Need an Emergency Dentist? “Wait three months, else I don’t get paid!”
Er Indoors arrived home from work two weeks ago in excrutiating pain around one of her wisdom teeth - Her NHS dentist had closed for the evening, and as she was in so much pain, she rang the “Emergency Dentist” service, only to be told that there was not a single dentist to be found in the whole of Devon at 6pm on a Tuesday, and that she would have to wait and see her dentist the following day (if she could get an appointment). A further call to NHS Direct sent us round in circles before finally telling us to ring the Emergency Dentist. If only we could find one!
One sleepless night later, after trying a succession of “Internet remedies” including biting down on hot teabags, rinsing with salt water, and holding an ice pack over the jaw, she managed to get an appointment at her NHS dentist for 2:30 (at least they had a sense of humour) in the afternoon, at which she was advised that there was an abcess around the area, and was prescribed a course of antibiotics, which did nothing at all, so much so that by the weekend she was forced to try and find an “Emergency Dentist” again - This time she did manage to find one, who took one look and told her that the wisdom tooth would need to be removed. However as she would need to be sedated for the removal, her NHS Dentist would be unable to perform the procedure, and so Er Indoors would need to have it removed at Derriford Hospital under a general anaesthetic, which meant joining a 12-week waiting list. “count yourself lucky”, said the Emergency dentist. “Last year the waiting list was over a year!”
Unable to cope with the pain for 3 months, Er Indoors asked if it was possible to have the tooth removed privately - “Perhaps” was the answer - and she was referred to a private practice where she would need to pay £55 for an inital consultation to find out whether it could come out. Thankfully, the answer was yes (at a further cost of £231), but it couldn’t be done for a further 9 days due to “staff training”. By now we’d both hardly slept for a week, and the pain was getting steadily worse, so Er Indoors made an appointment to see her GP for some stronger painkillers and antibiotics. By last Saturday (Day 12 of constant excruciating pain), Er Indoors was not sleeping at all, was being sick every few hours due to lack of sleep and the strong antibitoics, and her jaw had now swelled to the size of a tennis ball. As she was still 6 days away from her private dentists appointment, we were left with no alternative but to take her to A&E. Initially, the nurse told her that there was nothing they would be able to do, as “A&E don’t deal with dentistry”. However, as soon as she was seen by the Maxillofacial doctor, she was diagnosed with Periconitis and immediately admitted to a ward, where she was placed on Intravenous antibiotics and nil by mouth from midnight, with a view to removing the wisdom tooth the following day. At last - the end was in sight.. or was it? After night 12 of little/no sleep, Er Indoors was visited by a Doctor the following morning, who confirmed the diagnosis of periconitis, and agreed that the tooth would need extracting. He did not however agree that he should have to do it on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon when he could be out on the golf course. His prognosis was to keep Er Indoors on the IV antibiotics for a few days and then send her home! She could then choose to either sit on the waiting list for 12 weeks to have treatment on the NHS, or pay £231 to have it done privately. When asked why it could not be done that day as promised the previous day, his response was “you have to go back onto the waiting list, else I don’t get paid”. Needless to say, Er Indoors was gobsmacked (I’d imagine if that Doctor gave that level of “patient care” to all his patients, he would find himself gobsmacked quite often). Finally, on Day 13 (yesterday), the Doctor doing the morning rounds (different one from Day 12) actually gave a **** about his patients, and whisked her down to theatre under a local anaesthetic and removed the wisdom tooth - a procedure that took less than five minutes (I think it was trying to escape the infection by itself by this point!), and she was allowed home today (Day 14) - She’s still very unwell, and is now only being sick 2 or 3 times a day. The swelling has reduced greatly, and she’s not in so much pain. I just can’t believe that the NHS Dentistry system let it get to this stage - and at what cost to the taxpayer?
What was required was a five minute procedure that a private dentist can do (at a profit) for £67.90, as sedation was not required. If the procedure had been done on Day 1 or Day 2, it’s quite likely that Er Indoors could have been back at work the following day - As it stands now, she will have missed at least 10 working days. As a Primary School Teacher, that means the school have to find a supply teacher (at a cost of approx £180 per day) for those days. A hospital bed in an NHS Hospital costs the taxpayer approximately £450 per night, so by the time we factor in the cost of manning NHS Direct, the GP’s time, the NHS Dentists time, the A&E staff’s time, and the various drugs that she was prescribed, a £67.90 procedure has cost the taxpayer more than £3,000 on the NHS. I must stress that apart from the one Doctor more concerned with getting paid than getting his patients better, all the staff we came across at the hospital were absolutely first class, and can’t be faulted in any way. It’s just a shame that the whole system of dentistry on the NHS is so shambolic, that all of this could have been sorted out easily, and at very little cost to the taxpayer. It’s all very well to say “we’re spending £xbillion on the NHS”, but it’s easy to spend that sort of money when you’re wasting money in this manner. It’d be far better to spend half as much, on a system that actually works, and then the nurses could be paid a fair wage too. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
