Beware of Greeks bearing Dentist Drills

October 19, 2009 10:04 PM

It's a big day for my dad today as he is going in for his operation to try and fix that what others have failed to figure out and in the process of incompetence have right royally buggered up.

The whole saga started months ago now, as far back as June I think, when Dad had to go to one of the local Greek dentists on the island that they retired to. Now, I really do hate to be the one who said "I told you so..." but on this occasion I think it's warranted as I told my parents not to get the treatment done locally and that they should fly back to the UK to get the problem sorted (a rotting tooth in need of extraction) but no, they decided to go ahead and get the tooth removed by their local dentist.

I knew that the whole thing was going to go tits up the moment my mum told me the dentist had packed my dad's gum with cloves (yes, I know they have antiseptic properties, but come on it's the 21st Century, dentistry and medicine has moved on) to try and curtail an infection that had set in. That didn't work so they packed it because blocking the only escape route for the infection to leak out of was of course the best medical thing to do, and this lead to a sinus infection that just wouldn't go away.

Things then take a turn for the worse when my dad decides to visit a different dentist in the island's capital who realises that the previous dentist had left some of the old tooth in and he then dutifully extracts the remnants and then fits my dad with a temporary bridge, again sealing up the problem and allowing to the flourish into an even more considerable infection. He then apparently removes the temporary bridge and fits a permanent one in its place.

Despite the new teeth the infection still hasn't gone, so move up a gear and dad gets a consultation with the army medical surgeon in Athens, who is suppose to be the dogs dangly's when it comes to fixing broken humans. He x-rays my dad and indeed the x-ray shows up something going on in the sinus cavity, that in itself isn't a problem, but the € 5000 price tag is!

Well finally my folks realise enough is enough and Dad books himself in with a private dentist over here who when taking a look at my Dad refers him to a surgeon as the problem has now evolved into something far more serious than what a dentist alone can sort out.

Cut to today at around 8PM and I'm on the phone to my Dad who had his op and has returned to the ward and is doing ok. He's a big groggy after the operation but they did manage to extract the REMENANTS OF A DENTAL BRIDGE from his sinus!! No wonder he's been in agony, I mean what kind of dentist would not notice a piece of a bridge missing! Anyway, they found lots of other goodies in there too, all of which have been sent off for forensic analysis to figure out what the hell each of them are.

So, let this be a sultry warning to everyone in the UK - we may bitch about the NHS but by comparison to other European countries, it's light years ahead of its counterparts.