h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am one of the many victims of the Great British Dentist Shortage, owing to the fact that dentists are paid peanuts on the NHS. I bit down on a piece of cottage cheese today, and my tooth split in half. (Lethal stuff, that cottage cheese.) I've got a big slab of tooth wobbling around, attached to the gum by a strip of skin. Lovely.

Emergency treatment on the NHS will take three days. Sod that for a lark! Tomorrow morning I'm paying a private dentist to sort me out.

Hey, I have the exact same problem! Actually the tooth broke on new years eve. It had had a root canal so didn't hurt but the gum became infected. There IS no NHS here and I do not have insurance. I treated it with tea tree oil and took cat's claw and the infection cleared up. I will have to have it pulled but for now I don't want to spend the money and I just chew on the left.

Poor you. Was there something in the cottage cheese or did you just reach your other teeth through it faster than expected? I hope you manage to find a competent dentist and quickly.

PS Is this a sign you need to take calcium supplements to make up for the ongoing condition?

My tooth had had a root canal too, thank goodness, or I'd have been in agony. It's been crumbling away over several months and, like you, Hellbound, I've been resorting to anti-infection remedies to prevent an abcess. My breath has been reeking of various combinations of garlic, clove oil and brine. (Poor Gothly!) I couldn't quite bring myself to use tea tree oil: it tastes foul.

"There IS no NHS here"

I can't say I've seen much sign of one here, either! Can you get yourself a dental health plan? I think that's what I'll be doing soon. I sure can't afford another trip to a private dentist.

"Was there something in the cottage cheese or did you just
reach your other teeth through it faster than expected?"

Neither. It was simply the cheese that broke the camel's tooth. In my family, people have either perfect teeth or useless teeth--nothing in between. I have loads of calcium in my diet; I doubt I'd benefit from supplements.