Do you go to the dentist?

[biscuits]

I'm about to become NHS dentist-less and I've gone to the dentist my whole teeth bearing life.

The thing that worries me is the number of children who are unable to be registered to see a dentist in the UK. Children seeing a dentist is essential. Their porous little milk teeth should be checked every 6 months. It's very difficult to even find NHS spaces for children. Considering 30% of children live in poverty, their parents can't afford to join a private practice to get the free checkups for their children.

Being back dentists doing routine checks in primary schools.

[Your Mum]

Originally Posted by Jen.

It's all a scam run by Big Toof.

To a certain extent, there is some tooth in this. If nobody ever went to a dentist until they needed something done, there would be very little demand. To ensure that becoming a dentist is a worthwhile and profitable endeavour, it's necessary to extract a regular income from as many people as possible.

Last time I went to a dentist, I tried to get the receptionist to arrange the appointment for 2:30, but she was having none of it.

"We have a slot free at 2pm"
"Uh, can I get a slightly later appointment?"
"What about 2:45?"
"Slightly earlier, maybe..."
"No, that won't be possible"

[biscuits]

^ They knew your game! (I bloody love your humour and stories, btw)

I went to the dentist yesterday and the receptionist was on the phone and she said, “I’ve booked you in for 2:30.”

[Rocket Spud]

I'd love to give a ****.

[AuroraSky]

Not sure how common this is, but my NHS dentist gave me a check-up more than six months ago, read out the things needing doing to the assistant, then said due to backlog/slowness with using PPE it will be a very long time before they do any work. So I have a sort of Schrodingers NHS where I am registered, just so long as I dont want any work done on my teeth.

[magnolia]

I go to nhs.
I have to go. I have very receeded gums and bit of gum disease. Me brushing alone isnt enough for them to have a decent clean. I was very anxious about them during lockdown, they hadn't had a professional clean for 2 years. I had a lot of plaque build up.

September and october last year I had 3 , THREE teeth pulled out. As i got infections.
Finally got a Hygienist appointment for that December ,then they cancelled it which i was not happy about. They re booked it for the Feb.
And finally they got a proper clean .

My next clean and check up is booked for this november.....40 min appointment with Hygienist...it will be £87! That's NHS.

[LittleMissMouse]

I've been once in the past 20 years when I paid 250 squid to discover that the black mark on my gum was a bit of dirt that had somehow managed to get underneath and embed itself. The dentist was keen to get me to come back to do some expensive cosmetic stuff like pushing my gums back somehow to make my teeth look bigger and take my wisdom teeth out - he's not having those, I need all the help I can get in that department and I'm not keen on the idea of spending a couple of grand on something that I don't really want to do, and will probably be quite painful.

[biscuits]

^^ hi magnolia, the hygienist sounds like it's a private treatment.

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...o-apF3s8X8XfhB

[Bored]

If somebody has bad teeth does that put you off the person?

[Amara 94]

^ If they have smelly breath it does I don’t dislike the person but it does make them less pleasant to speak to at a close distance as I feel so sensitive to the smell of bad breath.

Bad teeth, I don’t think it does.

[Dougella]

^^ How would you define bad teeth?

[SpectralOwls]

Originally Posted by The Devil, Probably.

^ It's interesting that the focus on looking after one's teeth is going to the dentist. The preventative mindset should kick in long before even needing a "check up" and would mostly remove the need for it altogether. I.e. cutting out all sugary or synthetic food and caffeinated drinks for a start. Prehistoric humans didn't die with crooked and broken teeth, they died with unblemished and strong teeth - because they didn't spend their lives putting their teeth under constant attack from chemicals of rot. Modern dentistry is a perfect example of something we laud as a sign of human progress when it fact it's mopping up yet another disease of civilisation.

Yes, dentistry, like any other field of health, has huge vested interests in keeping the money rolling in rather than we, as a society, addressing the underlying causes for why our teeth are worse on average than prehistoric humans teeth were.

Of all things that could go wrong with human health the teeth, gums, mouth are the easiest to take some personal responsibility for.

This is a good point! Hopefully not to go too off track for this board, but it kind of falls under the comment of capitalism causes more problems to be fixed. :T

I'm lucky that I've had really strong teeth and never had a cavity on my life. Unfortunately that may be changing, as my back left teeth have been causing issues, but it isn't always bothering me so I dunno. I'll try to wait it out until its an emergency I guess. I legit never went to the dentist for over a decade because of anxiety/cost (though my work gave coverage for cleanings), and now I'm in a whole new country so I dunno what to even do next. :')

[choirgirl]

This thread is making me worry. I'm supposed to be getting into flossing but it's quite hard, isn't it. I keep telling myself that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (including from the money part of things) but here we are.

[biscuits]

^ I find flossing with floss quite stressful. It scares me. I know that's silly, but it does! I use the little interdental brushes.

[biscuits]

This news story just cropped up:

Nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK are not accepting new adult patients for treatment under the health service, a BBC investigation has found.

And eight in 10 NHS practices are not taking on children.

Full extent of NHS dentistry shortage revealed by far-reaching BBC research

[Bored]

But it's the patients fault isn't it as they didn't go to the dentist for 2 years

[SpectralOwls]

Originally Posted by choirgirl

This thread is making me worry. I'm supposed to be getting into flossing but it's quite hard, isn't it. I keep telling myself that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (including from the money part of things) but here we are.

Originally Posted by biscuits

^ I find flossing with floss quite stressful. It scares me. I know that's silly, but it does! I use the little interdental brushes.

I use the little floss picks and they're great. I try to get the compostable or plant based ones. I actually brought over a bunch from the states. If you can find "The Humble Co" brand they're really nice.

[biscuits]

Thanks! The ones I use are plastic, so making the change to that would be great!

I'm tempted to get one of those water spraying ones!

[SpectralOwls]

I hear good things about those. ^

[biscuits]

^ I've been collecting up Boots points to get one (they're reward points for a drug store that you can spend on products).

_\_\\\\\\\\______

I've been trying to get hold of my dentist all morning to see what my options are after my dentist goes private.

They just answered: the receptionist said I'll go in a 'holding book' until they get a new nhs dentist but they're struggling to find one.

Do I put myself on multiple waiting lists at different dentists? I've never been in this position before.

[genovese]

Originally Posted by SpectralOwls

, but it kind of falls under the comment of capitalism causes more problems to be fixed. :T
)

Defund, demoralise then privatise.

[Dougella]

^ Yep, it's the Conservative way. (Although to be fair the problems with NHS dentistry go back before they got in, they just haven't done anything to help it.)

[choirgirl]

Hm, I do have some of the plastic picky ones, and they are easier, but ofc I still struggle, and don't like spending money on them. But I really must.

[biscuits]

^ I use the little interdental brushes that look like, 'Honey, I shrunk the Chimney Sweep's Brush!'.



My mum spoke to the dentist earlier as she's in the same predicament as I am (dentist going private). She said that we could either pay £60 a checkup or £19.99 a month. Almost £240 a year! Wowzers.

[choirgirl]

It's rubbish, isn't it? I didn't realise getting an NHS dentist had got so bad.

[biscuits]

^ there's also a lot of red tape for dentists who were trained in another country to practice in the UK. I saw some dentists who have fled Ukraine and have carry out two years of study in the UK to practice dentistry here! I understand that the NHS can't just take on anyone without being sure of their credentials, but there has to be a less bureaucratic way. I think I saw that the government are going to find ways to make it easier.

[Amara 94]

Originally Posted by Dougella

^^ How would you define bad teeth?

Yellow teeth, missing teeth, gums sometimes, visible tooth decay, crooked teeth

[Dougella]

I tried to make an appointment with my dentist today and discovered that I've been de-registered because it's been over 4 years since I last went there (including the pandemic). Ofcourse they're not taking on any more NHS patients at the moment, so I have to wait until January and try again.

[biscuits]

Well, one year on and I've been contacted by the dentist. I have an appointment in August.

I was about to join My Dentist (that's the name of it) so luckily I don't need to any more.

[BFG_]

Originally Posted by BFG_

Last time was in 1998

I was wrong it was 2000 I recently contacted my original dentist and managed to get an appointment.

She dug xrays out from my last appointment asked me why I'd not been in 23 years I said I'd just forgotten. I need 1 filling which I'm having done in August.

Annoyingly it's now a private dentists so it's so far cost me getting close to 400 quid alll in for first appointment then scale and polish then a filling.


It was odd having shiny white teeth after the scale and polish I felt like I had turkey teeth.