Dentist?
  • slats
    I need to register at an NHS dentist in the area, i've seen there are a couple on SGR itself, has anyone any recommendations/experiences as to which is nicer?
  • rainbow_carnage
    Do not go to Haringey Dental Care (82 SGR).

    We registered there 6 years ago. The dentist was a very nice man. He was honest and did good work.

    Sadly, he's not there anymore. The woman that's there now has a very car-salesman attitude to dentistry. Every time I've been in there, she's tried to sell me private services I don't want or need.

    Unaesthetic went in 5 months ago for a checkup. She said that one of his fillings was loose and insisted on replacing it. Fine. A couple weeks ago, the new filling fell out. He went back to get it fixed. The woman charged him again for it.

    WTF? If you can't do a filling that lasts longer than 5 months, the least you can do is waive the charge the second time. It's not his fault that her work is shoddy.

    If anyone knows of a good NHS dentist in the area, I'm ready to switch. I realise that dentists need to make a living, but you should be able to trust them when they tell you that you need something done.
  • slats
    Just the sort of advice I was after, thanks.

    According to the NHS site, there's another one at 105 SGR..
    http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Dentist.aspx?oid=de_QATB59&pid=000002_N43PX

    I'll try that one and let you know..
  • tosscat

    Yawn

  • katiejane
    am i being dim? what's the difference between an NHS dentist and a private one? Unless you're under 16, over 60, or preggers, surely they all charge obscene amounts of money anyway? I'm none of the above, but with a private dentist. Would I be better off with an NHS one?
  • rainbow_carnage
    There is a huge difference. The NHS has 3 price bands for different types of treatments. You pay a set fee for the course of treatment, regardless of the number of actual procedures. For examples, if you need a single filling, you pay £44.60. If you need two, you still pay £44.60. The same for three.

    The NHS only covers basic treatments. The fillings that are covered are the dark (metal?) ones. If you want a nice white filling, you have to do that privately. It costs something like £80 for each one.

    Personally, I'm willing to pay extra to have nice white fillings in teeth that you can see. The woman tried to convince me that I should get white fillings for the two teeth at the very back of my jaw, on the top. I can't even see them with a mirror. She tried to sell Unaesthetic a gold crown!

    Here's the info about NHS dentist fees:

    http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_083817

    (I would make a proper link, but then what would tosscat do with his free time?)
  • tosscat

    Yawn

  • katiejane
    Blimey. Thanks RC - I'm going to switch dentists. Mine quoted me £90 - £140 for white fillings. They were on mine christmas wish list.
  • poxy
    When tosscat yawns it's possible to see his dirty metallic fillings.
  • Lucy

    the one at the hornsey road end of hanley road is good - nice peeps, very friendly. Went for the white fillings though and do get confused about the NHS/private status, although did initially ask to be registered as NHS and they said they had space for that.

  • tosscat

    @ Poxy - How true.

  • rainbow_carnage
    Just as a follow-up on our experiences with Haringey Dental Care... the filling that she did for Unaesthetic last week has already fallen out. It lasted a total of 9 days. How ridiculous is that! I bet if he goes back tomorrow, she'll try to charge him for it for the third time.

    We're going to try registering with the one that Lucy mentioned. Hopefully they're taking NHS patients.
  • Ali
    I agree with everything said.

    Go to:

    http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Aboutus/Chiefprofessionalofficers/Chiefdentalofficer/DH_4138821

    lick on the link just below
    What to expect from your NHS dental treatment: your Personal Dental Treatment Plan


    You will see that your supposed to get a dental treatment plan. Have a look and you will see that if anything falls out in the first 12 mths it is suposed to be fixed for free.
    Just below that on the web page you will see how to complain.

    I have very neraly done that but not quite
  • katiejane
    So...

    can anyone confirm or deny that the dentist on the corner of Hanley/Hornsey takes NHS?
  • Cllr Richard Watts
    I'm registered there as an NHS patient, so you should be able to register OK.
  • Beek

    NHS choices website (I'm using it at the mo!) lists it, but also states if you're having problems finding an NHS dentist in our area call 020 7527 1182, good luck.

  • slats
    @ Katiejane - after thius thread i registered there as an NHS patient, you shouldn't have any problems.
  • Mills
    It's not in Stroud Green, but I registered with the Ivy House Dental Practice as an NHS patient a couple of weeks ago. It's at 51 Kentish Town Road at the Camden end, near Quins pub. The dentist was masterful, put me at ease (I'd not been for nearly 15 years) and did a super job.
  • katiejane
    thanks everyone. i've registered and have a check up lined up for tomorrow.
  • Ali
    They are very good but will try and upsell you to Private
  • Liz

    Hi. Anyone got any updates on recent dentist experiences? I've reached the point where I can't pretend I don't have toothache any more...eek. Katiejane, did you go to the Hanley Road practice? What was it like?

  • Cllr Richard Watts
    The Hanley Road practice is pretty good in my experience - my partner moved there as it seemed better than the place she used in Camden.
  • slats
    I wasn't that impressed with Hanley Rd to be honest, seemed a lot more interested in trying to sell you private work, what happened to just being a dentist? Also found the scrape an polish to be a little violent, my jaw ached for a couple of days after..
  • tont
    Hi All,

    Newbie here, signed up to talk Dentistry. AWESOME.

    My experiences with Haringey Dental Care were exactly the same as others in this thread. Horrific, basically.

    I went in with some tooth pain and she gave me two fillings on the spot, but somehow missed with the anaesthetic so they were both chair-gripping torture sessions. The pain didn't go away and instead got worse so I called up for a re-check, as part of one of the fillings actually fell off, but she claimed they were fine after a cursory look.

    I left it another week, was still in pain and when I called up, she said that her place was "closed for refurbishment" and that I should try somewhere else. So, I went to M Shah at 105 instead. He was the exact opposite - kind, non-profiteering etc. He gave me an X-ray and found that the previous dentist had missed a giant cavity which was now so bad I had to have an extraction. Hooray. But anyway, he did the job spectacularly well - it was all done and dusted in 20 mins, zero pain, zero stress. Brilliant and all under the NHS.

    So yeah, I'd go for M Shah at 105 Stroud Green Road.
  • Alison13

    I go to M Shah on the NHS but I have only ever been in for check-ups so can't really give a full review. However I can't make any complaints, so I guess you can take that as a recommendation!

  • sophie

    someone on here once recommended kings avenue dental practice in muswell hill. this one.

    i signed up and have been twice now for check ups but each time he did something extra (last time he "shaved my tooth" to stop it aching and being sensitive and it worked!) but only charged £15 or so for the check up. he told me about a £200 thing to stop me grinding my teeth but instead showed me how to avoid doing it and said the device was a waste of money.

    it's a bus away but i like it.

  • David

    @sophie, instructions on how to stop yourself grinding teeth please - I know someone who needs to learn.

  • nick_m

    this main smacks of treachery, but I go to Weston Park dentist in Crouch End and have done for about 8 years (was previously living in CE, so explains it). They are private and, although the customer service leaves a little to be desired, the dentistry is spot on. I had a dodgy wisdom giving me loads of pain and my dentist whipped it out before I could blink (obviously used anaesthetic - thank any deity you care to name for the invention of that; I would never have survived the middle ages). It cost about £100, but I would have given her double for the way she did it. Admittedly she did then sell me a "tooth reconstruction" a year later, that I may or may not have needed, but all in all I'm happy.

  • underscore_cue

    I had a dodgey wisdom tooth last year, antibiotics did nothing and I had a bad experience with a dentist in this area in 2006 (the one above KFC on seven sisters road - total rogue trader made the problem worse and tried to charge me privately for work he'd agreed the last time to do on the NHS for 40 quid)..

    I went to the dental school. Students assessed me and X-rayed me and then a student gave me the injections and then the tutor did the actual pulling, explaining it to the student as he did it - quite interesting. Of course was a massive relief to not be in pain anymore and totally free. I went to Newcatle dental school because I happened to be up there when the tooth went critical but in London there's eastman near kings cross and guy's hospital both doing free walk in clinics.

    If I have any more problems I'm going to one of those, the confidence I felt with the people actually helping me was ten times better than any dental practise I've been in... there might be good ones out there but in my experience there are a lot of dodgey profiteering blagger dentists and even sadistic dr mengele types.

    I liked the fact that everything is out in the open at a dental school, lots of people around and someone doing something dodgey would be spotted straight away

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