Any recommended dentists South West England?

[bizzylizzy]

Hi everyone, I 've moved to Somerset. Can anyone recommend a really good, well qualified dentist I can go and see. There are lots of bad ones out there. I'll be needing a filling and some cosmetic work done soon and don't want to fork out a fortune to a dentist unless I know that he or she is 100% reliable.

Thanks everone.

[MrXLA]

All dentists on the GDC register are more than 'well qualified' to carry out dentistry/dental surgery in the UK.
Some are registered on specialist lists but clearly you would be ill advised to attend a dentist who is a registered specialist in oral surgery if you require prosthodontics so the term 'well qualified' needs to be applied to the area of dentistry you are interested in/require.

With regards to your last statement however it depends largely on exactly what you mean by 100% reliable, if you mean dentistry itself (or in fact dentists to be honest) Id I have a rethink. You have unrealistic expectations, dentists are humans and therefore fallible.

'really good' is a ridiculous concept because you haven't quantified it in anyway. There are dentists out there (believe it or not) who are really 'nice' clinicians, very pleasant who produce work that is more than adequate. There are also very anal, unpleasant clinicians who produce work of the highest standard with excellent longevity.

Most of the public (including dentists themselves) would prefer to be treated by the former and to be honest even the dentist himself/herself won't actually know how good their clinical work is and can probably only self appraise by the length of time the work/restorations etc.. last

[MrXLA]

you say 'there are lots of bad dentists out there' I don't disagree but it depends on what you personally mean by that statement.

If you mean poor quality clinical dentistry then I would hope that such people have/are being reported to the relevant regulatory body/PCT etc..

With regards to attitude behavior etc.. poor performance in these areas by certain dentists is reprehensible however its doesn't mean that their clinical skills aren't exceptional

[bizzylizzy]

Thank you for your reply Mr XLA. Perhaps I should have explained why I want to choose 'the right' dentist. A couple of years ago a dentist I went to see chipped a front tooth by mistake when filling the tooth next to it. I eventually ended up having to have a veneer fitted. Several months later I began experiencing pain under the veneer. Another dentist told me that the surface of the tooth had been ground down too far when the veneer was originally fitted, the nerve had been exposed and an infection had set in. I ended up having a very painful root canal. I also had to pay for a new veneer as the original one was shattered when the root canal was done. So you see, what started as a chipped tooth ended in major, painful and very expensive work having to be done. That's why I want to find a dentist who has been recommended. By the way I've always found dentist who are on the register as it were, that doesn't necessarily mean they are all of a similar standard. Like any profession there are good, average and poor ones out there.

[bizzylizzy]

Thanks for the support Invisible. I know of several people who've been to dentists who've embarked on extensive and expensive treatment before, as you say, trying to save the tooth. That's why so many dentists have second homes and expensive cars. If you're going to have to spend a lot of money on dental treatment, a) you want to make sure you're getting the best available and b) that the dentist is thinking of you and not the bill he's going to present you with when the treatment is finished. I'm sure there are lots of decent dentists out there, but I'm sorry to say, I bet there are more people out there with negative stories about dentists than positive ones.

[MrXLA]

I'm sorry to be brutally honest bizzylizzy but its more than likely that the dentist who chipped your tooth is clinically competent (everyone makes mistakes).
I'd also be willing to bet that there are several hundred of his patients who have not had the same misfortune you have had and would be more than happy to recommend him to their friends.
Dental enamel is one of the hardest substances on the planet but very brittle (I'll not go into details) whilst I don't dispute that your dentist fractured your tooth chances are the underlying structure was undermined/prone to fracture at some point anyway (incisal edge fractures are very common).
The sequence of events following the fracture of the tooth are very common, preparing a tooth for a veneer or crown is traumatic to the vital/living part of the tooth. Approximately 1 in 3 teeth prepared in this manner with go 'non-vital'/die within 10 years and of these some will give rise to endodontic infections/pain/swelling etc and then require root canal treatment.

[MrXLA]

the second dentist who stated that the previous one 'ground the tooth down too much' etc... quite frankly is possibly less reliable than the first.
I say that because he or she was very quick to judge another clinician without have being in possession of the facts (and they couldn't be unless they were there). The fact is there is no way of knowing whether the 'tooth was ground down too much' and whether you believe it or not most dentists are guilty of NOT removing enough tooth tissue for adequate retention and aesthetics.
Whether he did or didn't doesn't mean the tooth wasn't going to die in any case

[MrXLA]

I'm sorry to say that your last comment is probably correct and incorrect at the same time, there are several obvious reasons for this:
- Ignorance both of the dentist and the patient, the largest number of complaints about dentists actually occur around situations in which the dentist has done nothing wrong and in fact sometimes gone above and beyond the call of duty as it where. Why is this? dentistry is meant to be preventive (as is medicine however it simply isn't possible to fully implement it in this way). This means dentists will perform a procedure in order to hopefully prevent pain/swelling/etc.. however that procedure can often afterwards lead to discomfort...You try explaining that to someone who attended pain free and has no dental/medical knowledge, extremely difficult to do and so often leads to complaints
- fear, alot of people are afraid of dentists, I appreciate why this is, the media and general ignorance of the profession help to perpetuate this.

[MrXLA]

Also sadly as a nation we complain alot and are less likely to report a positive experience.
Also its a fact that if you have to pay for treatment and clearly who 'wants to pay for it' your automatically going to be unhappy before you ever walk into the building

[MrXLA]

Given your requirements bizzylizzy I would recommend the following (and this in absolutely no way should be interpreted as a criticism of general dental practitioners working in the NHS):
- Go for a fully private dentist, Why? there are NHS dentists who provide private treatment and/or have private patients so they can provide services not available on the NHS, however in these cases it is difficult (though not impossible) to offer a 'truly private' service
- in this way you are more likely to be able to get appointments that are suitable for you and importantly appointments which will allow the dentist to fully explain any proposed treatments/procedures, life time/longevity, side effects/consequences of treatment etc... (this can often take considerable time and is one of the numerous problems in NHS dentistry)
- perhaps look for dentist who is a registered specialist in restorative dentistry (this will give you confidence that they are 'suitably qualified' with regards to 'cosmetic' work), although they will be vastly more expensive
- speak to some of the patients of the practice first (if you can)
- perhaps have a consultation before committing to commence with any treatment that way you can meet the dentist first and see if you would be happy with them

[MrXLA]

Please also bare in mind that dentistry is carried out on people by people who are fallible and that your last requirement of 100% reliable is unfeasible:
- all dentistry fails eventually (without exception)
- all humans make mistakes (without exception)
- you will greatly influence the lifetime of any restoration placed especially those of a 'cosmetic' nature, so you cannot absolve responsibility for maintaining your own oral health (regardless of how good the restoration/s are or the dentist is)
- dentistry is a form of surgery on living biological tissues and as such nobody can 100% guarantee anything because of almost infinite variability between individuals