Teeth

Three options.

Does that mean that the NHS dental hospital can't or won't treat your problem Brendawymms.

What a dreadful situation to be in.

My fear is, the privatisation of dentistry is exponentially growing to cover every area of health care.

And the Spanish Inquisition. (Sorry, it isn't Monty Python)

Most annoying. Were you told they would operate in writing or verbally? If you have it in writing you might be able to wave it at them. However, as it seems they don't feel competent to do anything so complex, are you sure you really want them to try?

Odd that on the first occasion they said they would operate. Now they say, too complicated. Did you question that?

TBH I think sometimes you just have to accept that a tooth has had its chips. Or pay loads of money. [sympathy]

My son had a second from front tooth root filled and crowned just over a year ago. He has had nothing but bother with it. Painful abscesses and the crown falling out too. He paid quite a lot of money he could ill afford for the treatment and now the dentist is saying that they can't do anymore and anyway it is out of warranty. He has now sought a second opinion from a different dentist who have x-rayed the tooth/root and said that the root filling was never done properly and that they are not suprised the crown is keep falling out as the post it is fitted too is not stable and needs to be replaced and/or packed. Needless to say this will be expensive work, but at 34 he cannot walk around with a tooth missing it looks awful. I was wondering if dentisty is covered by trading standards/consumer rights etc.

does this help gilly?

Having worked for many years as a specialist dental nurses, I've seen this problem many times. What the dental hospital suggested is an operation called an apecectomy, which is the removal of the tip of the root of the offending tooth. This will require a small piece of bone to be removed through an incision in the gum. Quite often an X-ray will prove that there is an area of stubborn infection around the area, this in turn makes it risky to dive in, thus spreading the infection around. I am unsure why the dentist has told you that you could have this done privately at great cost, I do hope therefore that it is not just because if anything goes wrong the responsibility will rest outside the nhs! Iwould strongly recommend you ask for a second opinion from the consultant oral surgeon at the dental hospital.
Don't move until you are granted a consultation and then ask for a full explanation.
Good luck.

We don't have a dental hospital round here but the oral surgery department at our local 'big' hospital would do it. (Unless things have changed very recently) Ask for a second opinion.

My dentist is not happy as he has a letter from NHS saying they would operate. So he is going to complain. I see he tomorrow to discuss way forward.
The private option is for a specialist root canal filling. Root is very long.
I may decide to bite the bullet ( ha ha) and get the tooth removed and have an inplant. Don't want to but if I pay £500+ for this specialist work and it doesn't work then I will still have to pay out for an inplant. Will see what dentist says tomorrow.m

Brenda I had an apicetomy carried out this year, but I had great difficulty in finding a dentist who could perform this because, apparently, it isn't commonly done any more. The dentist who did mine said that he only ever did one or two per year, whereas it used to be quite a common procedure at one time.

I have had a couple done but that was in the late 60's and in central London. No problem since but it was expensive, I could not get it done on the NHS.

I think you may be right that it would be better to get rid of it and have an implant - megabucks, but it sounds as though what is being proposed would be too, with the possibility of further problems.

I do sympathise and hope that it will get sorted soon.

Rather than an implant, if the teeth on either side are in good condition, it should be possible to have a bridge - hopefully on the NHS. An implant would be horrendously expensive. Good luck.

Yes jingl it helps a great deal. Thank you for the information.

Let's hope his will turn into a very soon.

Very good!

I had a lot of abscesses, following crowns to my two front teeth. in my youth . Then had a bridge which caused trouble with other teeth as it was attached to a molar via a bar. By the time it came round to having an implant the bone had receded and the implant was more complicated. I wish they had recommended it earlier as although it was expensive it might have saved the supporting tooth, and the implants are amazing.

I had an apecectomy on a tooth but still kept getting infections in the tooth. I lost the tooth within a couple of years and had to have a bridge fitted.

Saw the Dentist today and he is writing a complaint to NHS dentist hospital. We also agreed that I would try a specialist dentist and see if they can replace the root canal filling with one that reaches the top of the tooth. That's half my months pension to pay for it! Have to go to Worthing to see the man and I hate driving anywhere near the place.

Have you thought about going abroad to get your dental treatment? The quality of care in countries like Poland and Hungary is cheaper and much better quality, they also have specialist teams to take care of people coming in from abroad. Even if you factor in flight and hotel costs you can often save money - and have a break at the same time!