Dental Service decline.

[cuddlepop]

I'm furious,its bad eneogh that we dont have a resident dentist in Portree since our last one left to lecture future dentists in Inverness but now I'm left till possibly the 24th of September with a missing front tooth.:mad:

I'm not in pain so not an emergency.

I cant afford to go private so will have to ring every morning to see if they have any emergency appointments that are vacant.

Now I here the Health Service are "wasting" money on translating gaelic.

What ever happened to "essential" spending.:confused[disgust]

[Kevin Milkins]

My two sons have been up to visit this week and one of them has had a raging toothache all week.:eek:

I tried to get him to try the emergancy number and last night he was in such a lot of pain he agreed. I phoned the helpline, but they are shut after 4-30.:mad:

I have been on the waiting list for two and half years and have not seen a dentist for four years.:confused

[cuddlepop]

My two sons have been up to visit this week and one of them has had a raging toothache all week.

I tried to get him to try the emergancy number and last night he was in such a lot of pain he agreed. I phoned the helpline, but they are shut after 4-30

I have been on the waiting list for two and half years and have not seen a dentist for four years.


I thought the emergency appointment was better maned than that.That is just awful that your suppose to only have tooth ache before 4.30pm.:(

I remember phoning boxing day about 16 years ago,wee one had dislodged her front tooth.The dentist came to the surgery in Portree and we took her to Inverness to have it removed.Poor wee baby was only 18 months old and terrified.My how times have changed.:roll:

Both my son and Oh havent seen the dentist in years over here too.
They dont even do yearly check ups now so I dread to thing what the free yearly dental care service is like for pregnant women.

My daughter is fortunate as her "additional needs" enable her to stay with the school dentist even though she has left school.:)

[ocd]

My two sons have been up to visit this week and one of them has had a raging toothache all week.:eek:

I tried to get him to try the emergancy number and last night he was in such a lot of pain he agreed. I phoned the helpline, but they are shut after 4-30.:mad:

I have been on the waiting list for two and half years and have not seen a dentist for four years.:confused


I have been on the waiting list since 2005 and there are still over 3000 in front of me on the list!!

[BINBOB]

Ijoined bridge street dental surgery even before I moved up here............worth the monthly fee.;)

[cuddlepop]

Ijoined bridge street dental surgery even before I moved up here............worth the monthly fee.;)


Private dental care is fine as long as you've loads of money to pay for it.
It would cost me £1000 for one capped tooth even if I payed the monthly insurance payment I'd only get 20% off and that for me is still too much money.
I'll just have to wait.:(

[poppett]

by the time you spend ages every morning hanging on the appointment line for the dentist you have probably given BT the equivilent of your basic dental treatment, CP.

Have been on the waiting list since week one, and still have not got above ocd on the waiting list.

[BINBOB]

Private dental care is fine as long as you've loads of money to pay for it.
It would cost me £1000 for one capped tooth even if I payed the monthly insurance payment I'd only get 20% off and that for me is still too much money.
I'll just have to wait.:(

Sorry,cuddlepop.....really hope things get better for u soon.;)

[casiels]

I've been up here 18 month and haven't got a dentist. Looks like I'll be waiting a long time. :(:(

[sphinx]

u shouldnt have to wait for dental care that is what u pay your stamp for i think its a disgrace and to pay a monthly fee come on they are no better than high way robbers at least they wore a mask lol:lol:

[BINBOB]

I choose to spend my money on my dental care...........and have spent a lifetime paying into the NI service.If I could have a NHS dentist ,then I would choose that,but as it is nigh impossible.........I decided that money spent on a monthly was the way to go.

As I have looked after my teeth ,with the help of NHS dentists throughout my life,I have NEVER needed any great amount of dental work done.Have only ever had 1 emergency when I lost a filling many years ago...........

I do not drink or smoke ........so my money goes to a useful cause,IMO.We all have a choice .;)

[badger]

It is quite disgraceful that dental care is not available to all under the NHS and it seems the changes to their contracts a while ago just made things worse. I registered with an NHS dentist when I came up here but he went private and I just had to go with him as dare not be without. Even with insurance I dread the bills as have a legacy of problems from childhood. Like ocd I'm around 3000 on the waiting list.

Never mind - so long as we can read it all in Gaelic who cares about toothache [disgust]

[tonkatojo]

Private dental care is fine as long as you've loads of money to pay for it.
It would cost me £1000 for one capped tooth even if I payed the monthly insurance payment I'd only get 20% off and that for me is still too much money.
I'll just have to wait.:(

I am having a debate with someone posting as "doctor" at the minute about the virtues of private health versus NHS. My view is there should be no such thing as private, where health including dentistry is concerned, every one should be seen according to clinical need whether you are rich or not.

[Liz]

I am having a debate with someone posting as "doctor" at the minute about the virtues of private health versus NHS. My view is there should be no such thing as private, where health including dentistry is concerned, every one should be seen according to clinical need whether you are rich or not.

I completely agree with you. I think it is very unfair that the level of service you receive will depend on how much (or little) you can afford to spend.

When it comes to health there should be no rich/poor divide.

[Alice in Blunderland]

I am having a debate with someone posting as "doctor" at the minute about the virtues of private health versus NHS. My view is there should be no such thing as private, where health including dentistry is concerned, every one should be seen according to clinical need whether you are rich or not.


I am not too sure about the ins and outs of this one but was it not because the government made changes to the dentists contracts that caused this problem of shortages. Dentists decided to go it alone and become private as they felt they were getting a raw deal. :confused

I lost my NHS dentist a few years ago and also have to pay for my treatment although the kids are still seen by the school dentist.

[tonkatojo]

I am not too sure about the ins and outs of this one but was it not because the government made changes to the dentists contracts that caused this problem of shortages. Dentists decided to go it alone and become private as they felt they were getting a raw deal. :confused

I lost my NHS dentist a few years ago and also have to pay for my treatment although the kids are still seen by the school dentist.

I am like you in that I do not know the pay structure of dentists/consultants but my point is that the masses have to suffer because the private market has been allowed to flourish in places where they should not have been allowed in the first instance (NHS/DENTISTRY). To my way of thinking it only allowed the greed factor to raise its ugly head, having said that pay should be awarded on merit so these doctors/dentists/consultants did not have to go the private route.

[ginajade]

I'm in exactly the same position as cuddlepop. Broken front tooth. Did have toothache. Took day off my work to try to get an appointment. Phoned dental helpline from 0900 till after 1000 and line was dead. Silence and then it cut off. Eventually got through to an engaged line and phoned for half hour before being put in a queue. Got through and was told to wait for a call back. An hour and a half later I got a call back to saw, there were a lot of facial swellings that day and they took priority over pain. Was told to wait till 4.30 and they would call me back if there was a cancellation. If not I would have to try again tomorrow. I told them I couldn't do that as I could not take time off work.
I also registered in October 2005 and am about the same on the list as Cuddlepop, yet at the same time my colleagues registered. 2 of us have not been seen. The others have. Why? because they have dentures, we don't. I informed the nice receptionist that if we weren't seen soon, we would all be needing dentures. I must say I do feel sorry for those on the helpline. It's not their fault, but when people are in agony and getting knocked back I'm sure they must get a pretty hard time.

[tonkatojo]

I'm in exactly the same position as cuddlepop. Broken front tooth. Did have toothache. Took day off my work to try to get an appointment. Phoned dental helpline from 0900 till after 1000 and line was dead. Silence and then it cut off. Eventually got through to an engaged line and phoned for half hour before being put in a queue. Got through and was told to wait for a call back. An hour and a half later I got a call back to saw, there were a lot of facial swellings that day and they took priority over pain. Was told to wait till 4.30 and they would call me back if there was a cancellation. If not I would have to try again tomorrow. I told them I couldn't do that as I could not take time off work.
I also registered in October 2005 and am about the same on the list as Cuddlepop, yet at the same time my colleagues registered. 2 of us have not been seen. The others have. Why? because they have dentures, we don't. I informed the nice receptionist that if we weren't seen soon, we would all be needing dentures. I must say I do feel sorry for those on the helpline. It's not their fault, but when people are in agony and getting knocked back I'm sure they must get a pretty hard time.

This is an example of my debate, the question of who/wealth or any other factor should not come into it, ban all private health/dentistry and return to the system where all are seen on clinical merit, but the dentists/NHS should be paid accordingly.

[cuddlepop]

I've got my daughters graduation on the 12th of September.
No idea whether or not the cap will be back over my front tooth then.:(

I alwas smile but I'm so self concious that I've stopped doing it and am feeling down now too.:(

Health care regardless of income should be free but private health care should be available if wished.
The two should be able to "work alongside" each other.[disgust]

[tonkatojo]

I've got my daughters graduation on the 12th of September.
No idea whether or not the cap will be back over my front tooth then.:(

I alwas smile but I'm so self concious that I've stopped doing it and am feeling down now too.:(

Health care regardless of income should be free but private health care should be available if wished.
The two should be able to "work alongside" each other.

But the problem that you have has arisen because of what you advocate. you cannot have your cake and eat it. I still say my proposed system is best. then perhaps you would have been able to smile at your daughters graduation. :)

[poppett]

I broke the front off a front tooth and managed to have a temporary dressing applied on the NHS emergency appointment scheme last year.........not because the tooth itself was painful, but because the ragged edges was ulcerating the inside of my mouth. Temp dressing looked just fine and stayed in place long past its "sell by date" until my old NHS dentist in Edinburgh could cap it properly to co-incide with my OH attending his cancer clinic.

Might a similar scenario work for you CP.

If tooth already capped or crowned there is a temporary fixing kit you can buy from the chemist. OH has used superglue in the past with a crown that wouldn`t stay in place, but I wouldn`t recommend that.

[cuddlepop]

The problem on Skye is that we cannot recruit NHS dentists not that they've all gone into the private sector.

We have a brand new dental surgery in Kyle no resident dentist.
Portree no dentist,dentist travels through from Inverness every Wednesday.
Broadford no dentist
Dunvegan no dentist.

One private dentist in Portree and thats it.:(

[cuddlepop]

I broke the front off a front tooth and managed to have a temporary dressing applied on the NHS emergency appointment scheme last year.........not because the tooth itself was painful, but because the ragged edges was ulcerating the inside of my mouth. Temp dressing looked just fine and stayed in place long past its "sell by date" until my old NHS dentist in Edinburgh could cap it properly to co-incide with my OH attending his cancer clinic.

Might a similar scenario work for you CP.

If tooth already capped or crowned there is a temporary fixing kit you can buy from the chemist. OH has used superglue in the past with a crown that wouldn`t stay in place, but I wouldn`t recommend that.

The cap is full of gunk the pin is still full of the stuff too so dont think the DIY kit will work.
I'm speaking with a lisp and bitting my gum.The tooth beside it is sometimes painfull depending on what I'm eating.
Hope I get somewhere tomorrow.

Will even travel to Inverness,that how miserable its making me feel.:~(