Saga Of The Teeth - Continued

(Why the NHS sucks so much shit)

We showed up this morning at the Royal London Hospital Emergency Dental Clinic. We were actually seen! How tremendous is that?!?

We were only seen because I complained. I had sent a referral form in January. They searched their computer. Lo! And behold! We were in there...

as unresponsive to follow-up mail. I never got any mail. She checked our address. It was wrong. So, she accessed a scanned copy of our correspondence. (Thank you all geeks of the world. Thank you on bended knee.) They had put the address in wrong.

My legs needed a victory dance. But, I refrained. We would get care. That was enough of a win for me. We waited a better part of the morning. But, we visited with a dentist. She sent us downstairs for x-rays. (Glory Hallelujah! X-ray technology being made available to my son! Can you believe it? X-ray technology! In England! We warranted the expense of an x-ray!)

Must be pretty bad.

Winston was a trooper. All of this attachment parenting stuff is excellent for getting good behaviour in dire situations. Everyone made a comment that they had never witnessed a child his age who could: stay so still; was absolutely trusting when I said it wouldn’t hurt; and was well-mannered to boot. Score One for The Highland Park Playgroup and Dr. Sears

This made them want to help us. (Obviously I wasn’t some idiot, uncaring parent who needed to be told what was what about caring for children.) So they offered us the only help they could offer. I might add they did do it sheepishly and with apology.

So - basically as it stands now. Winston needs to have 3 teeth extracted. There is no help for those. The other upper remaining 7 can be filled and managed. However, the waiting list for fillings is 6 months long. Whereas, he can get treatment in 2 months if I agree to have every single last upper tooth removed. And, if I wait 6 months - with the current rate of decay - they all have to come out anyway.

They offer no replacement teeth - no denture system. He has to be toothless for the next 3 to 7 years. No top teeth. None. Not a one. Because they are too busy.

This is health care in the U.K. I am weeping here tonight. I could care less about my wonderful jobs.

Paypal donations may be made to: nnunley (at} gmail___ dot.... com

Comments

Jax Blunt said…
Aargh, Christina, that's horrendous. Many many hugs.

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