Thank you ladies for all your kind responses. Today the dentist has just phoned. He was so kind and caring, and it seems he has replaced one of the dentists who has left from the practice I normally go to. Anyway he has diagnosed the problem from our discussion and he was looking at my notes. It seems he thinks I have an infection in the gum where I had an extraction a few years ago. During the extraction the dentist couldn’t quite remove all of the root as it was too near an implant I have, and so unfortunately I couldn’t have another implant or even a bridge and have had to wear a small plate instead. The dentist said it’s not uncommon for these bits of retained root to become infected. He has prescribed antibiotics and my husband can go to pick them up this afternoon. He told me that if the antibiotics don’t work or the infection comes back, then I will need to go to the DentalHub in the city (we live about ten miles outside the city) and I suspect they will remove the bits of root. He reassured me that they have all the correct PPE and it’s safe to go there. He was so kind and whilst I felt somewhat abandoned yesterday, I feel better that I’m being looked after today. My dentist, Louise, has just left the practice and I was disappointed as I liked her so much, so now that it appears Mohammed has joined our practice, I’m now hoping my care will be taken over by him, once the dentists reopen.
I’m staying in my bedroom today as I’m not feeling very well with this tooth problem, but once I start the antibiotics I’m hoping to quickly begin to feel better.
If any of you Gransnetters begin to get a tooth problem please ring your dental surgery, and you will be given a number to phone. They triage you and get a dentist to ring you back. In my area it was one of the dentists from my practice, unless of course all practices have taken all their notes to the central hub, but that seems a bit unlikely to me. I know if the antibiotics don’t clear it, I’ll go to the city DentalHub.
Although I’m happy about my treatment up to now, I do feel very strongly that the government need to get dentistry going again fairly quickly. And of course dentists, just like doctors, must be given sufficient PPE.
I still agree with you suzie not enough is on offer at the moment and much more thought needs to go into how the dentists can work again safely.