Toothy dilemma

[Moscow Mule]

I have had one filling in 25 years, do you guys brush your teeth?

Yup, twice a week, without fail.

PS: how much of a lead do you tink England will get?

[Freamon]

The work done on the NHS is usually of lower quality, using lower quality materials. A crown should last for 10-15 years. The one I had done on the NHS lasted 5.

There will usually be an NHS dentist hospital close but you are going to be getting treatment from students, free of course.

This is another myth. Pretty much all NHS dentists run private clinics as well, so you are getting treatment from exactly the same people.

NHS work does often use lower quality materials (e.g. the fillings), the trick is to go private for these bits and get the rest done under the NHS. This can be done by the same dentist in the same session.

[Flubster]

My missus has spent the last 18 months having major treatment with her teeth (7 implants, 2 bridges, 3 fillings and 1 veneer along with bone grafting on her jaw). All done privately - £22k in total. I'm a contractor an can afford it. She, quite frankly, went through a lot more pain than I did.

Having said that, If she ever leaves me, I'm having the teeth back...

[ASB]

There will usually be an NHS dentist hospital close but you are going to be getting treatment from students, free of course.

I have had one filling in 25 years, do you guys brush your teeth?

Every August whether they need it or not.

My problems only really seemed to start when treatment for a condition commenced. This comprised high dose steroids for a few years (now on more normal dosage) also a lot of immuno suppressants recently switched to methotrexate. Certainly haven't found any studies establishing a causal link but there does seem to be a lot of anecdotal evidence of problems.

[lukemg]

First the bad news - due to being a contractor, ignored the sensitivity in a molar from hot/cold drinks and kept working.
More bad news - due to delay, rot had reached root of tooth needing root canal work. This was 50 minutes of torture using tiny files to remove all trace of rot while having increasing amounts of painkiller injected (due to the pain).
Good news - Dentist is my brother so only had to cough for the gold cap.
Moral - get a checkup, it might save a lot of pain and money later.

[Pondlife]

First the bad news - due to being a contractor, ignored the sensitivity in a molar from hot/cold drinks and kept working.
More bad news - due to delay, rot had reached root of tooth needing root canal work. This was 50 minutes of torture using tiny files to remove all trace of rot while having increasing amounts of painkiller injected (due to the pain).
Good news - Dentist is my brother so only had to cough for the gold cap.
Moral - get a checkup, it might save a lot of pain and money later.

You picked on him when you were younger, didn't you.

[sasguru]

Only just seen this. Had a root canal done privately for £200 (the cleaning bit) and an extra £150 for the white crown (on the NHS).
No pain at all from the root canal, just some slight discomfort.
But then I am double 'ard.

[Clippy]

So, had this work completed last week with the fitting of the crown.

A few days later, the affected tooth started to feel sensitive which, I presumed would settle.

Unfortunately, it hasn't and is now a combination of sensitivity and pain similar to that experienced prior to this dental work.

I'm going to leave it a few days and see if it clears up before contacting my dentist but my fear is that the end result, whenever that may be, will be tooth removal.

If so, I won't be best pleased as, when I first visited my dentist regarding this tooth, I did say I thought removal would be the only real option as the tooth had a large filling and I didn't think it would support a crown. However, my dentist never said anything and root canal, as far as she was concerned, was still a viable option.

Questions that come to mind are:

- If further remedial treatment is required should I be expected to pay?
My thoughts are that I should not be expected to pay for any further remedial treatment.

- If remedial treatment is not an option and the tooth needs to be removed, should I expect a partial refund?
My thoughts are that I should be entitled to half the money back as, if I had initially opted for tooth removal, the cost would have been £375.
As it stands, I have potentially spent money on unnecessary treatment. FYI, the treatment cost a total of £750: £375 for the root canal work and £375 for the crown.

I have a good relationship with my dentist and wouldn't want something an incident like this to spoil that but need to balance it with potentially having spent a fair bit of money on treatment that was either in-sufficient or unnecessary.

Thoughts?

[sasguru]

So, had this work completed last week with the fitting of the crown.

A few days later, the affected tooth started to feel sensitive which, I presumed would settle.

Unfortunately, it hasn't and is now a combination of sensitivity and pain similar to that experienced prior to this dental work.

I'm going to leave it a few days and see if it clears up before contacting my dentist but my fear is that the end result, whenever that may be, will be tooth removal.

If so, I won't be best pleased as, when I first visited my dentist regarding this tooth, I did say I thought removal would be the only real option as the tooth had a large filling and I didn't think it would support a crown. However, my dentist never said anything and root canal, as far as she was concerned, was still a viable option.

Questions that come to mind are:

- If further remedial treatment is required should I be expected to pay?
My thoughts are that I should not be expected to pay for any further remedial treatment.

- If remedial treatment is not an option and the tooth needs to be removed, should I expect a partial refund?
My thoughts are that I should be entitled to half the money back as, if I had initially opted for tooth removal, the cost would have been £375.
As it stands, I have potentially spent money on unnecessary treatment. FYI, the treatment cost a total of £750: £375 for the root canal work and £375 for the crown.

I have a good relationship with my dentist and wouldn't want something an incident like this to spoil that but need to balance it with potentially having spent a fair bit of money on treatment that was either in-sufficient or unnecessary.

Thoughts?

Root canal work often requires more than one go if the nerve hasn't been completely removed for some reason.
Luckily that wasn't the case for me, but I was warned that it was a possibility.
Your first step is to see your dentist asap and find out what's what.

As for payment I think dentists work on a time and materials basis - but you could argue that as the work hadn't been done properly in the first place any firther work should be free.
BTW my dentist is excellent based in central london and seems considerably cheaper than yours.

[EternalOptimist]

BTW my dentist is excellent based in central london and seems considerably cheaper than yours.

He's probably got more room to manouvre, it's easier if you can get your elbows in