utink blog

My most recent experience with a public dentist (I’ll call PubD) has left me losing all confidence in them, well, this one in particular who is local to me. Thing is, I visited the dentist, PubD, being able to chew on my preferred chewing side and left being unable to chew on that side for over a week. All I wanted was to have a filling that had partially fallen out replaced as the tooth had become acutely sensitive to hot, cold and pressure. The tooth in question is the last molar on the bottom rhs of my jaw.

It all started in 2013 where the tooth developed an acute sensitivity to temp and pressure. PubD examined it and indicated it needed a crown and that I would have to go on a waiting list but that he could do a filling now as a temporary thing. With that the filling was done. When the numbness subsided it was still sensitive but not as bad as before I saw the dentist. And so it remained that way until after a whopping 3 years later when my name came up on the list to have the crown done. Then I was informed that it couldn’t be done by PubD. As such I was given a voucher to have it assessed by another dentist who was a local private dentist (I’ll call PrivD1). OK – so now PrivD1 checked the tooth and suggested that he could fill it in lieu of a crown but if the filling didn’t work out to have the crown done. That was fine, a filling was less intrusive (and less expensive) so I went along with the filling option. About 6 months later the filling fell out leaving a crater and acute sensitivity once again. Back I went to PrivD1 who replaced the filling free of charge and suggested I go back on the public waiting list for a crown as the filling option didn’t appear to be working. So I had my name re-entered onto the waiting list. About 2 months later once again the temporary filling fell out and, even though I could chew on it the tooth was sensitive to extreme hot and cold so decided to go back to the public dentist PubD to have it re-filled.

Now this where the ‘fun’ starts – PubD indicated he would need to remove all of the old filling and replace it with a new better anchored one and that it would still be a temporary thing just to last out another 3 years it would take waiting for a crown. OK – so I went along with that idea and had it filled – I will add here that this filling was the most painful out of all of my visits to a dentist ever (and there have been many over the years) – he didn’t numb it properly – he was riding on the nerve with the fast and slow drill – I could feel every little jab – brought tears to my eyes – told him to stop many times as I needed a break – is one of the reasons I won’t go back there again.

So the thing is, when the numbness subsided (after about 2-3 hrs) and tried to chew on it, I nearly ‘hit the roof’ as it was still triggering the nerve. The PubD did warn me at the time that it would be sensitive for a few days so I waited a week. It didn’t get any better, so decided to get it assessed by a different local but private dentist this time (I'll call PrivD2). The truth was revealed. Turns out the tooth needed a root canal treatment and that it should have been done right from the outset.

OK?? – so now I have to ask the question – why wasn’t this picked up by the PubD in the first place or even PrivD1 for that matter? Might I suggest that due to government funding restrictions public dentists are always on the lookout to keep costs down and as such do the absolute minimum it takes to resolve any tooth issue – hence the fillings rather than a root canal. Btw a crown over a tooth that needed a root canal procedure before hand could have turned out disastrous in this case as it would probably still be sensitive to any form of pressure.

And so the root canal was done by PrivD2 after about two weeks with little to no pain (except for some jaw ache after numbness wore off also the back pocket pain) with no sensitivity on the tooth and the ability to chew on it the following day – perfect.

The fact that it takes 3 years in the public system to get a crown done with a very sensitive tooth is concerning – is the government hoping that most people will pull out early so that they can put the cost saved towards building up the surplus?. You might ask why do I go to a public dentist in the first place? Well, for those on a pension who can’t afford the huge prices at a private dentist the public dentist is very very attractive.

So based on this experience my conclusion is that in order to get the job done properly you would probably need to go to a private dentist and be prepared to pay the big bucks.