NHS dentists

I havent been registered at a dentist for 5-6 years now simply because there arent any available, strangely enough though, I found a local one today and am ringing to "join" tomorrow :D.
 
Stopped going to my NHS dentist after he told me I needed special overlays on seven teeth or they'd all crack and fall out. I decided to pay for a private check-up and he said I needed seven fillings replaced. Then got a third (private) opinion and he said the same as the second opinion. Had the fillings done and they've been fine.

YMMV
 
If it is a check-up, I go NHS. If I know something needs doing, I go private (e.g. toothache). Used to have a private "dental hygienist" too, that rocked but moved too far away now.

Reason being it takes months here to get an appointment - even if in agony.
 
If you're in agony here, our NHS dentist fits you in the same day - even if you ring in the afternoon! :) They're a really good practice. As for root canal, I'd never go there. I'd demand an extraction instead; and not because of any perceived pain issue either.
 
i had 3 crowns and i could feel every movement and drill he did even after he numbed me it was pain i never want to feel again. I just think he was a &&&& dentist as i have moved now and its a lot better.
 
I'd not been registered to a dentist in 10 years. First place I tried I got registered, had a checkup, then 2 root canals. No issues at all.

You're extraordinarily fortunate. They are drying up all over the place, with the current shortage now in the millions. In my area you can't get one for love or money; they're just not taking any more patients.

Fortunately, I've never had any dental problems. The last bit of work I had done was the removal of my wisdom teeth, and that was about 10 years ago. No fillings, no root canals, nothing.

Of course, I had the advantage of growing up on fluoridated water. Most Poms don't.
 
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wow, thanks for the responses guys! Looks like I'll just have to ring arond to see if they'll sign me up, here's hoping!

I've never had any work done at a dentist (only checkups), so if I need any I'd be pretty nervous I think!

edit: just had read of that bbc article. I think extrapolating figures to the whole population (60m) from a sample of 1800 people is bound to give fairly scary results, I'll take that with a pinch of salt.
 
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My current dentist is an NHS one working in a small practice, that looks pretty basic/run down from the outside (it has done since he opened up years ago), on the inside though it's pretty good and the actual room where he does the work is just the same as the old one I went to who moved over to private work.

In my (limited) experience, the private ones tend to spend more money on making things look pretty - large, prettily decorated waiting room, nice signage, advertising etc, but aren't actually any better or worse than the NHS dentists when it comes to treatment (if anything the NHS dentist I see now is better than the old one, who now has a a very pretty surgery and is fully private, making a mint out of largely cosmetic work).
 
I've got denplan atm, but I'm thinking of just going private because the denplan fees cost more than simple checkups/hygienest. Obviously if something needed doing then denplan would become worth it but I doubt it will in the near future tbh.
 
I had root canal in an NHS dentist a few years ago... it was OK. Not very professional tbh. When he was doing the X-Rays he couldn't get a clear view of the area he was looking for so I ended up having about 13 X-rays done on my face ...I'm surprised I've got any facial flesh left.

I've recently joined a new NHS dentist and it seems to be OK. The guy is Turkish but he's really good... a bit heavy handed but he gets the job done :)
 
My last experience with dentists was a couple of years ago now, I was in agony with a wisdom tooth coming through, so called my local NHS dentist. I was registered with them but hadn't been for a checkup with them so I'd need to re-register, soonest they could see me was over 3 month's away, kinda useless.

Called up a private dentist thats next door to the old NHS one and had an appointment as a new patient in 30 minutes, cost me £100 to get the tooth extracted, which I'm not sure was a good price or not, but I was just happy to get the damn thing out.

Now I'm not registered at an NHS dentist still and will probably just go to a private one if I need anything done, but my teeth seem fine other than that single extraction so it's all good :)
 
Yesterday, I went to an NHS Dentist as I had a really bad infection in the same tooth as before and badly needed it sorted.

The Dental Surgeon was Polish and when she looked at it said that either I go away again with Antibiotics or she takes it out. I told her to pull it. Out came the injection, a pair of what I can only say looked like something they use to yank 12" nails out with and with a firm grip on my jaw (still flippin hurts) she pulled the bugger out Chuck Norris styleee.

What would have cost me £85 cost me absolutely nowt. Absolute gem she was and they got me in the next day after ringing them.

I have the tooth, will post pics if you want :D

Tooth Fairy did not come last night though :o
 
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