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I visited the dentist for the first time in 20 years yesterday

Yesterday I visited a dentist for the first time in 20 years, I am extremely dental phobic and wouldn’t have gone if my front crown hadn’t fallen out. The dentist said the crown could not be saved and told me I will need an immediate denture. He also gave me a check up and told me I would need to have 9 retained roots extracted and a full upper denture. He is very hard to understand and very brusque and abrupt, in short he scared the life out of me. He told me my immediate denture and root ext would come under one course of treatment, however I would then have to have my upper plate made which would be another course of treatment and another fee. I obviously need the immediate denture ASAP as I have a gap at the front of my mouth so I’m prepared to go to him for that, however my questions are: Can I transfer to another dentist within the same practice after the denture is made as they have a lady dentist who is known to be good with nervous patients? Is it right that my upper denture is another course of treatment? I have an over denture at the moment which he says will do me for three months while my mouth heals and then the new denture will be made, surely though I will not be dentally fit as this over denture is old and worn out, does not stay in very well and has holes in it? If I’m not dentally fit surely the treatment isn’t finished. My worse case scenario is that I pay him £220 for the single tooth immediate denture and then pay the lady dentist another £220 for the upper denture, I really cannot afford this but I don’t know where I stand and I’m desperate to get my mouth sorted, I just don’t think I can stand him doing the whole lot especially the root extractions, please help.

This is my personal opinion .
If the lady is in the same practice , then ask if you can change to her straight away . I am not entirely sure how the UDA system for the NHS works , but that should be doable with in house accounting between dentists .
yes the extractions and the first denture is one course of treatment .dental fitness is a vague concept and as you will have had your bad teeth out and a serviceable denture fitted that could be classed as dental fitness .

The second denture will be at least 6 months later than the first one , and I am fairly certain that it will be under a new course of treatment .
often patients dont return for a second denture at the same practice , or keep it for longer than is optimum. Its standard practice privately to pay for each denture in these circumstances .
So you will be able to pay for the whole job over an extended time .
Through no fault of your own you havent been able to have any dental care ,but that means that you do have to have a substantial expenditure now .
I wish you well
hope this helps
Jenny

Answer provided by: Dr Jennifer Pinder Retired
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