A bridge too far?

[Onelife]

I’ve just made an appointment with my Dentist as I’ve noticed my bridge tooth has started to come lose (the replacement tooth not where it is attached to the good tooth) I only had it done 8 months ago at a cost of over £200..Question... do you think I should have to pay again should it need replacing?

My appointment is 3 pm this afternoon....thanks in anticipation

Regards

OL

[Quizzical Bob]

It might be advisable to get it fixed before arguing over who should pay? In my view the tooth was not fit for purpose but if you will try to crack almonds with it...

[anneed]

I'm just off to the dentist for root canal work costing £350. I've got an abscess and he's got to go through a crown to dig out the roots. I'm terrified.

Good luck with your visit.

[Onelife]

Hi QB,

I haven’t been chomping on anything I shouldn’t have so I’ll let you know how I get on after negotiations have taken place.

Anneed....Now don’t you worry about a thing....Once you’ve had the injection to numb your gum you won’t feel a thing...just make sure you’ve got some analgesics in just in case you feel a little discomfort afterwards.

You’ll be fine.

Regards

Keith

[towny44]

NHS dental work is guaranteed for 12 months and will be repaired or re-done in the case of fillings etc., free of charge.
I cannot imagine that private dental work will have a less generous guarantee.

[Onelife]

Well that wasn’t too painful, better still, it didn’t cost me either Contrary to what I thought was the problem... it was in fact the other way round...just needed some pliers, drilling and bit of cement and it’s as good as new.... didn’t even "squeak" while he was doing it

Thanks Towny...I didn't know that.

Regards

Onelife

[anneed]

Well, I survived the root canal ordeal but it really hurt! Had THREE injections and I was still yelping. Must have very sensitive teeth. Have got the Neurofen standing by for post op discomfort.

Can you imagine how people must have suffered before modern dentistry? Went to the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth recently and was struck by the comment that the skeletons were mostly very healthy apart from the frequent signs of dental abscess. Horrible.

[Frank Manning]

I had a tooth removed without anaesthetic in Hamburg in 1960. The German dentist was about 80 and his wife/dental nurse a similar vintage. I went into the Hamburg sailors mission on the way back to the ship and the Padre gave me a tot of brandy.

[gfwgfw]

Be reassured

I hesitated to have the suggested Root Canal treatment versus extraction

Went for root canal route

Required three appointments to complete

My only pain was paying for the treatment

NHS £214, but well pleased with the result

[Onelife]

Well, I survived the root canal ordeal but it really hurt! Had THREE injections and I was still yelping. Must have very sensitive teeth. Have got the Neurofen standing by for post op discomfort.

Can you imagine how people must have suffered before modern dentistry? Went to the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth recently and was struck by the comment that the skeletons were mostly very healthy apart from the frequent signs of dental abscess. Horrible.

Hi Anneed,

Are you sure your dentist put the injections in your gum? Hope you didn’t take my “don’t Worry” post too seriously else you’ll never speak to me again

However, If they carried you out on a stretcher... unable to walk... you may wish to speak too someone from one of them “no win no fee” companies?

Not a nice experience especially when you were apprehensive beforehand.... Chin up, it’s all behind you now.

Regards

Keith

[oldbluefox]

Oh dear anneed, what an ordeal but surprised the injections didn't work. Whether it was the abscess which made the difference I know not. I once had a filling done at the school clinic without an injection. I was 13 and walked from school up to the clinic (brave soldier, on my own). It was absolutely excruciating and put me off dentists f
or a long, long time. Flamin' butcher!!! After what you have been through I would have thought Keefy would have sent you a box of his chocolates just to cheer you up!! Having given you duff information and basking in the fact he got his bridge sorted without him putting his hand in his pocket it's the least he could have done!!

Keefy, pleased it all worked out well for you. Now send anneed some of your chocolates and cheer the lass up!!!

[davecttr]

During my checkups the dentist always mentions that they need to keep close attention to my gold crown. Yeah mr dentist but what you don't know is that you are not going to keep the gold. That is mine, I paid for it.

[Dancing Queen]

Thank goodness I had my annual check up a couple of weeks ago and didn't have to have anything done other than the hygienist doing a clean and polish, I'm absolutely pathetic where dentists are concerned so it is always a huge sigh of relief when told everything is fine.

[Stephen]

A good film

[Onelife]

Oh dear anneed, what an ordeal but surprised the injections didn't work. Whether it was the abscess which made the difference I know not. I once had a filling done at the school clinic without an injection. I was 13 and walked from school up to the clinic (brave soldier, on my own). It was absolutely excruciating and put me off dentists f
or a long, long time. Flamin' butcher!!! After what you have been through I would have thought Keefy would have sent you a box of his chocolates just to cheer you up!! Having given you duff information and basking in the fact he got his bridge sorted without him putting his hand in his pocket it's the least he could have done!!

Keefy, pleased it all worked out well for you. Now send anneed some of your chocolates and cheer the lass up!!!

Hi OBF,

Just because I don’t publicise every box of keefy chocolates I send out doesn’t mean I haven’t sent them ...On this occasion I decided to send a very special box of keefy chocolates which only contained soft centred chocolates ....I know they were soft centred because I tried each and every one of them before sending them...anneed please excuse the bite marks on the edges but given the caring, considerate gentleman I am, I thought you might struggle with some of the harder ones...Enjoy!!

.....

I have to say I’m pretty Ok when it comes to dentists, although I do recall not enjoying the visits when I was a kid. I hated the Gas mask that they placed over your face (If that’s not a frightening experience I don’t know what is) I think I’m right in say they used to ask you to bite onto a rubber thing that was shoved into your mouth (don't go there Stephen )...can’t think why they would have to do that but it didn’t taste very nice. Can anyone remember coming round from the Gas? You used to hear the dentist saying “you’re alright, it all done” gradually getting clearer and clearer. OH yeah! Then why the hell did I always wake up crying?

Regards

Keith

[Jan Rosser]

I remember having the gas mask before dental treatment - horrible experience - they were butchers and so insensitive i can remember looking at this frosted glass window and it sort of fading away - oh horrible memories

[david63]

The gas/gas masks at the dentist did not bother as such but the problem I had was that on one occasion when I was having some treatment that entailed having gas I came round half way through the procedure and I could not have any more gas so the dentist had to finish the treatment with me fully awake.

This experience has left me traumatised and to this day I will do anything to avoid going to the dentist.

[Keechy]

My earliest recollection of dental treatment was when I was knocked out with ether on our kitchen table to have some baby teeth removed. I can still see the white cloth shaped into a kind of mask. After that, I went to a dentist who used to use a drill and no injections - I remember being chased round the waiting room and the dentist telling me to grow up. I was about 8 or 9 at the time.

When I worked at Reckitt and Colman, they had their own dentist and he was marvellous. I followed him to his new practice and have stayed ever since after four changes of dentist. I have absolutely no qualms about any treatment as it as pain-free as is possible. My wife recently had root canal treatment WITHOUT any anaesthetic at all! She has never had any fear of dentisits. I'm not quite that brave

[Silver_Shiney]

.....

I have to say I’m pretty Ok when it comes to dentists, although I do recall not enjoying the visits when I was a kid. I hated the Gas mask that they placed over your face (If that’s not a frightening experience I don’t know what is) I think I’m right in say they used to ask you to bite onto a rubber thing that was shoved into your mouth (don't go there Stephen )...can’t think why they would have to do that but it didn’t taste very nice. Can anyone remember coming round from the Gas? You used to hear the dentist saying “you’re alright, it all done” gradually getting clearer and clearer. OH yeah! Then why the hell did I always wake up crying?

Regards

Keith

I remember all that very well, Keith.

I once had a young South African dentist working on me for a few years. Amongst the varicose treatments done, I had a crown and a root canal. He dropped the crown down my throat and I had to retch it back up. I was dreading the root canal because of all the bad press but actually, once the anaesthetic kicked in, it wasn't a problem at all. What was a problem was the injection - I've never known pain like it. And to add insult to injury, it got infected. I changed dentists after that.

On another occasion, I was at an Army base with raging toothache. There was no military dentist so I was sent off to Highworth to see a civvie - a nice young lass from New Zealand. She couldn't see anything wrong but took an x-ray and found the tooth was rotten from the inside. She jabbed me up and after a minutes went to work. Now even a wimp like me can take a little bit of pain, but when it happens you still wince. Every other dentist carries on drilling at that point, but this lass immediately stopped and gave me more anaesthetic. Brilliant. I was as high as a kite afterwards!

They do say that, with modern anaesthetics, there is no need for anyone to ever feel any pain in a dental surgery. Isn't it time this message was passed on to the dentists?

[anneed]

Well it's the next day and so far no more pain thank God.

Keith, I'm looking forward to those soft centred chocs - coffee, orange and strawberry are my favourites. As for the injections, I don't know precisely where the first two were but the third was on the inside of my mouth and most definitely in the gum, yeoww! Three of the roots were painlessly dealt with (it was a big molar) so I think the troublesome one was where the infection was centred.

I reckon the dentists were too drill happy when I was younger and I'm amazed when younger people proudly tell me they haven't got any fillings or just one or two. They must eat sweets surely? I'm surprised all the amalgam in my mouth doesn't set off security metal detectors.

[Silver_Shiney]

First thing they did when we joined the RAF in '72 was to remove every last filling in our mouths and re-do them all! I made many trips to the dentist....

[Onelife]

Hi Alan,

I’m racking my brains as to why they would want to do that?

Regards

Keith

[oldbluefox]

Keith, I'm looking forward to those soft centred chocs - coffee, orange and strawberry are my favourites.

No chance anneed, they're Keefy's favourites too. However, pleased to hear all has turned out well for you.

I remember that awful gas mask and the smell of rubber as they put it over your face. Many is the time as a young child they virtually had to carry me out of the dentists's. They seemed to love extracting teeth in those days rather than filling them. I don't know which was worse, the filling without anaesthetic or the gas mask and extraction. Neither held pleasant memories and going to the dentists is a doddle compared to those days.

[Silver_Shiney]

Hi Alan,

I’m racking my brains as to why they would want to do that?

Regards

Keith

I heard some cockamammy story about them doing it so they knew what the standard was.... certainly, years later, an RAF dentist peered in my mouth and said it was a "good air force set of teeth".

Make of it what you will.....

[Onelife]

Ah! ...for a minute I thought you were on rations of “pork crackling” for breakfast, dinner and tea

Regards

Keith