[rant]

 

Hi everyone,

 

just wanted somewhere to put this, so thought id make use of this space.

 

im sick and tired of the damn NHS screwing everything up.

 

my last dentist made a huge bodge of my mouth (i had been with him for 15 years, long enough to mean i have to have 4 teeth out, 2 crowns done and 6 fillings redone - all work he has made mistakes on in the past) So since december, ive been on and off painkillers whilst the work has been being done by my new dentist.

 

One sunday morning (6 weeks ago) I have some problems with 2 of my wisdom teeth. Had some really sharp pain. Went to see an emergency dentist paid my £16.20 (why do i pay national insurance again?), who told me it would just take some anti-biotics to clear it. Take them for a week and then some paracetamol. Right.

 

Tried that, didnt work, went to see my normal dentist (who i have to say is brilliant) who told me i would have to have some work done to get my teeth back in line, possibly orthodontist so he booked me in to see him for a nice long session to sort out as much as he could. Went and did that, and he was right, some of my teeth out of place, but no problem, he can fix it, just got to wait for him to do some special mouthguard, it takes 10 days to sort, but hes on holiday for the next 10 days, so its going to be 3 weeks. Right.......

 

Pain gets unbearable, so i end up getting sent to an out of hours GP service. Some ignorant cow whos response was "tooth ache is bad, take paracetamol" after abit of arguing, she gives me liquid morphine. Day my dentist is back off holiday, so i go see him. He makes me a special appliance to keep my teeth apart, whilst he is sorting out other problems. Thats great except it causes too much pressure on my jaw, meaning that i cant wear it for prolonged periods of time without pain there.

 

So i have to decide, which pain do i go with, toothache or jawache (both are bad, trust me on this) however my GP steps in, and prescribes me more liquid morphine.

 

The day im meant to go back to see my dentist, my appendix decides it doesnt like the amount of drugs im on, so i spend 13 hours in hospital on the friday, and 10 more hours on the sunday. When i am admitted, doctors give me morphine, then claim its a miracle that the pain from the appendix is going away...... Advise me to lower the amount of ibrupofen and co-codamol im taking.

 

Last week i got back to my dentist, who decided he needed to take out 2 wisdom teeth, to stop some of the main pain (yay!) but after the xray, it turns out that both of them have grown down, through the nerve and are now resting on the jaw, so i need to have them taken out by operation, where they will also have to break and reset my jaw in 2 places......

 

Fine, do it, i dont care, i just want the pain to stop. so they agree to send the referral off first class, emergency. So thats a thursday delivery..... right.

 

Friday i get 1 hour sleep, saturday is the same and sunday work send me to hospital as i am in too much agony to work. Hospitals solution "take some anti-biotics, it'll stop the problem, if you still have pain in the morning, come back in and we can get them removed for you".

 

This morning, still agony, i go back to hospital, and am the only person in the waiting room, can see 2 doctors sat talking and joking in the treatment rooms. Who do i get to see? A triage nurse who refuses to book me in, unless i can get a referral from the emergency dentist,(As my own dentists referall hasnt been processed yet) or unless it blocks my breathing and means i am going to die. until then, her advice "have you taken some paracetamol?" - im on morphine, ibruprofen and co-codamol (which contains paracetamol) what else am i meant to do that wont kill me ? (and its getting tempting to drink the bottle of morphine)

 

Right, i phone the emergency dentist, who say they dont give referrals, but if its an emergency, i should phone my dentist. On a bank holiday????? that just doesnt work.... So here i am, on my laptop, dosed up with 3 types of painkillers, just waiting for the dentist to open, hoping he can do something, however temporary, as i cant survive much more of this.

 

To top it all off, work are saying ive had too much time off (in hospital) so will likely be up for review and a written warning.

 

[/Rant]

 

 

Reaper

Aw poor you!............that's so crappy!

 

Tooth pain is the worst pain ever! I suffer with my wisdom teeth quite often...(they are really slow coming through - about 15 years now)

 

Hope it get's sorted for you soon!

"Gordon Can't afford the NHS No More, Cos' he is paying for the olympics and ANOTHER BLOODY WAR, But it's all Tony Blairs fault, because he let, the NHS get into 5.5 Billion Pounds of Debt".

 

Aneurin Bevan would be spinning in his grave.

got afriend in germany who has just recommended i get a fast track passport, and go see a surgeon on their healthcare......

 

 

Reaper

Sorry to hear your still having problems :(

 

To be honest I would be tempted to go to another country as I did for all of my wisdom teeth!

 

I flew to Turkey where the mrs use to live and saw a jaw specialist surgeon that works at a nearby hospital but does dentistry too and had my wisdom teeth taken out without appointments and got seen very quickly!! with the added bonus of each tooth only taking a few seconds with no pain or problems.

 

so each time I think I may have a tooth problem the first thing I think about is going there as it will cost ALOT less whilst having a great holiday

 

So go for it Karl and all the best to ya!

Date has been set for 3rd of june (next wed) 4 wisdom teeth to be removed. and until they open it all up, they cant tell me wether they will have to break my jaw (in several places possibly) to get them out. So it could be 1 week off work, or a month off. Theyve told me i will need morphine, and that i am very likely to have to drink through a straw for a while.....

 

 

Reaper

Sorry to hear about all the trouble Reaper!

 

I've recently been unhappy with my NHS dentist; nothing major, just don't think they're doing all they can. I tried out a recommended private one in Boscombe the other day and I have to say that it's the best dentist I have ever been to, I practically enjoyed myself there. The dentist explained absolutely everything she was doing and even drew me a picture of what was going on in my mouth!

 

The best thing about the private dentist was that she actually wanted to refer me to the hospital to have my impacted wisdom teeth taken out, without me even asking. The NHS dentist wouldn't refer me because they weren't hurting me a lot or giving me infection, even thought they were pushing all my teeth around! I'm really happy about that because I know having them out will benefit me in the long run.

 

It cost me about £30 more than usual to have the private check-up and the same as NHS for a hygienist appointment, so I can certainly live with that for the sake of my mouth's health.

 

I hope everything gets sorted for you.

Hopefully it wont be too bad. But they have said it may inflame alot. Feel free to come over and get a photo for WDF

Hi as others have said... sorry you have had crap. I have to say (feel i have to support nhs a bit being as i worked for it for 13years!) as with anything, there are good and bad dentists in and out of the nhs. i have personally had the priviledge or working with some EXCELLENT nhs dentists and maxillofacial surgeons. I am so sorry you have been messed about by these people and unfortunately you are very vulnerable to just agreeing with anything that may help you with your pain.

 

i would suggest getting hold of a PALS representative for you local NHS trust and get some advice. It is important that vulnerable people are NOT messed around like this; it is not acceptable and someone needs to act upon it. Do something positive with your bad experience. We need to help make the service better rather than bog off to another country which does not necessarily guarantee you getting a better experience.

 

If you need help with this pm me and I will try to help.

 

In the meantimes cuddles to you xxx

Some Dentists are amazing and some are terrible!

 

When I was on NHS I had an amazing dentist (he was semi private) but im now on private heathcare so I get what I want, when I want... it saves soooo much hassle...

 

Sorry to hear about your teeth dude... Hopefully you will get it sorted FINALLY

Ill look at getting in touch with PALS, but dont want the people who have done a proper job to be tarred with the same brush, if that makes sense.

 

If nothing else, it is worth getting the cuddle from guezala

Ive now got 4 less teeth (yay) but there are a couple of minor problems:

 

1) there is anice cut/mark on my upper lip, where a tube was resting on it for an hour, so that is constantly stinging (not the end of the world - just looks really silly)

 

2) i have to go back to dentist, as they accidentally pulled out one of my fillings as they were taking the tooth next to it out.....

 

 

Reaper

Teeth are always bad. Hardest part right now, i cant have anything that may upset the stitches, so im trying to eat soft things that i dont have to chew too much as the last thing i need is another month worth of problems....

I hope you can get everything sorted! Medical wise I've had loads of problems with the NHS and now go private for most things. Luckerly I know a pretty good NHS dentist though.

Sorry to hear your problems. That being said, the NHS is the best.

 

I'm not going to go into it, but we have the best health service in the world which is essentially free.

Surely national insurance being deducted from my paypacket kinda defeats the object of it being "free" ?