Dentist...Is there anything i can do????

[meg&mog]

Hi Guys

 

Wondered if any one could help me with this

 

I have a 15 yr old daughter who has very crooked teeth she was referred to a orthodontist(sp?) when she was approx 13 to see whether braces would help he told me she needed to stop sucking her thumb,she needed to clean her teeth properly and she needed to stop eating rubbish

 

He then sent us away and made a appointment for 4 weeks time i took her back and he said she had not done what he asked and he was not prepared to do any work on her.....she had stopped sucking her thumb alot but not altogether because he gave her 4 weeks to change the habit of a lifetime she stopped eating rubbish although to be fair she did not eat alot anyway and she started taking longer and brushing her teeth more thoroughly she may not have done enough i understand that but 4 weeks is not a long time to get a child to do all this and to see results

 

i took her back to her dentist explained to him what was said he apologised for his attitude and said he would refer her to another orthodontist we waiting a little over a year for the appointment to come through she went to see the new ortho on 30th sept...he has advised my daughter needs 4 back teeth taken out braces fitted and a retainer for 3 nights a week for the rest of her life they have told us we could go on the NHS waiting list if we do it is a 2 year wait by which time in his opinion she will be too old and she may experience more pain or we could have the treatment done now privatly at a cost to us of £1600

 

Now what i want help with is i have no problems paying for it it will be a struggle but this is her confidence and the rest of her life i,m her mum thats what i do but i need help knowing whether ppl think i should write to the original ortho tell him what his bad attitude has amounted to? whether i should write to some over seeing body of ortho,s? or whether i should just suck it up so to speak?

 

I am also concerned because i have a 12 yr old daughter who has a appoinment with the bad attitude artho on nov 4th what if he does the same?

 

Any help or thoughts would be greatly received guys thanks

 

Meg&Mog

[Agathachristie]

Fly to Hungary!

[tendogs]

NHS dentistry is the responsibility of your local primary care trust. Call them and see what they have to say. IMHO a 15 year old needs to be getting cosmetic dental work, from the NHS, free of charge as a matter of urgency

[meg&mog]

Hi tendogs

 

Thanks so much for your reply

 

A bit of a update we got refused the finance by the dentist to pay monthly so we have to find a £400 deposit and pay £150 everytime she goes for treatment

 

I contacted the dentist who referred her when i found out we hd not got the finance and he said because there is a orthodontist willing to do the work he could not refer her anywhere else does,nt seem fair since she is under 16

 

How do i find out what number i need to ring and who i need to talk to? would the NHS direct helpline be any good?

 

Thanks again

 

Meg&Mog

[meg&mog]

Hey

 

I have just rang PALS for some advice the lady was lovely and said something did not sound right she has gone off to talk to a colleague and is going to ring me back i,ll keep you posted

 

Thanks

 

Meg&Mog

[Lula]

sounds really dodgy to me, i would be putting in a complaint about the dentist

[meg&mog]

Hi another update

 

Lady from PALS rang back she asked me to get my daughters "index of orthodontic needs" apparently it is a scale ortho,s use to establish how urgent a treatment is i rang and asked them for it but the nurse said they are not privvy to that kind of infomation and i would have to ring back on tuesday when the orthodontist who saw my daughter is in ,PALS found that strange because it should be on her file so now i have to wait till tues

 

I,ll let you all know

 

Thanks

 

Meg&Mog

[Goldenleaf]

4 weeks is more than long enough to see the results of someone brushing properly. The orthodontist was absolutely right to refuse to treat your daughter and in fact would have been negligent if they had done otherwise

[meg&mog]

4 weeks is more than long enough to see the results of someone brushing properly. The orthodontist was absolutely right to refuse to treat your daughter and in fact would have been negligent if they had done otherwise

 

 

Thanks for that very unhelpful comment however on this occasion taking into consideration the advice of everyone i have spoke to in a professional capacity you are wrong!

[Conniff]

If you haven't sorted it out yet meg or mog, give these a ring. They were on the local news saying they are now open to the public free of charge as students will be doing the work.

 

Peninsula Dental School

 

Not sure how it goes, but has to be worth a try if it's not too far to travel.

[Disgruntled_Employee]

Thanks for that very unhelpful comment however on this occasion taking into consideration the advice of everyone i have spoke to in a professional capacity you are wrong!

 

Just ignore them and their whole 6 posts of which only ONE was even remotely helpful. I just don't understand why people with serious chips on their shoulders feel the need to vent and condemn others on these forums

 

Hope you get it sorted out you've already had some sound advice

Edited July 6, 2009 by Disgruntled_Employee
oops forgot where i was hehehe

[DrTeeth]

NHS dentistry is the responsibility of your local primary care trust. Call them and see what they have to say. IMHO a 15 year old needs to be getting cosmetic dental work, from the NHS, free of charge as a matter of urgency

 

The NHS does not provide purely cosmetic work. There is a long check list that orthodontists have to work through to establish a clinical need.

 

Your opinion is not worth squat as even if you ARE dentally qualified, you have not examined the patient in question.

 

DrT

[DrTeeth]

Thanks for that very unhelpful comment however on this occasion taking into consideration the advice of everyone i have spoke to in a professional capacity you are wrong!

 

No he is not. It is negligent and can do hard to do orthodontic treatment in mouths that are not clean enough. Better to have crooked and heathy teeth than a mouth destroyed by inappropriate treatment.

 

DrT

[DrTeeth]

Hi another update

 

Lady from PALS rang back she asked me to get my daughters "index of orthodontic needs" apparently it is a scale ortho,s use to establish how urgent a treatment is i rang and asked them for it but the nurse said they are not privvy to that kind of infomation and i would have to ring back on tuesday when the orthodontist who saw my daughter is in ,PALS found that strange because it should be on her file so now i have to wait till tues

 

I,ll let you all know

 

Thanks

 

Meg&Mog

 

This scale is not 100% reliable. It is quite subjective (British Orthodontic Society | Orthodontics and the NHS | What is IOTN?) and you cannot take the figure and use it between orthodontists.

 

I do have to say that what you were told about a 2 year wait to be rubbish and scaremongering.

 

Good luck

 

DrT

[meg&mog]

No he is not. It is negligent and can do hard to do orthodontic treatment in mouths that are not clean enough. Better to have crooked and heathy teeth than a mouth destroyed by inappropriate treatment.

 

DrT

 

 

On this occasion yes he is!!! my daughters mouth is not unhealthy even her dentist who see her every 6 months without fail agrees the orthodontist in question treats who he wants to regardless of whether they need it or not my daughters treatment is NOT cosmetic i think you should heed your own advice because you have not seen this patient either i am in touch with professional people who treat thousands of children in my city every month and they agree my daughter NEEDS braces NEEDS treating and should not be made to feel like she has no right to nhs services again thanks for your unhelpful comments

[DrTeeth]

Ever tried to use punctuation in your rants?

[MRSWESTHAM]

Dr Teeth obviously has issues, this site is here to help people not pick up on punctuation and spelling mistakes.

 

Im not sure which area of the country you are in and can only speak from experiences in the South but it may help.

 

I work for a GP and he has referred a few patients (one who i know personally as well as professionally) to the local hospital. Maybe its worth having a word with your G and see what he/she suggests.

 

As an ex thumb sucker I know first hand its not easy !! Good Luck x

[Conniff]

Ever tried to use punctuation in your rants?

 

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[manxcat2206]

The only thing I would suggest - seeing as it looks as if you're being charged private rates anyway at £400 then £150 per appointment - would be to maybe get a second opinion from a private dentist. I switched to private about a year ago and have been quite pleasantly surprised by the fact that it's really not that much more expensive as the NHS doesn't pay for some treatments anyway. You can also get an insurance that costs £11 per month, but takes 15% off all treatment costs (this is through a company called Practice Plan and seems far superior to DenPlan). And they will help with any general dental hygiene issues if needed by offering a deep clean before starting any treatment. The extra cleaning treatment does have to be paid for, but then you only have one set of teeth, so is worth it if you can afford it. It would also reduce the waiting time. Appreciate this may not be a solution for you, but it's another idea for you to maybe look at.

[sillygirl1]

You wouldn't happen to work for Practice Plan would you.... and clearly you don't understand that ALL childrens treatment until they are 16 is FREE under the NHS.

 

I think the original poster needs to find another orthodontist and with the help of PALS this should hopefully happen soon.

[manxcat2206]

No, never worked for any of these health insurance companies in my life. My point was that, whether or not the treatment is supposed to be free, the OP is being charge what would seem to be a private rate, so if that's what they're paying anyway, might be worth a second opinion from a private dentist rather than being charged a private rate by an NHS dentist. Particularly if they're not happy with the information they've been given.