Worried about my teeth (trigger warning)

[Emma Hoyle]

Good luck xx

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

Got an NHS appointment on Friday 13th January Glad to finally be enrolled though!

 

[letsconnect]

Well done @Imapparentlyhere !!

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@letsconnect thank you so much x

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

Finally got my appointment tomorrow, getting quite worried.

 

[letsconnect]

Best of luck for tomorrow @Imapparentlyhere - hope it all goes well!!! Let us know how you got on

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@letsconnect Thank you! Will do

 

[Jackieallen]

Good luck tomorrow hopefully its just a check up and teeth are not as bad as you imagined . Finger crossed x

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@Jackieallen thank you x

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

Pretty much got told im going to lose a lot of my back teeth (didn't tell me which). An xray wasn't taken - honestly the first appointment didn't seem very helpful to me. Getting 3 fillings on the 18th of next month to start with.

 

[letsconnect]

@Imapparentlyhere, that sounds like a very disappointing visit . Was it a really short appointment slot so the x-ray had to be done next time, or did you spend a lot of time talking (though it didn't sound like that from your post)? How did you get on with the dentist you saw?

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@letsconnect They never mentioned x-rays and didn't spend that much time talking. She was okay but it didn't feel like she understood my fears. I was told she could only do fillings there and any other treatment needs to be done at the hospital due to me being on steroids.

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

She also mentioned I wouldnt lose most of my molars if I was to pay private which sounded a bit odd to me.

 

[Jackieallen]

Pretty much got told im going to lose a lot of my back teeth (didn't tell me which). An xray wasn't taken - honestly the first appointment didn't seem very helpful to me. Getting 3 fillings on the 18th of next month to start with.

good the appointment is made for the fillings.

Your teeth will be sorted soon .

If your referred to hospital ask them what they recommend with the back teeth before they remove . I was referred for 2 extractions and i explained to hospital that one hadnt caused me any issue they recommended leaving in and it still in 5 years later

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@Jackieallen Thank you so much. Do you mind me asking if they take x-rays at the hospital? I don't really want to risk removing them if something can be done to fix them

 

[Jackieallen]

No they use the referral ect from your dentist . Are they hurting you in any way ?

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@Jackieallen Nope none of them are luckily

 

[Jackieallen]

So ensure you tell the hospital . I dont see the need to remove unless in pain . Most dentist rightly so do preventative so u dont ever have pain. Depends i guess on how many teeth u have ....if u can loose a few then the dentist is right . In my case i only have minimal so decided to keep . Hope that makes some sense

 

[Imapparentlyhere]

@Jackieallen Thank you so much, that's helpful and good to know

 

[letsconnect]

@letsconnect They never mentioned x-rays and didn't spend that much time talking. She was okay but it didn't feel like she understood my fears. I was told she could only do fillings there and any other treatment needs to be done at the hospital due to me being on steroids.

You could try asking for a referral to the community dental service if you don't feel you can go through with it due to your fears. We have a page here with some tips when it comes to NHS treatment for people with dental phobia/fears:

The Cost of Dental Treatment

If you are worried about not being able to afford necessary dental treatment, this page provides tips for both private and NHS options.

www.dentalfearcentral.org

Unfortunately, provision for adults with dental fears varies widely from area to area. Maybe do a google search for your area and see if you can find out anything.

She also mentioned I wouldnt lose most of my molars if I was to pay private which sounded a bit odd to me.

Sadly it's not uncommon . There are still some NHS dentists who will provide tooth-saving (root canal) treatment, and sometimes you can get lucky and get someone who has graduated more recently and has a special interest in root canals. But since the NHS contract that introduced UDAs came in, it's become more common for teeth that could have been saved to be removed.

Theoretically, your dentist should offer all her patients the same treatment (albeit with cheaper materials for NHS treatments), so if she implied that she herself could offer to save your teeth, but only privately, then that's not OK. Having said that, root canal treatment on molars requires a high level of skill and is time-consuming, so it's no wonder dentists don't want to offer it on the NHS. She also might feel that it's beyond her skill level. If that's the case, you could ask for a referral to an endodontic specialist at a dental hospital. This can be made on the NHS, but you might have to be quite pushy to succeed with getting a referral!