Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

The problems started for me with school dentists and that hook thing they used to jam into each tooth in turn trying to gouge a piece of tooth out, that was in the 60s, it continued into the 70s and 80s, nobody used Xrays they just dug around trying to break into your teeth, I'm sure they got money from the NHS depending on what they did.
These days I dont think the money from the NHS is as good as it was back then so its not a money spinner anymore.

More recently I have paid for root canal treatment in an effort to fit a crown and after two appointments told it wont work and then having it pulled out, I've still got half a tooth where they gave up trying to get one out and just stitched the gum over the remains of it, it took a while before it resurfaced by which time I had given up on them.

 

You’ve probably grown out of it, @ViewAhead! Seriously, all my new fillings were done when I was a child, one of six children, living in a council house on a very tight budget, evening meal was piles of bread and jam, and we had two teaspoons of sugar in our tea! (Thank goodness for school dinners) No fluoride in our toothpaste, which was a horrible concoction by Gibbs, a solid disc in a tin, which we could rub our damp toothbrushes on to create a foam.
I gave up sugar in tea when I went to dental school, and found out what had been causing the problems! Since then, virtually all the work I’ve needed doing has been repairs as the old fillings eventually failed, but thankfully, so far, I’ve hung onto all my permanent teeth. They might not look like much, but the gums are in great condition!

 

Probably not the best time to confess that I was a school dentist for years, @pete! Please be reassured that the hook thing wasn’t being used to gouge bits of tooth out!

 

Better to garden wearing your boxers than not wearing them! That might give your nosey neighbour more to look at than she bargained for

 

It was just my experience at the time being on the receiving end

Dentistry does seem to have changed in more recent times a lot less drilling.

 

You're absolutely right about them being paid per filling, at least in the 1970s. It was known as "drilling for gold". I suspect the three molars that suddenly all needed filling at once when I was a teenager were absolutely fine.

I've had a bad and then a good experience recently, same practice, same tooth, different dentist. The filling in that tooth has been replaced multiple times. A couple of years ago the anaesthetic didn't take effect enough and I had a lot of pain during the procedure, first time that's ever happened to me. The dentist eventually had to stop spraying water because that was what triggered the pain. Last autumn I had some severe pain on that side of my mouth, which went after about a week and I thought well I've got a checkup appointment coming, I'll get it looked at then. The checkup was cancelled, and my rescheduled one cancelled again - when I asked why, they said it was because they had a lot of procedures to do and were prioritising them over checkups. Seems fair enough. Anyway I finally got my checkup in January, when they X-rayed me and found the tooth was decaying again. So I wonder if being in pain during the procedure prevented it being completed correctly - a good filling should last a lot more than a couple of years.

I was absolutely terrified at the filling appointment, so I told them about the pain last time and they gave me the normal injection plus extra ones around the tooth. Didn't feel a thing, and the tooth has felt fine since.

I had a friend in the 1980s who was a newly qualified dentist. She use to introduce herself to everyone with "Hello, I'm Jane, I'm a dentist!" causing them to close their mouths and back away. Anyway she had to give up on an extraction once, she told me about it afterwards saying "I felt like such a failure". She was only a tiny thing and I imagine it takes a bit of strength to do an extraction, even with the right tools.

 

Yes extractions have always been a dire experience for me, lots of hammering and drilling to get the roots out and as I said earlier one dentist gave up and the roots are still there after more than 10 years.
I had two wisdom teeth taken out and was referred to a place in Rochester, I was dreading it, they whipped them both out in less than 10 minutes.
The place I've been going to for years seems to have a massive turnover of dentists, they move on after about 2 years max.

 

I once had pain on a tooth being drilled for a filling and had to put my hand up to stop. The dentist said it was sensitivity to the cold water and gave me another jab and I was OK. So about 6 months ago, when I had a broken tooth repaired with a different dentist I warned him about this, so he gave me max strength anaesthetic he could give and I was pain free for the whole hour. I now always mention that I want max strength. I have no idea what they give you anyway.

I have the same pain problem with the hygienist as they use cold water, although they have other dry methods they don't like to use them - too much hard work probably.

 

I grew up with the drill and fill philosphy. Zinc/mercury amalgam was used at the time and a number of dentists and dental nurses suffered from varying degrees of chronic mercury poisoning.
A problem with drill and fill is that the only way you can go is bigger and bigger fillings until the tooth needs capping or removing.
At that time my dentist had very strong, very hairy arms and was one of the few people who had foreign holidays.
Pain relief was offered along the lines of "a big boy like you won't need an injection will you". Followed by "if it hurts just raise your hand" you moved the hand at all and got "don't move or it will hurt". He then got into the habit of giving you the suction device to hold so you couldn't raise the hand.
His son was a dentist and I believe his grandson also became a dentist and took over the practice.

 

That sounds like my dentist when I was a child. We were never offered local anaesthetic for fillings, and if I had my hand up when it hurt, they just held me down harder! I do remember biting one dentist. I’ve always said if I met him since, I’d bite him again!
One good thing to come out of my experiences, is that when I ended up on the other side of the drill, I knew exactly what the patient felt like. Spent a lot of my career specialising in the treatment of small children and adult dental phobics.
In the old days ( 70s) dentists would get paid for each filling. There was certainly scope for abuse of the system by some unscrupulous people. However, there was also so much decay that most of us would certainly not have had time to start doing extra unnecessary stuff, even if they’d been so inclined.

 

My dentist, of many decades, seems to be getting more grumpy the older he gets. He’s normally so kind and is aware of my foibles towards my teeth but on my last visit( a few months ago) he said I was brushing too hard and in the wrong direction as he picked up something with my teeth( which has been there a long time actually). He told me I was brushing my teeth in the wrong way and wrong direction and indicated as such the right way and I was brushing too hard.
I told him I had always brushed in that (right ) direction” and not too hard. No you’re not, the evidence in your mouth. But I am! No you’re not. He was adamant the problem was my fault and told me to get an electric toothbrush and to watch Youtube to see how to do it “ properly.

To cut that story short, I now have an electric toothbrush( when I first used it it felt like my brain was being rattled about!) and I will have great delight in telling my dentist, next time I see him, that I do brush correctly ( after watching Youtube , good grief, relying on this type of thing now) and the light did not come on indicating I was brushing too hard, not once. What will he say, I wonder ? He is definitely getting very grumpy…..…..but he’s a damned good dentist.

 

Lordy, this thread has got scary!

I like my current dentist. I was on his list at a Practice here and went in for my regular check-up one day to find he had moved on. In his place was a lad who looked about 16. I found out where my regular chap had gone, but it was too far to travel for appts, so I stuck with “the lad”, who was very sweet and gentle, though maybe a tad short on experience. Anyway, a couple of yrs passed, I go in for my regular check-up … and “the lad” had moved on. He was my 4th dentist at that Practice in a decade. I was fed up, especially as I was never told I would be seeing someone new till I arrived at Reception. This was a private Practice, only doing NHS work for those on certain benefits, so the care was costing me an arm and a leg. In a huff, I went online to check where my the previous chap was and he had moved again, to a Practice 10 mls away, so I rejoined him there. Still private, still expensive, add in petrol, etc, but easy to get an appt and I was the very first person seen when they reopened after Covid.

 

When I was young I always had gas to put me to sleep when having anything major done. Much prefer it to injections but not on offer anymore.

 

My hubby had gas a couple of times as a child and had terrible dreams of Mickey Mouse chasing him whilst under its influence.

 

My dads friend recently had to have major heart surgery to replace a valve and they have linked problems with teeth to the heart, so before you have surgery you have to have your teeth in a good condition. The problem arises though that if you had collapsed and been taken to hospital, the dentists there would fix things before surgery, but if you are coming in for surgery it's on you to find a dentist. The chap in question hadn't been to a dentist in quite some time and it was quite a mission to actually find one who'd see him, plus the fact it cost an arm and a leg as it was private. He would have been better to fake a heart attack. He's on the mend now though.