Open wide: the problems with teeth and the NHS….

My eyes and teeth have given the most trouble over the years, well since childhood…and onwards. Visits to the B’ham Children’s Eye Hospital from the age of 3 to 11 on a regular basis with an operation chucked in as well. And my teeth, regular visits to the dentist and gawd bless 1970s NHS orthodontistry which straightened my teeth with the aid of braces (not the best accessory when you start secondary school when you feel you resemble the baddie Jaws from the James Bond films!).

Oh, the pain and angst teeth give you, well me. Anyways, it seems I have more cracks in my teeth than in your average pavement. And a dentist once asked me whether I experienced depression, anxiety and migraine…. I was impressed, wow…. she must be psychic… but couldn’t answer as I mouthful of metal but nodded energetically. She hazarded a scientific guess because of all cracks in my teeth. No decay (hurray!) lots of cracks due to teeth grinding (hiss boo!)

So the cracks in my teeth have worsened with age (great!!) and the dentist made me a gum shield, made for boxers, hockey players….and people who grind their teeth during sleep. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘slip into something more comfortable’ as insert the damn thing into your mouth before you go to sleep.

I hate the damn thing so rarely, if ever (actually I think I lost it) wear it, and well, serves my right really as part of my tooth split last night. And I spent much of the night trying to find an emergency dentist.

I kept going round and round in circles going from the PCT to local NHS dentists. Eventually I found one….in Kent (20 mins on the train). Thankfully they saw me today on NHS rates and I have to admit I admire the teeth doctors, their skill crafting and sculpting the enamel into some useful and usable form. The dentist said I looked after my teeth … (hurray!!) though was expecting a lecture on the cracks and teeth grinding… but shockingly didn’t get one. In saying that he did mutter, ‘crown’…

Why I am recounting in a rather laborious manner about my teeth (dear reader, you probably don’t wanna know either) is that I have been fortunate with my usual dentist and most of my teeth problems have happened within office times. So what happens when life isn’t so simple when your tooth decides to split on a Sunday with the next day being a Bank Holiday?

It is bad enough anyway trying to get treatment and help, more a bloody nightmare. And I did contact NHS Direct who usefully (element of sarcasm there) told me that a dental nurse would get back to me. No one did. Fortunately, by then, I had my appointment with a dentist in….. Kent… who covers my area.

I have been fortunate to have access to a NHS dentist that is attached to a University. But not everyone is that lucky when it comes to accessing a NHS dentist.

Oh, and here’s an idea to so-called future Labour leader…Alan Johnson…. fund NHS dentistry as opposed to bailing out bankers…

(I was going to stick up a pic of a cast the dentist made of my teeth for gum shield but (un)fortunately I can’t find it… Great piece of sculpture btw!)