Dentists

[iSon]

I don't think I've spoken to many people who don't mind going to the dentist. I'm certainly one of the big wimps of the world so I hate the dentist.

I've just got back from my first stage of root canal treatment on what has been an extremely troublesome tooth and of course I was nervous as hell beforehand. It's not the injections I fear most - I welcome them because if they do the job then it should make the treatment as comfortable as possible. Of course though, fearing the worst I always worry that as that drill goes in that a shooting pain will fly through my body and punch the dentist in the face.

But, no - a couple of shots in the gum and some imprints of my mouth later, and he was ready to start drilling away and boy did it shake my head something rotten but it didn't hurt a bit. Then comes the entertaining part where he puts what looks like a metal hair in your tooth and gives it a good going over and you can feel it but it doesn't hurt. Very odd. The most entertaining part though was when - for some reason - he soldered my tooth.

Anyway, there are plenty of "my root canal experience" type posts on the internet but I just wanted to gauge your opinion of going to the dentist? Do you go every six months and get your sticker like you should or are you stupid like me and leave it until the pain become unbearable?

I was going to post this BEFORE my treatment, but I knew you'd all post thing like "It hurts like hell" just to make me feel better.

I get to go back next week and get a gold crown though. How cool am I?

[lukey]

I've never had any bother with my teeth, though admittedly haven't actually seen a dentist in a couple of years. I used to do the whole 6, then 9, then 12-monthly checkups, as the resources of my NHS dentist eventually strained to the point of them predictably going private, after which I wasn't going to pay some absurd amount for the pleasure of being told nothing has changed.

So I've never had much reason to loathe it other than the mere inconvenience of taking a big chunk of day out for about 90 seconds of human interaction. I think the only thing I've actually had done is that weird..sealant painting dealey I had done many a year ago.

[Gavin Scott]

How timely. One of my young lady colleagues is having trouble with her dentist. She's been seeing a hopeless one whose work keeps falling out in her mouth - fillings, that is.

I advised her to cancel her appointment for yesterday and register with another one, quicksmart - as I was shocked to hear he had administered nine injections to fill one tooth - and even then briefed her that he wasn't confident that (A) the filling wouldn't fall out and (B) that he might hit a nerve.

I recounted the story of my sisters friend who had seen a dentist called Mitchell in the town I grew up in. He was something of a local celeb, having married one of the Beverly sisters. He had given this girl 11 injections, causing permanent damage to her jaw, and leaving her with no feeling in her lower lip. She struggles to sip without dribbling even now. She then had surgery to transplant a nerve from her leg into her jaw - unsuccessfully.

Granada TV came round to film a "World in Action" on Mitchell - and he was struck off. So in conclusion - the bad dentists out there don't tend to last very long. Word of mouth usually puts paid to the bad ones pretty quickly.

That particular horror story apart - I'm not mad keen on going to the dentist - but if they numb you up properly (and not to excess) then its usually more uncomfortable than anything.

I've successfully had 3 root canals, a gold crown and a porcelain one.

I just admitted to my dentist that I have a low threshold for pain and she made it so comfortable I fell asleep in the chair while having my root canal done. I'm not interested in seeing a TV monitor of a camera inside my mouth. I would rather not see it at all.

If you come to an arrangement like raising your hand the moment you feel discomfort, then you wont get to a point where they cause you any real pain.

[Spencer For Hire]

I can honestly say I really have no problem with going to the dentist at all. I even had some major work a few years ago and it didn't faze me at all.

I'd actually credit my lack of fear to an excellent initiative by my local dentist when I was a child. They had a special room for kids where you'd go and have a little party with some other kids when you went to get your teeth checked - they showed cartoons and played games. In that way I grew up to think of visiting the dentist as something fun, rather than something frightening. I'm surprised more dentists haven't tried similar.

[Gavin Scott]

I can honestly say I really have no problem with going to the dentist at all. I even had some major work a few years ago and it didn't faze me at all.

I'd actually credit my lack of fear to an excellent initiative by my local dentist when I was a child. They had a special room for kids where you'd go and have a little party with some other kids when you went to get your teeth checked - they showed cartoons and played games. In that way I grew up to think of visiting the dentist as something fun, rather than something frightening. I'm surprised more dentists haven't tried similar.

You mean you don't find a groaning table full of Women's Realm magazines from nineteen-oatcake relaxing?

Weirdo.

[Chie]

I never had any problems with my teeth until I reached 19 and had to start paying. Since then I've had two fillings, both of which I'm convinced I didn't even need. My dentist said that if you don't go for a checkup every 6 months you'll be struck off the patient list and be forced to either find another NHS dentist or go private. :roll: I've decided not to bother going again. If I start getting any prolonged pain I'll just go private, as it'll probably work out cheaper than spending £90 on pointless fillings every year.

[Sput]

Not necessarily; prolonged pain might be something that started out cheap to fix but got so bad it's much much more expensive. Risky strategy. I'm tempted to get onto one of these plans my dentists has been offering, tenner a month and that gets you a couple of check-ups and routine maintenance per year. I think it also reduces the cost of other things but I forget.

I like teeth, they're so rubbish.

[Gavin Scott]

I never had any problems with my teeth until I reached 19 and had to start paying. Since then I've had two fillings, both of which I'm convinced I didn't even need. My dentist said that if you don't go for a checkup every 6 months you'll be struck off the patient list and be forced to either find another NHS dentist or go private. :roll: I've decided not to bother going again. If I start getting any prolonged pain I'll just go private, as it'll probably work out cheaper than spending £90 on pointless fillings every year.

NHS dentists are like hen's teeth to find (no pun intended - unless you found that funny in which case it was).

Private will cost you many times more for a filling, so it may be a false economy to wait until you need one.

I've got an NHS dentist, and was luck enough to start my course of treatment just before they started charging for some work like root canal treatment. I didn't pay a penny, not even for my gold or porcelain work. Woo!

[Thames]

Hmm I go into dentists about 4 or 5 times a day but then again that's for work. so doesn't count as for going to the dentist I haven't been since I was told off by mine in terms which I thought overstepped the mark and that was about 11 years ago.

And yes I really need to go, but due to working in the industry mainly I do see quite a lot of horror practices which put me off again.

It doesn't always pay now to go NHS due to the banding system of the new contract which the govenment bought in a year and a bit ago. some treatments which would have been very cheap under the old system now falls under the upper band, and thus makes going private cheaper. What you need to do is find a dentist who will discuss both options and do NHS and Private.

It is easier than it was at some point to get a NHS dentist mainly because if the practice does NHS work they have to meet their targets. and if they don't have to pay quite a bit of money back to the PCTs which caught a few out last April, so hence a mad rush at the start of the year to get NHS patients to meet the quota.

I'm off to Harley St next week which is always eye opening and not always for the right reasons!