Dentists. What a PAIN.!!

By  The Pink Balaclava

What is going on with modern dentistry?  I am fast forming the opinion that instead of providing a valuable service to the local community, changes in the way they are funded by the NHS have turned them into nothing more than legal robbers, who take your money whilst holding a pair of stainless steel pliers and laughing at you in such manic way it would not be out of place in one of them 1960’s, Hammer horror films.

With the millions of pounds dentists bleed from the NHS service, you would hope that they would welcome the chance to take on new customers and provide a service that was second to none. However my own experience shows that unless you are prepared to pay for your treatment, the service you receive could best be described as nothing short of that received by Dustin Hoffman at the hands of Laurence Olivier, in the film 'Marathon Man'.

So your a NHS patient, well this WILL hurt.

I am a late twenty year old female and I want to feel happy with my teeth and not be afraid to smile or open my mouth in case people look with horror at my pearly whites. I have all my own teeth and I am keen to keep it that way for as long as possible. With this in mind I recently signed up to my local practise in Bishopstoke, Eastleigh. Whilst filling out the form was relatively easy, the way the receptionist looked down her nose at me as she realised I was a person with limited means, which she had no trouble in expressing in her tone or her almost lifeless effort to deal with my form, left me with the feeling that I was nothing more than a second class citizen.

I was then reluctantly given an appointment date and decided to over look this rude woman, I was just pleased to have gotten on the dentists books as an NHS patient. After all it was the dentist I was coming to see, not the ‘my shit don’t stink’ receptionist.  However my joy was premature as it was not long before my appointment was cancelled for no clear reason and I had to wait almost 2 months for another appointment.

 
So I waited and at last my appointment day arrived. I was both pleased and anxious, a common feeling I am sure as most of us hardly look forward to hearing the sound of high speed drill as we sit in the waiting room.  I knew I was in for a rough time of moaning and tutting as it had been some time since I had allowed myself to be in such a compromising position with a complete stranger asking me to open wide as I laid back in his chair. Armed with a small mirror and a rather big pointy thing, he began to poke, prod and tap at my teeth with the usual distain that dentist seem so good at expressing. The inspection continued with more sighs and shaking of his head. It was becoming clear to me that despite the fact he was onto a good little earner from NHS, he really did feel that treating my second class teeth was below him.  After a few more pokes to ensure that he had given me the impression that he had any interest in my teeth, he dropped his implements and informed me that I needed to be referred to another dentist, making it perfectly clear that I should make a big fuss in order to get the fillings that I needed doing carried out under sedation.

Great, so now I have to wait another month for a referral.  Final I make the 40 mile round trip to be interrogated like a guest at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and even after this so called government funded dental service I am sent home with no treatment. Now four months on I have wasted three unpaid days off work,  £15 in fuel and still my teeth are awaiting some very basic fillings. No wonder this is a free service. However, I am sure that no paying customer would be treated in this manner and yet these dentists will have been paid by the NHS for their so called ‘consultancy work’.

So my advice to anyone who finds themselves in the unfortunate position of having to go ‘cap in hand’  to their dentist is this. Don’t waste your time hoping that you will be treated with the same care and respect as any other paying patient, or fool yourself into thinking that dentists have a real passion for helping people with poor teeth regardless of their social status. What they care about is making money and making it anyway they can with the least amount of effort on their part.

Instead may I suggest you get yourself over to B&Q, pick up a good pair of long nosed pliers for a tenner and make sure you are well stocked up on paracetamol. It will be quicker, cheaper and you can keep your dignity intact and save the NHS from being ripped off by these legal muggers.