Hi Delag
many thanks for the thoughts and question...my dentist is a hospital based special care dentist, and so they only work with those people who are medically compromised...i was sent there basically because my own dentist rather woringly thought i might
drop dead in Her surgery, hence the referral, i suppose She has to be aware of the risks...i just want healthy teeth, even with my crohns and diabetes
As for the dental set up in the UK well yes most dentists have a hygenist as a independent professional, who can be seen on a private referral basis,
unfortunatly if you can actually find an NHS dentist, you will discover that such things as cleaning and descaling are not deemed as essential(??), so are still private anyway..and thus they are able to charge shedloads of cash, the dentist in my orthos surgery for example charges £95.00 for a 20 minute session, but if that is what it costs to have clean teeth for B-day they so be it.
I wonder if people on this forum are aware of the problems that people have in finding a dentist in the UK, what with the politics of NHS vs private dental treatment? It is area dependent, my ortho does both and so does His dentist, but if you are NHS, and then request something that is not available on the NHS guideline, they charge extra...eg I like to have cosmetic fillings on all my teeth, so as an NHS patient, i get the prilocaine on the NHS, also the cavity is cleaned as per the same, if i was to have silver amalgam filling then the cost is minimal (13 pounds), but my white cosmetic ones cost me about one hundred pounds each!
This some say is down to the dentist , but I side with them (well I am a medical professional),
and say it is the government who is too cheapskate to foot the bill.
My ortho is being done on the NHS, but I'm paying for the white brackets myself, even though everyone keeps telling me i can have the metal ones for free, its down to personal preferrence, its my money and i will spend it how i like!!
Hope i
have not bored you too much on this...its all just politics really, i think that health is worth every penny of its cost, and should be a neccessary right, not a privilage,for everyone whoever pays the bill.
Keep in touch B-Day in 9 days...
Jon
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