Bad toothache needs prompt treatment
May 28, 2009
There’s nothing worse than being in pain and being told “you’ll have to wait”. Yet I’ve had many friends and patients tell me:
- “My dentist couldn’t fit me in for 1/2/3 days/weeks.”
- “He just had a quick look and said he couldn’t do anything until the antibiotics he gave me started working.”
- “He said he couldn’t numb me up as the infection would stop the injection from working properly.”
It shocks me to hear this. Saying we’re far too busy to see you is really uncaring in my opinion. I know a toothache won’t kill you, but anyone who has had really bad toothache knows it is all-consuming – and apparently it is the second-worst pain a person can experience. I’ll tell you what the worst is when you see me.
Of course there are times when dentists have to wait for antibiotics to work, but these are rare. If antibiotics are necessary they should be given after work has been carried out to relieve pain.
As for infection, this simply won’t stop an anaesthetic injection from working. They do take time …
With toothache you need a dentist who will:
- See you the same day you ring.
- Carry out treatment to relieve the pain on the first visit – this is vital!! (Whatever it is we know how to treat it, both immediately and longer term .)
- Give enough anaesthetic to numb the tooth, and wait long enough for it to work properly. Although local anaesthetic should work under normal conditions within 5 minutes, with bad toothache this may take up to 30 minutes to work. We schedule time to accommodate this possibility into our appointment planning.
If the above is carried out, 95% of people will experience almost complete relief from pain within 24 hours, and 60-70% will experience immediate relief.
As we realise the importance of providing prompt toothache treatment, we run a 24 hour / 365 day a year emergency service. Just ring 01252 877309!!!
National Smile Month part 2 – repair costs vs prevention
May 22, 2009
To continue our thoughts on whether National Smile Month will work to improve dental health and encourage more regular trips to the dentists – we think that cash would be pretty high up the list of reasons for delaying a dental check-up. Let’s face it, we can all think of ways we’d prefer to spend our money.
It might surprise you to learn that we don’t actually like telling patients that they need costly repair work doing. That’s because we know they don’t like hearing it (that will be the wincing!) and we hate to be the bearer of bad tidings. Our view has always been that prevention is far better (i.e. cheaper) than cure. Better to spend a little now, instead of a lot more later.
Do regular check-ups actually save you money? Well, with regular visits we can sort out minor issues before they become more serious. If identified early enough, we can stop tooth decay with a small, inexpensive filling; if left it could require a larger filling or major corrective treatment such as a crown, bridge or even root canal. Not only that, but we can also spot other potential problems early on (such as gum disease) and sort that out too, before it becomes a problem.
The bottom line is, don’t spend lots of money on expensive dental repairs; spend a little on regular check-ups so that we can catch things before they develop. The money you save can be spent on something more pleasurable – like improving your smile.
National Smile Month – will it work?
May 21, 2009
National Smile Month (a week isn’t long enough!) was launched again this year on Sunday 17th May. Doctors’ surgeries, hospitals, Primary Care Trusts, schools, colleges and dental businesses are encouraged to support the British Dental Health Foundation’s campaign to promote good oral health.
At Confidental, we completely back the idea, in principle, but would love to know what other people think. Our view is that most people already subscribe to the idea that they ’should’ look after their teeth but for one reason or another they put off visiting their dentist. Why IS that? Answers on a postcard, or in the comments below please.
We’ve a few theories of our own as to why people put off a trip to the dentist, so to mark National Smile Month at Confidental we’ll be posting our ideas here over the next few days and weeks. Hopefully these thoughts will help to overcome any worries you might have about coming to see us.
What do you do with a Dental Blog?
May 13, 2009
We’ve always been adopters of new dental technology at Confidental, and used efficiently, we think it has been good for us and our patients. And now as you can see, our latest learning curve is ‘digital communication’.
So what is this ‘dental blog’ for?
Well, having looked at a few different ways to keep the people we know updated, we’ve chosen to run a blog on ‘the website’.
When it came to making a choice between email, twitter – does anyone get that?, and Facebook (time sink?), we finally decided that a blog is the least annoying of the lot. People are free to decide whether to ’subscribe’ to this blog by email, or RSS (the orange button on the left apparently), or simply come back every now and again to see what’s going on, rather than be drowned in email spam, frittered or twittered or facebooked at every waking moment.
Being dentists means that most time during the day (and often evenings) is taken up in front of the chair, so adding articles may be a sporadic thing, but it will hopefully be useful information to our existing and new patients. Over a period of time at least.
This is supposed to be interactive, so please feel free to comment (click below), ask questions or simply send us an email with some feedback. We’re always delighted to hear from people.