Community Dental Services, London North East

[Alan]

Hi,

I live in North East London and have a big needle phobia. It's not the pain but the thought of it that makes me sweat and pass out

The last time I had dental treatment, some years ago, I was started on Nitrous Oxide before any injections or drilling began and this stopped me having the bad reaction.

So I'd really like gas again and I need a dentist offering gas on the NHS who will accept my HC2 certificate for free dental care.

I've already contacted PALS & ADVOCACY SERVICES MANAGER, City & Hackney tPCT, and they gave me a list of dentists in my area supposedly offering gas, but when I phoned them none of them did

I'm wondering if dentists have stopped offering the gas on the NHS or perhaps I was given it by accident because the dentist thought I was private, or has it got a bad reputation in the last few years

Does anyone know a dentist near North East London offering gas to NHS patients, know how I could find such a dentist, or know what I should do instead?

Many thanks,

Alan

 

[letsconnect]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

Hi Alan, not all private dentists charge the earth, so it might be an idea not to rule out the idea completely. If needle phobia is your biggest concern, you could check out this page:

The Wand

Find out how the Wand® STA system, a computer-controlled dental injection ideal for anyone with a fear of injections or needle phobia, works!

www.dentalfearcentral.org

At the bottom of the page you'll find contact details for the distributors of the Wand in the UK, and they might be able to provide you with the names of dentists in North East London who use the Wand. They might also offer nitrous oxide - the only way of finding out is to ring (or e-mail) around and ask (or drop into the actual practices, they usually have leaflets with details of fees).

Nitrous oxide hasn't got a bad reputation, but it is reasonably costly (training courses, the hardware, and the gas itself), so that might explain why it's not that commonly available on the NHS.

 

[Alan]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

Hi,

Thanks for the advice

Gas seemed to suddenly become all the rage a few years ago, so what I don't understand is why it's vanished. Perhaps all the people that got trained up then have moved on to private work and taken their training with them

The PALS & ADVOCACY SERVICES MANAGER, City & Hackney tPCT got back to me earlier today to apologise for their database being out of date. They said instead I could self refer to:

Community & Salaried Dental Services
3rd floor, B Block
St Leonard's
Nuttall Street
London N1 5LZ


They provided the following information:

The Community & Salaried Dental Service aims to provide high quality dental services to people who have experienced difficulty getting NHS dental care elsewhere. It is therefore a 'safety net' service. Services are also provided to special needs groups, including:

people with learning difficulties
people with disabilities
people who are very anxious about dental care
homeless people

Now whilst "aims to provide high quality dental services" sounds good, " 'safety net' service" makes it sound like they may be running on a shoe string.

Does anyone have any experience of them?

Thanks,

Alan

 

[letsconnect]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

The community dental service can be excellent. There can be long waiting lists though, depending on the resources allocated to the community dental service in your area. The surroundings may be a bit dire compared to what you can find at private dental practices, but again this may vary from area to area. The actual dental services are not shoe string (in fact, you may get better materials than what you'd usually get on the NHS, but again, this might vary from area to area or dentist to dentist).

Well worth checking out if the waiting list isn't too long .

 

[Alan]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

Thanks again

Alan

 

[Alan]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

Hi,

Just thought I'd report back on my experience so far.

As you suggested, the waiting list was very long, although
my needs aren't urgent, so perhaps they can move faster
when they need to.

The dentist I saw was marvellous. She was so nice it made
me feel quite sad for the rest of the day! How nice is that!
I already want her to get an OBE or something!

I have to return for my fillings etc. in a couple of weeks,
but my main concerns now are not with dentistry but with
apologising for my generally dentist cynical attitude at the
checkup.


Alan

 

[brit]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

That's really great news....that was Community Dental Service right?
Good luck next week....you'll be fine, I'm sure.

 

[Alan]

Re: How do I find a London dentist with Nitrous Ox

Yes, this place:

Community & Salaried Dental Services
3rd floor, B Block
St Leonard's
Nuttall Street
London N1 5LZ

Thanks for the help and support,

Alan

[New URL is https://www.hackneyicare.org.uk/kb5/hackney/asch/service.page?id=jplx2TvkPbU ]