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Posted 1 month ago

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I am definitely having some culture pains today, regarding the health care systems in america vs the UK.

After two years on a waiting list, we finally managed to secure an NHS dentist, which is great, as we’re squeaking by on one part time income for the last 12 months or so, and money is very tight.  When we went for our first appointment, we were in and out in five minutes.  They literally counted my teeth, declared me to be in excellent health and shuffled us out the door.  I was very surprised by this.  There were no xrays, no cleaning, no fluoride treatment.  Just, “yes, you have teeth, great.”   It especially surprised me because the private dentist I’d been seeing here until then had warned me half a year earlier that I was going to develop a cavity in one of my molars.

So today, I have another checkup, and I am extremely curious to see if they will actually DO anything while I am there.  From the NHS website, it appears that a standard band one appointment would cover the exam, the xrays, the cleaning, and the fluoride - but with the catch that they have to be necessary, which is where everything always goes kerflooey over here.  All the anecdotal evidence I find says that in general, the dentist will say that the cleaning isn’t strictly necessary, but that you’re welcome to see their stupidly expensive hygienist if you’d like to pay for it out of pocket.

Which is just kind of typical of the NHS.  Don’t get me wrong - I have used the medical end of the NHS a lot this year and overall, I am grateful to have them.  But at the same time, it took me AGES to realize exactly how pushy I had to be to get anything done with them, which is a shame and really, was a waste of everyone’s time, including theirs. The problem really is that where American medicine is highly focused on prevention, the British system is much more reactive, choosing to treat things when they become a problem, if they ever do.  There are good and bad things about each method, but I still can’t understand how it makes more sense to wait until a person has gum disease to scale and polish their teeth, when you could simply spend five minutes a year helping to prevent it.  Surely there has to be a logical middle ground here!

This reminds me of when, right after moving here, I asked my husband if maybe he should have a physical if he hadn’t in a while.  He went and came home and told me that all they did was sit at the desk and talk for a few minutes, and then had a good laugh about how I thought he’d get some bloodwork or something while he was there. 

The cultural exchange here is never ending.  

Anyway, does your NHS dentist scale and polish your teeth when you’re there?  If mine doesn’t, should I raise a ruckus?  (And then watch them shake their heads at this ridiculous american woman who obviously doesn’t understand how things work here?)

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  1. sistacrumpet said: You need to entitle this post: And This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Teeth
  2. pizzatoporkpie said: Ugh, watch out for the fees too. I had a cavity (I knew if was a cavity before I went in) and to fill it on NHS, it was £7, but it would be a big ole chunk of silver at the front of my mouth, or £80 if I wanted the white filling. £80 for <15 mins.
  3. hithisisdanielle said: No, I’m pretty sure the NHS dentists don’t have the cleaning tools. @ ours you need to go into a different room for a cleaning & it is impossible to book checkup & cleaning @ the same time. No xrays- had to wait until I had an infection to get one.
  4. nostrich said: I went to my NHS dentist with one tooth almost disintegrated and two more cavities (oops) once. Once he’d done all the work on them I asked if I should be flossing and he said no just brush better. NHS dentists are terrible, go private ASAP.
  5. inteawetrust posted this

 

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