Just had my NHS check-up. Is this normal..?

[InsecureIdiot]

Hey.

So the dentist took a little over 5 minutes to check my teeth. She determined a couple of fillings were needed, as well as a wisdom tooth extraction.

No X-rays were taken.

And I have felt sharpness over some of my other teeth.

Is it normal not to have X-rays at your first check-up? Will they be taken at my second appointment (when the fillings and extraction will happen)? And if so, could this lead to more work being needed?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Terryfied]

I was told they would do X-rays at my 2nd appointment before an extraction. Never happened!

 

[letsconnect]

In my experience, in England they aren't taken routinely during NHS appointments. They are however taken routinely during private appointments. I think there's some concern about the increase of thyroid cancer in Western countries (although it's not entirely clear, x-rays might be a possible cause) and the advice now is that x-rays should be kept to a minimum (i.e. if there is a specific clinical need).

 

[brit]

GDC guidance on the frequency of x-ray taking (which covers private and NHS dentists since they regulate the whole profession in the UK) is that there has to be a good reason to expose a patient to the radiation in an x-ray.

Obviously dentists can interpret this as they wish.
You would have thought a new patient with a few years of avoidance would maybe merit some x-rays????
My experience is similar to Letsconnect's in UK but I would say I have been much more willingly and frequently zapped and re-zapped by private dentists while living outside the UK than I ever was in the UK. In fact in UK I received the most dental x-rays as a child and teenager on the NHS.

A modern root canal procedure seems to involve multiple digital x-rays, roughly 3 per appointment plus whatever the dentist takes to determine the need for treatment in the first place.

I have seen a case on line where the GDC took a dim view of a private practice where all patients were routinely x-rayed (a bit like in USA) before the dentist has even looked in the patient's mouth....the UK approach does seem to require a clear clinical need/justification because there is arguably no such thing as a totally safe radiation dose.

I think in other countries the motivation for lots of x-rays frequently is maybe financial rather than strictly clinical.
I doubt any private dentist anywhere in the world has subjected me to the 'full series' of 16 x-rays or more often quoted on here by USA posters. In fact I know they haven't. Even an Oral Surgeon I saw in recent years who had a panoramic x-ray machine only zapped me minimally (but then that's the point of a pan I suppose).

Sometimes less is more but not always

 

[InsecureIdiot]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Brit: your answer makes a ton of sense.

The last experience I had with a dentist was the one I had as a child, and she was brilliant. You'd always gets the red carpet treatment, and every appointment felt like every nook and cranny had been covered. So yeah, this was quite a shock in comparison.

The benefit I have is that I will be seeing a private dentist in a few months to get a little cosmetic work done, so while I'm there I can get a check-up too (inc. x-rays) and see whether or not the NHS dentist missed a ton of work. I suppose that is one way of securing validation one way or another.