue for an appointment. I am afraid of what lunatic I might encounter next.

[steve90]

In 2006 at 16 years old I still had about 6 baby teeth (I know, I'm weird) and they all had to be taken out at once. I didn't even ask for full anasthetic but they gave it to me, probably because my dentist is pretty nice and knows that I get scared.
I understand where you're coming from with wanting full anasthetic, and I think if you tell them you're really, really terrified of dental procedure you'll probably get it.

[Martine]

Not exactly my favourit topic... EVER!

It's my number 1 phobia and because, i haven't seen a dentist in 9 years. Done well up until now, one of my teeth has starting giving me crap and actually turning brown. I think i'm guna loose it. But there's nothing i can do about it.

I have no money to get it sorted, and even if i did, i'd have to travel far and wide to find one who'll put me to sleep during the process of getting EVERYTHING sorted. If i'm not asleep, then my phobia wouldn't let that dentist anywhere near me before i killed him.

This is how bad it is... not even properly thinking about it and i'm shaking and partly crying about it.

So yeah... major sucks. I dont know what to do.

I live in the U.K anf have a fear of dentists too. I'm not afraid of the drill or the injection but my fear is the finished job? what is it going to look like? will it be a mess? because all the U.K NHS dentist I've been to are bad and have very little training or experience. I've had NHS dentists break good teeth and make a mess of fillings and then if you complain like I did with one dentist he said 'what did you expect for national health'

Private dentists or even better cosmetic dentists are much better at their job but the cost is very high. I'm saving up to have my teeth straightened and various other things that an average NHS dentist wouldn't have a clue about.

American's always poke fun at the English about their bad teeth and to a certain extent they are right. We do not have the same kind of dental treatment program they have in the U.S and our dentistry system is 25 years behind them