"A pox on dentists." Topic

I've been to the dentist today to have a cracked tooth looked at, £42.00 GBP for him to take a look. If I want him to sort it, it's going to cost another £900.00 GBP
The thing is though, when I was a kid I visited a (different) dentist regularly, and between the ages of 15-17 the dentist put 9 fillings into my teeth, that's right 9 fillings in 2 years. So I stopped going regularly after that. Shortly after dental work stopped being on the NHS and shortly after that a scandal broke, it seemed that dentists while working for the NHS were filling teeth unnecessarily, (9 fillings in 2 years eh?)
Anyway the cracked tooth is one that had been filled by the fist dentist, I know it was one of his, as in the last 28 years I have not had another filling.
Now I'm not really complaining about the cost, after all, the poor dentist has got to keep his Merc on the road, but what really bugs me is that about 80% of the work I have had done on my teeth in the last 28 years is due to the fillings the first dentist put in and once again muggins here is going to have to stump up to have my teeth repaired because as I child I was a victim of state sponsored GBH.

Yep state run programs NEVER have fraud/abuse/cost over runs/or quality service.

One of those comments above is actually true!

Haven't been to the dentist for a regular visit since I was 15 and in school uniform. I'm now 35 and apart from an emergency visit one christmas (that cost me £25.00 GBP for a recommendation to use sensodyne) I haven't bothered since! Bloody rip off like everything else in the UK!

I've had great dental service in my day. I've never had a problem with my teeth from cavities and what not, the only issue I've ever had was when I was mugged in Lancaster at Historicon one year.

When I was knocked out I must have fell and clanked my jaws together and it killed one of my teeth. That needed a root canal. The dentist was competent, it was expensive, but it was probably also a lot of work. The experience wasn't bad, I listened to Machiavellis The Prince on my MP3 player while I was there.

But of course that was in the US, there are bad dentists here, I'm sure, but I haven't really run into any. Not all of my dentists have been great, but they have never been bad.

I had one tell me not to come back for a year as my teeth were so good.

I had a tooth pulled a few months ago that cost 130 usd. What was absurd, was the fact that they insisted on having an X ray even though they already had one from a year ago. Of course they charged an additional 50 dollars, and subjected me to possible harmfull radiation for personall benefit.

I've been to the dentist today to have a cracked tooth looked at, £42.00 GBP GBP GBP for him to take a look. If I want him to sort it, it's going to cost another £900.00 GBP GBP GBP

I thought you guys lived in a National Healthcare Utopia? <G>

No, seriously – I thought that stuff was covered by insurance over there.

Here in the States, I love my dentist – he isn't cheap, but it's mostly covered by private insurance, and he lives dentistry. When it has been expensive, he lets me pay by installment. I've generally had terrible teeth throughout my life, and now over half are filled/crowned/bridgework.

I figure the way to go is to get as much done while I have coverage as possible, since most of my life has been uninsured.
-Kle.

Remember, that it's the Dentist you have to worry about, not Dentistry. I have had several similer experinces in the past.

Had my regular dentist who I liked very well, he retired and sold his practice to a new guy. First time I walked in, I suddenly need a deep gum cleaning (a $1000US procedure) and had 3 cavities. My old dentist had been working with me to keep me from having a deep gum cleaning, so I knew this guys was shovling a load. I literal walked out on this guy, and then it took me a year to find a good, new dentist. To show you how money grubbing this new guys was, he would mail me documents telling me how much was still unspent on my dentist insurance for the year, so I should come in and not waste it. The new dentist I found was highly recommended and when I first went in, I was told that my gums were fine and I had no cavities.

Dentists and Doctors are the same as all other people, there are great ones, and there are crooks. Finding the good ones is hard.

You're complaining about a filling having to be redone after 28 years?
I've got a back, top row tooth missing that the dentist- not my regular- felt had to be taken out "in order to make cleaning the one next to it easier", even though it was a perfectly healthy tooth.
Another dentist- same practise- removed a cracked tooth and replaced it with a false one which fell out within a week.
I was on holiday at the time and when I went back to see him I was told the thread had been damaged due to eating on it(perhaps he thought I should have fasted whilst on holiday) and I would need – a bridge.
Painful- he took so long the anasthetic wore off and I was so sick of sitting in the chair I just told him to get on with it- and expensive.
And it never has looked right- you can tell it's a bridge at 10 paces.
Another dentist again- same practice- has twice 'capped' two chipped front teeth, despite the fact that those sort of caps NEVER work.
"Trust me, this will not come away"…it did, after 24 hours.

I don't use them anymore…although I may have to go back as I can't get national health treatment locally anymore.

I must say £900.00 GBP seems a bit steep though. I was quoted £55.00 GBP for a filling and a check up- although that was an 'offer'.

"You're complaining about a filling having to be redone after 28 years?"
No, I'm complaining that it is going to cost me best part of a grand to bodge up a tooth that should not have been filled in the first place.
"removed a cracked tooth and replaced it with a false one which fell out within a week."
Yep that's what I've got to look forward too, and if past experience is anything to by, I should probably just have it pulled now, and all because some greedy, thieving, cheating b*****d filled my perfectly healthy teeth just to boost his income.
"I must say £900.00 GBP GBP seems a bit steep"
As I said in the first post the cost is not the issue, I am satisfied that the price is not unreasonable.