MEDICAL MATTERS

[Stanley]

The good news Ian is that God cures most bad backs as you get older. Arthur Morrison told me that fifty years ago and he was right.....

[PanBiker]

No doubt, it is a lot easier this morning but hedging my bets I have been to the Coop and secured some analgesic gel. It's Ibuprofin based and I hope it doesn't make me smell like a poke of devils.

[Stanley]

It's good stuff Ian, I used to use it on my shoulder. (But time seems to have almost totally cured that as well now..... )

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz spent one hour and 40 minutes in the dentist's chair this afternoon as part of work on a molar that needs a crown but they say now also needs root canal treatment - it was worse than they expected and she now has future appointments for all the work. And the cost of all this? (Sit down first...) - £1800....

I posted that back in October 2024 and I don't recall having described the outcome on OG. So here goes...
She had several visits to deal with the root canal and then the crown but wasn't happy with the outcome. The tooth felt strange, a bit loose, and she was getting an odd taste in her mouth and also it felt like bubbles were forming on it. On a return to the dentist she was told there was nothing wrong and it would settle down.

Then we were into 2025 and no change with the tooth. We'd moved to this dentist when we came to live in Taunton after having an excellent dentist for more than 20 years but he retired. We both registered with the Taunton dental practice but neither of us were impressed with them. It came time for my check-up so we went to a dentist out of town who was getting excellent reviews. The treatment there was excellent, much better than the one in town. The dentist examined Mrs Tiz's problem crown and said it wasn't well fitted and recommended her to return to the original dentist and ask them to put it right at no further cost (if the new dentist sorted it they'd have to charge her).

We composed a letter to the dodgy dental practice, told them what the new dentist had said and asked them to correct the job or give Mrs Tiz her money back. They made an appointment for her with the dentist who did the crown work. She removed the crown and said no wonder it was giving problems - there was no cement to hold it properly in place, it was only kept in by the peg! When asked why there was no cement she said she had no explanation, she couldn't understand how it came about. Obviously she'd failed to use the cement! She re-fitted the crown - with cement - and now it seems OK. Of course, we'll both be using the new dentist in future. I get the feeling that there are dentists out there with inadequate training and not concentrating on the job!

[Big Kev]

I've had a couple of root canal jobs done, one was a 'surgical' procedure as my dentist didn't want to disturb the bridge work. They were NHS treatments and I paid the 'fixed' price, if I remember rightly it was less than £200 at the time. I paid the same for the bridge.

[Stanley]

David mentioned repetition in another topic but I am going to do it again and you know what I am going to say. When I look back at my experience with dentists I thank God that Mr Pinder took all my teeth out in 1959. It cost nothing in those days of course, NHS treatments were all free at the point of need. Since then I have spent £25 on a bottom set repair and had a new bottom set free because I am on Pension Credit. From what I understand, these days you would need at least two dentists to certify you needed all your teeth out.
I have never regretted it.....

[Tizer]

This parasite was first identified by Edward Tyzzer (no relation to me!) in 1907 and came to wider notice in the 1970s as a cause of bovine diarrhoea. It's been in and out of the news in recent decades but now is more common as a result of increasing popularity of visits to farms, especially by children...
`Farm day visitors warned over Cryptosporidium parasite threat' LINK
Tens of thousands of visitors due to attend a UK-wide open farm day this weekend have been warned about a parasitic infection that causes serious gastrointestinal illness. There were 17 outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis linked to farms in England and Wales in 2024 and an outbreak in south Wales earlier this year has seen dozens of people fall ill. According to inspection reports from the past five years - released to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act - some farms repeatedly ignored health inspectors' advice and allowed children to handle sick animals in filthy pens...

[Stanley]

I heard that report Peter and all I can say is I can't understand why me and the kids weren't permanently sat on the toilet when we lived at Hey Farm. Perhaps our normal hygiene levels were good enough to protect us. But how about me in the waggon living all day and eating my butties with no sight of a wash basin and hands covered in cow muck?