A new target for vitriolic rants... Dentists !

[Visitor Q]

Righto then, as I haven't been for a couple of years I thought a check up may be useful (despite my notably perfect nashers).

Went in there, £39 quid for the priviledge. Never mind, I can cope with that.

A couple of minutes in;

- "When did you last /get/ these cleaned?" (ie paid for someone to root about for me).

- "Erm, a few years back"

-"Right well we /suggest/ you do it every 6 months"

This at a cost of £45 bloody quid. For some nonce to pick about in your teeth for you... I think bloody not.

Then having helped her out of a few technical words she'd forgotten when describing this to me (like occlusion How the hell can a dentist forget that dammit) she told me the penultimate molars on the lower jaw (LL6, LR6) needed a re-application of Fissure sealant (£35 a tooth) and...

Drumroll please....

Back molars LL7 + LR7 need composite filling to plug the tiny minute beginnings of cavities that are just forming... guess how much /per tooth/... £90

So work on 4 teeth, a clean and this 2 minute 'clinical exam' had a bill of...

£ 3 3 4 . 0 0

Now to clarify I've only had (and therefore paid) the 39 quid check up fee. But seriously, 4 teeths worth of preventative work and a bullshit clean costs £295 apparently?

I'm going to ring another couple of dentists and explain what the job would be and see what they cost as. But bugger me, how the fuck has everyone just magically forgotten that NHS dentists used to be the one good thing we bloody had going.
Suddenly a young guy with great teeth is being asked to drop a third of a grand on what could basically be achieved by ones self with the proper tools... how the hell do all these old buggers cope?
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China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...

[Ariel Badger]

Is that NHS rates? I got antibiotics and a check-up with a clean and scrape for £16 last week.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[Visitor Q]

[syl]

Either find an NHS dentist and have it done cheaper (but without the sealant and with amalgam fillings) or pay the going rate for private work. The white filling material and sealant cost money and of course you have to pay for the dentist's time, the dental nurse's time and the overheads of the building.

How long an appointment slot will it take? From work I've had done on my car in the past I know that workshop labour charges are £60-100 an hour - what do you expect someone who spent five years at dental school to charge for his/her time?

That's not to say that there aren't some unscrupulous dentists around. I went for a check-up, because I had some pain from a tooth, and had to see someone privately. He recommended 12 fillings! I told him to start with the one that was causing me pain and after that had been done I went to see someone on the Nash 10 miles away. I had two more fillings there, though I did pay privately and have white ones, and three years and several check-ups later (by several dentists) only one more filling has materialized.
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Current bike: Kawasaki Z750S

[B_A_B]

[carvell]

[Visitor Q]

[Didge]

[Ste]

Never knew there was dental school, I thought dentists were people who'd dropped out of med school.

I don't see any point in going for the dentist for checkups, I'm perfectly aware that there's nothing wrong with my teeth, I don't need someone else to tell me that especially not if they want paying for it. When there is a problem, something will start hurting and that's when I'll go to the dentist. In the mean time I'll just continue brushing my teeth.

No fillings, no problems, and about 6 years without seeing a dentist.

Having said that I'm probably now going to wake up tomorrow morning with really bad tooth ache but there we go.

[Visitor Q]

[Ste]

The best incentive to make sure you clean your teeth properly is to get one of the DIY filling kits and read the instructions and then think "Fuck that, I'm just going to clean my teeth!!"

Although the bottle of clove oil the DIY dentist kit comes with is interesting, a little bit of it massively numbs your mouth which is fun even though I have no need to numb my mouth.

[Fastkwak]

[Cigaro]

As Jeremy Clarkson says, your teeth are the hardest part of your body. Personally I only go to the dentist when something is wrong, and that's very rarely. Clean them every day and you'll be fine.

What do you think man did before dentists?

[Tonka]

Personally, I think your rant is pretty well justified, but it's a standard affair wherever you go these days - someone always wants to fleece you. It doesn't matter whether it's work on your car, bike or house you have to be on the ball else you'll get ripped off.

I think you did well to question it and I do even when I see the same dentist every 6 months. They should be able to speak with you and justify what they want to do and why and if you're not convinced then it's your money.

As to Ste and your comment about going for checkups - a good dentist will be checking your gums too, as this is where disease can strike undetected by you which will then cause perfectly healthy teeth to drop out!

I don't wish to be a gummy-wonder, so I go every 6 months, but that's my choice and my hard-earned money!!

= big smile with lurvley teef!!
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[Visitor Q]

[Tonka]

BTW Did your Dentist give you a 10 minute lecture about your tongue piercing?

Mine did and that was after the 10 minute one I'd had from the Hygenist just before!
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[Visitor Q]

No. I even left it in while they were doing the rooting about.
They wouldn't have got very far put it that way.

One thing though is mine is plastic, and I evidently don't chew it etc as my teeth/gums are immaculate. So they'd be hard pressed to give me a good reason.
____________________
China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...

[Feasty]

I went to the dentist about 6 months ago and before that about 6 years previously!

I had a checkup and a teeth clean, which is all I've ever needed since seeing a dentist for the first time, and the dentist told me he normally suggests 6 monthly checkups but in my case don't bother coming back for a year!

Prior to that when I was at college/uni my checkups always went along the same lines - i.e the dentists enquiring if I was on some sort of diet that cut out sweets, sugar etc! I just laughed and said nope, I've always eaten crap!
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Previous: Aprilia Habana Retro 50cc (beauty), Yamaha SR125 (fell apart), Honda XR125 (nippy little commuter), Honda SLR650 (Geewhizz), Yamaha Diversion 900S (Smoooooth) written off courtesy of a stupid escaped horse.
(7 year gap), BMW F650 (Relaxing ride). Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 (Big and bold). Yamaha FZS600 (got me in trouble too quick!).
Current: Yamaha TDM 900 (Comfy, light but big, power when needed). Also now a Tiger 1050, easily best of the lot!

[pa_broon74]

I have a denplan thing on the go, costs £15 a month and so far has covered everything thats needed done. Over the past two or three years I've averaged one issue per year which would've cost roughly the same as the monthly payments for the year... If you see what I mean... Ummm...

Anyway, the best thing about it is I am now a customer. The dental secretary can no longer send me those snippy wee cards if I miss an appointment, they also can't fine me for being late.

I have to say dentistry is definitely an art form. I developed a very healthy respect for my dentist after I needed to have root canal work done. I'll gloss over the fact that it was partially his fault, (I had a cavity into which he'd applied a temporary filling which subsequently became infected.)

Everyone said "ooooh, root canal work! Thats going to sting I can tell you!!" and "Best get knocked out completely for it, its soooooo painful,..." I never felt a thing, not even the injections. I'll gladly continue paying my 15 quid knowing that my dentist isn't a cack-handed sadist.


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Didn't catch anything.

[Tonka]

[syl]

[cqueen]

I've just had (mouth is still numb) that exact same dental treatment on NHS.

Grand total, including the checkup last month, scale and polish...

£44.

Bargin.