"Mr. Dentist"

well, i went to a NHS dentist, and was thoroughly disappointed.
also, i might add that it was the worst dentist i have ever been to in my life.  i was supposed to have a checkup/cleaning.   i told him about a cavity (that i can see with my own eyes) and he said it was just tartar.  whatever.   tartar isn't a black hole that bleeds when i brush, is it?  he spent a total of 10 min quickly brushing over the surfaces of my teeth with the little dremmel thingie, then had me gargle and spit.   then i was done.  wtf?   NO picking at them with that sharp thing, getting in between the teeth, NO Xrays, NO flouride treatment, NOTHING... 

i went home with my teeth looking the same, just more rough on the insides of them.   and i still have a cavity that needs to be sorted.  what a waste... 

my husband has an abcess inside his mouth, behind his teeth.  he, too, told the dentist about this.  again, the dentist said it was just tartar, and he got the same treatment as i did.

another weird thing...  the dentist wasn't "Dr. Whomever"...  his name tag said "MR. Whomever"     don't dentists have to go to college in England?  how scary!     

I'm really concerned about going to the dentist here, too.  I said something about 6-month cleanings and my husband looked at me as though I'd grown a third eye.  Apparently, the dentist checks your teeth when you go in (and there doesn't seem to be a set schedule for this) and decides whether or not your teeth NEED to be cleaned.  WHAT?!?!?

Now, I love my husband, and I don't want his teeth to fall out, so I have been on him about what I perceive to be a cavity on one of his teeth.  He swears it's not a cavity and that his dentist has seen it.  BUT he also says it's been, "oh, about 2 years" since his last check-up.  This is not fine with me, but he seems okay about it.

I'm seriously considering going to the dentist when we visit the US this summer...I'm definitely of the six-month cleaning school and I'm not going to have a dentist refuse to clean my teeth over here!

I think it depends on where you are. I avoid dentists myself it is a nightmare in London, however my parents are very happy with their NHS dentist just 25 miles  down the road in Maidenhead.

Last year, before Stu had moved here he was was over visiting me and we went up to Scotland for a few days. While we were up there one of his wisdom teeth was hurting so much we had to find a dentist - I rang round about 10 of them before finding one in Alloa that could see him straight away, They ended up whipping the tooth out and only charged £10 for the whole thing. (It might have been more had we let on he was only on  holiday here but I did most of the talking and they were none the wiser). It was a very nice surgery too, everything looked up to date and modern (unlike my last dental experience in Camden where I had to get up from the chair and walk over to the sink to spit!).

I am pleased as punch with our NHS dentists here in Medway.  They are wonderful.  My youngest was in the middle of dental work started in the US and they finished the job wonderfully - and his dentist says she wishes she had adult patients as good as he is!

I had to have a tooth pulled the day before my wedding.  I had an abscess that I had been ignoring for a LONG time because I had no dental coverage in the US and not enough money to even think about seeing a dentist.  The week before it was so bad we went to the Dentaline at the A&E and they gave me some antibiotics.  Then I got an appointment with my dentist on Tuesday to assess the situation - explained that I was getting married on Friday.  He fit me in on Thursday and pulled the tooth out.  He had a great "chair-side" manner and I had no pain or swelling at all.  I was able to thoroughly enjoy my wedding - and eat without any pain for the first time in...well, years, honestly.

And, no, dentists in the UK don't carry the title "doctor."  In fact, neither do surgeons if I remember correctly.

And, no, dentists in the UK don't carry the title "doctor."  In fact, neither do surgeons if I remember correctly.

There is a particular reason for surgeons and in fact all medical specialists not being "Dr" - I forget the reasons now sorry but once they qualify as a specialist they revert back to Mr or Ms (or whatever). Dentists don't get called doctor for the simple reason that are not doctors any more than anyone else with a Bachelors degree.

Also I forgot to say in my previous post that back in the 80s there was quite a scandal with some unscrupulous NHS dentists doing unecessary fillings, extractions etc because they were paid per treatement or something. I am not sure whether that system of payment has changed or not but I do think dentists are a lot more careful these days about doing anything that could look unecessary -  may explain why your husband's dentist was reluctant to do the teeth cleaning Angel.

Dentists are strictly speaking "dental surgeons" here in the UK, and because of complex historical reasons (and, I suspect a certain amount of inverted snobbery) surgeons and high-ranking specialists and consultants are called "Mr, Mrs, Miss".  The reason given by the Royal College of Surgeons as to why surgeons are called "Mr" and physicians are called "Dr" is as follows:

Why are surgeons in the UK called Mr or Miss or Mrs, rather than Dr?
In most other parts of the world all medical practitioners, physicians and surgeons alike, are referred to as ‘Dr’ whereas in the UK surgeons are usually referred to as Mr, Miss or Mrs. This is because, from the Middle Ages physicians had to embark on formal university training to gain possession of a degree in medicine before they could enter practice. The possession of this degree, a doctorate, entitled them to the title of ‘Doctor of Medicine’ or Doctor.

The training of surgeons until the mid-19th century was different. They did not have to go to university to gain a degree; instead they usually served on apprenticeship to a surgeon. Afterwards they took an examination. In London, after 1745, this was conducted by the Surgeons’ Company and after 1800 by The Royal College of Surgeons. If successful they were awarded a diploma, not a degree, therefore they were unable to call themselves ‘Doctor’, and stayed instead with the title ‘Mr’.

Outside London and the largest cities the surgeon served an apprenticeship like many other tradesmen, but did not necessarily take any examination. Today all medical practitioners, whether physicians or surgeons have to undertake training at medical school to obtain a qualifying degree. Thereafter a further period of postgraduate study and training through junior posts is required before full consultant surgeon status is achieved. Thus the tradition of a surgeon being referred to as ‘Mr/Miss/Mrs’ has continued, meaning that in effect a person starts as ‘Mr/Miss/Mrs’, becomes a ‘Dr’ and then goes back to being a ‘Mr’; ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’ again!

So don't worry that any dentist you go to is called "Mr".  They all have to go through standard training (5 to 7 years) before they can practice.  And by no means worry if a person you think is a doctor appears to be called "Mr" - he's likely to be a very big cheese indeed in the profession.

Actually, the word "Doctor" itself is a bit of a misnomer, since all it means is "Teacher".

thanx for explaining that to me, Howard.    very interesting...

i still wish he would have had a better look and given us some advice.  i felt as if he was trying to hurry everyone through, and by doing so, was very un-thorough.  i cleaned off most of my plaque by myself when i got home, and felt that the money we spent was a total waste.

i haven't been to a dentist in years, and was really hoping that he would have had a better look.  now we need to make another appt, with (hopefully) a better dentist, that actually does the work we are paying him to do.  although this was a NHS dentist, it still cost us about £40, and he didn't even give us a free toothbrush! 

I'm really concerned about going to the dentist here, too.  I said something about 6-month cleanings and my husband looked at me as though I'd grown a third eye.  Apparently, the dentist checks your teeth when you go in (and there doesn't seem to be a set schedule for this) and decides whether or not your teeth NEED to be cleaned.  WHAT?!?!?

 I'm not going to have a dentist refuse to clean my teeth over here!

My NHS dentist sees me every 6 months... after each appointment, they always schedule my next appointment for 6 months ahead.   'Cleaning' is not part of the normal check-up procedure.  No dentist is going to 'refuse' to clean your teeth... its just that its not part of the £15 6-monthly check-up, so you would have to schedule it as a 'cleaning' (sometimes called a de-scaling), and pay extra for it.

A lot of dental surgeries here have "dental hygienists" attached.  These are dental nurses who have received extra training in cleaning, descaling etc.  This leaves the dental surgeons more time to get on with what they are good at, filling, extracting, crowning, etc.

Yes but be careful to check that the hygienist is NHS as well, I got caught out like that by being sent downstairs to see the hygienist for a clean without being told she was private then wondering why I was being charged £40 at the end of it.

This is great info.....

Is dentistry relatively cheaper in the UK or more expensive?  I've got wisdom teeth that need to be pulled and haven't had it done here yet because its WAY too expensive.

If you get an NHS dentist it is cheaper than you can believe.

I had 3 teeth filled and 2 pulled and my total bill was under £55.

 

I had all four wisdom teeth out in the early '90s.  My then NHS dentist referred me to the dental department of a local hospital, so the thing was done under a general anaesthetic.  I had two nights in the hospital.  The whole thing was totally free.

a ha.  Thank you Peedal and Howard for the info .  I'll def wait 'til I get there then.