Topic: DREADED DENTIST

[busy_lizzie]

Well done Lorna, glad it is all over and wasn't too bad. Part of being an excellent dentist is putting your patient at ease.  When I went to my new one after four years and I expressed my anxiety, she sat me down and explained everything she was to do and said I could stop her at any time and was so reassuring that it made all the difference to my fears.

 I hope your teeth settle down too YP and it gets  resolved comfortably for you.  At my sister's dentist they have a TV screen above the patients chair and you can watch various things to distract you, while the dentist does their thing.  You can also take some music in for them to play, that is calming for you, which I think is a good idea.  busy_lizzie

[lorna]

busy-lizzie. I was literally laying flat on my back in the dentist chair, not sure if it was to stop me escaping or if that is the way he prefers to work. Only thing was I had to stop him a couple of times because there was so much water (from the jet thing) going down the back of my throat.. I could see what he was doing in the chrome piece of the two lights (reflection) I almost enjoyed that bit!!

[Yellow Petals]

I bottled it  :'(  My appointment was 9am today and I changed it to 16.45 so I could work up some courage - but I didn't turn up.  Nice non attending fee for next time I go, I guess. 

[Whippet]

I saw on a programme on TV last night, that fillings will soon be a thing of the past. There is a gadget out now - which some dentists already have, which gets rid of the decay in a tooth without it having to be drilled.

[EmmaLou]

I didn't go to the dentist for 10 years. When I was 18 worked as a dental nurse - due to this I got put off going again. Reason was the disgusting things that I used to see there...a couple of the nurses there would wipe the instruments on the bottom of their shoe if the patient coming in was someone they didn't like. Also instruments would get rinsed and not sterilised between patients if they didn't have time to put the autoclave on. Disgusting eh! Also the dentist I worked for came in with a stomach bug - I then caught this, but they wouldn't let me go home even though I was having to rush to the toilet every 5 mins (who knows how many patients then got it?). The next day I stayed at home feeling too ill to get out of bed - they then sent another dental nurse round to tell me I'd got the sack for not going in. To tell the truth I was glad as I didn't want to be associated with a surgery like that!

My trust in dentists wasn't improved when I did go back...I went to a private dentist who said I needed 6 fillings at the cost of £300. Not being able to afford this I didn't have them done (well I wasn't in pain!). Not long after I got pregnant, so thought I might as well make use of the free NHS treatment I would get. Well this dentist told me I didn't need any fillings. Ok...who should I believe?

[lorna]

Whippet. Wow that sounds good!! Hope my dentist has that treatment if I have any more fillings!!
 
Emma Lou. It is funny what you said about how much treatment one dentist said you needed. Lorna(jnr) takes Joshua (10) to the dentist regularly. The first dentist said EVERY time he went he needed fillings. Lorna is very fussy about his teeth and inspects them every day, sends him back to the bathroom to clean them again if she is not satisfied.  Last year she was fed up with it all and registered with a dentist nearer home, he has now had three visits and hasn't had to have any treatment. I assume dentists get paid for the amount of work they do by the NHS.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They do, unfortunatley. Occasionally one gets caught doing unnecessary work, but I assume that's only the tip of the iceberg. The thing I really don't trust them on is anaesthetic; I don't know whether things have improved, but they used to be notorious for overdosing people. A friend of mine had this happen, and it affected her heart. She could hear everything, but couldn't move or speak, and she's a nurse so she knew exactly what was happening. The dentist had no oxygen available, and was panicking. Fortunately, she pulled through. That was the same dentist who made me so ill that I ended up, several days later, having someone from the church arrive on the doorstep, extremely worried, wondering why I wasn't there to take my service. At the time, I was just starting to work on the sermon, thinking it was Saturday.

[lorna]

Robert. That is frightening!!!