Tonsils

[xstitcher]

Do people get their tonsils out today as frequently as they did in the 50's?

[J9PUR]

No

[bednobs]

im confused, surely you can only get your tonsild out once??

[DaisyNonna]

Know someone who had tonsils out years ago but still regularly diagnosed with tonsilitis

[J9PUR]

LOL! I thought that also but assumed OP meant 'people' in general.

[bednobs]

sorry x stitcher, but i need to ask j9pur a question, that is unrelated to yours, but he is here, so i hope you don't mind if i give it a go. In there an NHS alternative to private endodontic treatment if you are unable to have an extraction?

[J9PUR]

Approximate UK figures for tonsillectomies:
1950's...200,000
1994.......77,000
2009.......49,000

[Peter Pedant]

The rate has plummeted as there are now NICE guidelines which must be followed

and of course they can be done as day cases

and yes before you ask if they were incompletely taken out in the fifties the remnant can grow a bit and then you can get recurrent tonsillitis again. Guillotine removal was especially prone to this

[J9PUR]

Hi bednobs!
Endodontic treatment can be carried out under the NHS or on 'private' basis.

[J9PUR]

But if you use the guillotine to remove the head as well, the recurrence rate is zero!

[bednobs]

my dentist is saying it's too complicated for her to do (root not straight; previously abandoned treatment) and that she'll have to refer me privately

[J9PUR]

Bednobs.
Your dentist is suggesting that due to the complexity of the endodontic treatment, it would be better for you to see an endodontic specialist. Again, this can be carried out under the NHS or on a private basis, but specialist endodontists working under the NHS are very few. They are mainly found at Dental teaching hospitals.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah I was gonna say

you can get NHS endodontic treatment ( try gogging it ) if you can get an NHS dentist to do it

good luck

It is commonplace for a dentist to say that he wont be able to do it on the NHS but of course...I cheerfully pay up on the grounds that thank god I have a dentist ...

[xstitcher]

I thought my phrasing of that sentence was wrong but anyway I did get my answer. Thanks

[Sqad]

PP

\\\\\The rate has plummeted as there are now NICE guidelines which must be followed \\\\

"MUST" be followed? These are guidelines...suggestions....not directives........the ultimate responsibility to a patient is by his/her GP/Consultant and I hope the day will never come to pass in th NHS, when the management of a patient is decided upon a "tick box" decision.

I accept the figures given by J9PUR that the incidence of tonsillectomies has dramatically fallen, but i presume those figures are for the NHS.
I would like a bet, that in Private Practice the incidence of tonsillectomies has remained the same.

Although the number of tonsillectomies have fallen the incidence of hospital admissions for acute tonsillitis and it's complications have risen.

Rob Peter to pay Paul.

[Fusion5]

I can remember as a child the most common ops for kids were tonsils and appendixes.