Why exactly is it, that just after you get dregistered from your Dentist, for leaving it too long between appointments and therefore not earning him enough money....you cap decides to come adrift? I mean, just which particular Law of Physics covers this one? Sods' Law? Murphys' Law? I am beginning to nurture a growing dilike of the dental profession in this country. No personal offence to any of you that per chance are actually of that profession......just fed up anmd toothless at the moment. Ahhhh....I feel a bit better now.............thanks for listening!

Vinnie

Ola Vinnie

This is nothing. I have been a good money maker for the local dentist where I`m living. but let`1s not go to deep into that matter... they are always happy when I show up.
Last year I had a bad spot ( I don`t really know the name for it in English but it isn`t a wound and it hurts like hell) in my Jaw right under a tooth which had a Root canal couple of years back. Well of course it happened in the weekend. And here in the weekend it means your own Dentist has no Duty as there must be days to spend all the money they earn on the poor suckers that come around during the week. So you have to go to a replacement Dentist who has Weekend Duty. Well to tell you If somebody had stocks in Paracetamoll and Painkillers they would see the stock market on paracetamol and Painkillers rise to enormous hights. Ad getting anormously rich with that. Pain was so bad I already stood with a hammer in front of the mirror to hammer the hell out of my mouth and get rid of the pain. I went to the Weekend Dentist... She gave me a good injection with a very heavy painkiller and the pain immediately started to get away... Or at least hid itself somewhere I didn`t feel it. She took pictures of me... found out there was a root canal already in it and that she couldn`t fix it. Had to make an appointment with my regular dentist. So I was send back.
Both my parent work in the hospital and my dad ordered some Antibiotics for the bad spot and I actually got a cure. Well needless to say that within 4 days there was no pain at all anymore so I never made the appointment with the dentist and actually laughed a bit at them because they didn`t get my hard earned money.
Of course happyiness lasts only a year and guess what the bad spot came back and worse then ever. I took painkillers that would bring down a Full grown African Elephant and I got crazy with pain. I made an Appointment with my local Butcher (Dentist)
Of course you know what happened... absolutely no sympathy for my miserable situation... the usual "you should have listened to my advice" bladibla And now you have a bigger problem and you probably have to go to the Hospital... She made pictures that costed a fortune... Then she wrote a little note that costed a fortune. She asked me how I got through my hell with all the pain and I told her about the painkillers and she almost fainted... which costed a fortune... She also wrote an appoiuntment for the Jaw specialist in the hospital.. a fortune... and she said me goodbye... well you guess it.. a fortune
Staying outside with empty pockets I went to home and immediately called the Jaw specialist in the hospital. I went there for pictures and then went to see the Jaw specialist who said I really needed to return and be helped by him... sure he knew it would cost me an arm and a leg but it was the joy of living without the agony and normal sleep... that were his words. So I went back to the counter to make an appointment. Sure said the lady... will bladibla may do?.................................. WILL BLADIBLA MAY DO!!!!!!!!!! that is over a Month we were living in April at the time Is earlier not possible lady as I could well die of terrorising pain in that time but no it was not possible before that time as the Jaw specialist had to go to Guadeloupe first to spend all the money he earned from the suckers that made appointments with him for torture during that month. So the girl at the counter wrote me a note for new painkillers and antibiotics which of course costed double fortune because the advice of the Jaw Specialist had to be paid and of course the beautifull Egyptian handwriting of the girl who made the note and another bunch of other pretty stupid stuff.
Ok 1 month later Finally went there... was sedated spend a half an hour in the seat.... The specialist did his job... of course for a fortune and his servants were also helping which of course costed a fortune too. Had a miserable week from recovering from the big gap it made in the flesh underneath my teeth and the hacking a big hole in my jawbone and that to heal and such well i started to feel all better

Morale of the story above. Probably it is better to listen to your dentist... somehow it saves you half a fortune

PS sorry for writing a novel in your post

Robert, I feel your pain! In more ways than you know! I only hope the dentists turn on each other one day and cause each other as much pain and financial hardship to each other as they have to everybody else. I view their present battle with the National Health Service in this country akin to allowing Solicitors to advertise. It is the death knell of their professionalism. They're in it for the money, the same as ambulance chasers!

Vinnie

So Robert, got any of those pain killers left? We could have a party :-)

Vinnie, I know exactly what you mean. I had a cap put on my tooth several years ago. Then, one day for no reason at all it came off. Just like that it went...pop. Well, $700 later I had a brand new one put on my tooth. Money well spent, ey?

I am lucky enough to have a good dentist (friend of the family on my wife's side) so he is taking good care of me. Still, the service doesn't come cheap. I think I still have an $800 balance on my account there and that's after having stuff paid for by insurance.

Insurance...What a SCAM! Oh, don't get me started on that one.

When you sit in the dentists chair hold a large pipe wrench in front of his family jewels and say "now, we're not going to hurt each other are we?" LOL

I don't have a dentist - I worked a fair way from home so I always made my appointments on a Saturday - then he started only doing NHS (non-private) appointments on two mornings a week, then eventually handed these to a trainee (professional sadist). Well, I got fed up with having to take a whole day off just to go for a check-up; result - struck off the books and no other dentist willing to take non-private (read skint!) patient. Perhaps he also got fed up with the deep fingerprints and scratch marks on the arms of his chair!!

PS: the dentist has a Jaguar and a yacht - then claims to be 'just a worker trying to make a living'!!! :-)

Hmmm, Interesting thread, Personally I find it insulting to say the least! Sure there may be bad apples in the dental profession, but I have never met a more careing, or giving group of professionals. I think the lot of you should take a closer look at what you say, these posts are just as inflamitory as any political discussion IMHO.

AND I DRIVE A VW!

A VW? You need to come to this country and work for the NHS John. I did say no offence John, we're having a laugh...............at BRITISH dentists. Not Orthodontic surgeons, which in this country is a different thing. Tomorrow we're tackling doctors (No offence Engin!) Lol

Vinnie

I fully understand its a joke.

I suppose we were getting a bit vitriolic! Our bark is worse than our bite! (We've had all our teeth pulled!)

Vinnie

Next time you're in the dentist's chair just think Olivier and 'Is it safe?' Works for me every time (and I have to undergo a military dentist - all our medics are the ones who weren't good enough to get taken on by the NHS...)

I never worry about Dentist.....
Really nice folks......
Of course, my teeth are like the stars.....
they come out at night....... or for me day.......
:-) :-)

I finally found a decent dentist.. For the first time in my 40 odd years, I have found someone that actually listens to me. He gives me enough numbing meds so I dont feel anything.. Wont go into the experiance of having my wisdom teeth done in the chair. He also never tries to "upsell" me.. He will give me an opinion and then another course of action and he is quite happy to let me make the final decision..
Have had one guy at the same office offer me a deal to have a couple injections to clear up a gum infection.. Wanted 250 for each shot.. Told me he would do it for 200 each... Amazing the reaction you get when you tell them to leave the room.. But Ive gone from a life long dislike for dentists to being actually a regular at the place. And I love my hygenist.. Never feel a poke or a prod...

Dave

My mother cleaned at a dentists office a few years back. Now I know longer trust them.
No offense to any dentists but just that you would be surprised at how many jaws he accidently broke.

I haven’t had many problems but when I was younger I had to baby teeth that needed pulled. Now that may sound as if its nothing but for some reason both these teeth had a nerve fastened to them that wasn’t supped to be there. The teeth were on opposite sides of my mouth and wouldn’t come lose when the other tooth started pushing on them.
I put up with them for about a year before the dentist decided they weren’t going to come out on there own. So he had me come back a few weeks later.

Well the dentist messed up. Luckily he gave me an overdose of pain medication. Sadly it didn’t really kick in until after he pulled the teeth and let me tell you those nerves that weren’t supposed to be there be there were very sensitive. But after I stood up out of the chair that was it. Apparently the dentist caught me and him and my mother had to carry me out to the car. I don’t remember the rest of that day.

Then the next time he saw me he wanted to give me braces cause the teeth that were coming in those spots were not as straight as they would have been had I not had a problem.
I told him that as a redneck it really doesn’t mater if there straight its just a wonder I still have them.

Uh Redneck, Just how did your mother find out how many "jaws" this dentist broke? I would be real careful who you tell this story to, You mom may have violated 2 or 3 federal laws to get that info.

I must admit that my experiences with the dental practice have been no different to those with GPs... some good, some bad.

I have my authodontist to thank for my 2 rows of (now) almost perfectly alligned pearly whites - trust me, they looked like a blasted-out panzer before he got to work on my chompers...

I'm not sure how things work in other countries, but here you don't need to register or deregister for GP's and dental practitioners... you just go, and if you're not happy with the service, you go elsewhere... and thus the bad ones get weeded out of private practice, and either end up working for the state... or leave the country - normally for the UK

As for making money.... well why not? They're professionals as well and paid alot for their education... so why shouldn't they be allowed to recover those costs and reap the benefits?

Whenever I start to complain about how much professional services charge per hour... I just remind myself of how much my firm charges me out to clients at... it sort puts everything back in perspective - and I normally realise what a bargain I'm getting....

Rudi

p.s. I don't drive an Audi, Mercedes Benz, BMW, or even a VW.... I drive a bottom of the range Toyota 1300cc hatch-back...

John I don’t think she did but I will keep that in mind.
As far as I know all of the staff at that office knows. As well as many of the patients I’ll bet. It’s a small area he covers.

Any way I will point out that my mother has worked at a few deferent dentist offices and I have never said which one it was as I don’t want to give him a bad name.


I should probably also point out that I had a relative that was a dentist as well so its not that I don’t like them. Just that I know things can do wrong.

whiners....

I know what you mean Arnold, but really Dentists don't whine that much. A bit I suppose, but then they do have to poke around in other people's mouths all day.

Vinnie

My dentist and orthodontist are both great. They genuinely care for their patients, and always tell me exactly what I'm getting myself in for. I've never had any pain at the dentists, and my orthodontist always goes out his way to fit people in and almost always works an extra long day. I went in earlier when he was finishing for the day because a wire snapped on my braces, and he was happy to sort me out, even though he had already overrun his finishing time. They are great people, and if they want to charge a lot that's up to them. They are the ones who had to go through years of expensive training.

Your lucky to get one,
No dentist around my area will take you on as an NHS paitent however if you want to come as a private paitent they will gladly see you ....no morals just greed and are putting peoples heath at risk because they have an issue with the NHS not a nice state of affairs to be in

Well Davy if the NHS is anything like Medicaid here, I bet the reason they won't take it is because re-imbursement is BELOW cost!

Two jobs I would never want....
Dentist... or Proctologist.......... :-) :-)
They earn every cent....... rolling on floor..... :-) :-)

My only input about all of this is WHY does dental insurance have to be differant that normal medical insurance?

What kinda society says that its ok for insurance to cover a doctor looking up your ass with a scope but won't fix a tooth in your head? All of this considering, that YOUR MOUTH isn't any place that you'd want an infection so close to the BRAIN that runs the entire body!