Went to Private Dentist

Yesterday I made my first UK dentist visit. I couldn't get an NHS dentist because there are none in my town taking on new patients--surprise, surprise. So it was a private one. I got x-rayed and he poked around at my teeth a bit, delcared me to have 'very healthy mouth', showed me my x-rays and assured me that my wisdom teeth were not going to be a bother and then spent about 5 minutes buffing at my teeth with that little brush thingy. For this I paid £63.

Is it just me, or is the level of care just not the same here! My US dentists always spent a lot more time and effort on me, probably doing a lot of expensive, showy and no doubt rather useless things, but at least I felt like I was getting something. I was handed a plastic cup of water and sent to a sink across the room to spit after my cleaning, and needed to brush my teeth when I got home because there was still a gritty feeling in there.

I don't mean to whine but WTF? *puzzled frown*

Do a search on the forum for dentists. There's another thread about positive experiences. I do think dentists are a bit less, ummm, aggressive here. I hadn't been in  y  e  a  r  s  so expected a horrid time, but I didn't even need a cleaning (scaling as they call it). Sounds mad, but it's true. You don't always need the huge cleanings you get in the US.

You said it yourself. You're probably getting stuff you don't actually need in the US. As for the fee, well, that's a whole other issue!

And next time you know to rinse better yourself!  I had that happen in the US, too.

£63 sounds awfully high for a private dentist.  I get basically the same kind of serivce that you had but haven't paid more than £45.  Without x-rays, I believe I once paid only £25.  Perhaps it would be a good idea to look around for a cheaper dentist?

Matt

I do agree that some US dentists are perhaps more profit driven, but I would prefer that and have the lovely white teeth that most American's seem to have than the reputation us Brits have (due in large part, to this very kind of attitude of British dentists) of having poor teeth.

I have needed root canal treatment this year, I attended the dentist every time I was asked to ( say, once every 4/5 mths over the last 2 yrs with the dentist telling me he would save the tooth) but the pain was just so bad, I opted to remove the tooth.

He now tells me that he will refuse to treat my sudden "bone loss" unless I give up smoking ( I am trying, believe me!) but he has not said anything about this in the last 2 years and yet suddenly it has got so bad he now feels he has the right to say he will not treat me despite not having said a word for these last two years - as he is the dentist, I expect him to tell me as we go along what the score is, not suddenly announce this condition and leave me worrying I will have no dentist and no teeth left!

And I already am incredibly self conscious over my less than perfect shiny smile, I had a very bad experience with gas/air as a child and it is a real valium job everytime I go as I have very sensitive teeth- so this kind of thing infuriates me, particularly when I read of people having to search for a dentist when they are in incredible pain and need.

Just my two pennies worth 
S