Change of Dentist?

For the past 12 years, my wife and I were supported by an excellent dentist who worked part time in practice, and the rest of the time as a senior university dental tutor. Her approach to dental management for the elderly was not to intervene unless it was clinically necessary; clean, scale and polish herself, and apply fluoride in areas of identifiable small tooth cracks. This strategy has worked well on my 70 year old teeth.

Having moved home recently, my experience of our chosen dentist has left me wondering. She agreed that no treatment was needed; doesn't agree with applying fluoride, and says that I need an extended visit to their hygenist! I confess that I struggled with the last piece of advice as my previous dentist was painfully meticulous with her cleaning; scaling and polishing, and my last appointment was only 6 months ago.

I sense that I am being a bit overly sensitive but I took her advice to have 2 implications: one, that I am not looking after my teeth properly and, two, my previous dentist hadn't served me particulary well. I should add that the first thing that the receptionist tells new patients is that 'we are a fee charging practice'.

I am tempted to make an appointment to see my old dentist (70 miles away) but, with advancing years, seeing her on a regular basis is likely to become increasingly inconvenient. Comments.

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