My daughter has breast cancer which is quite aggressive. She has had chemotherapy, surgery and radiation treatments. Now she needs to start a new treatment to help stop it spreading to her bones, but she needs to see a dentist before they will start. She has been trying to find a NHS dentist for years before she had cancer without success. But we tried again. When she said this to the oncology nurse she was told to try harder. We are all devastated and finding it so hard to cope. We just don’t know how to solve this.
Hi RockinPink and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
Like your daughter I had surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to treat an aggressive breast cancer and now I have six monthly infusions of a drug to help protect my bones. Like your daughter, I had to have a check up before treatment commenced. In my case I was seen by the hospital dentist who then said I needed to have a tooth removed and this was done at the hospital.
However, it sounds like your daughter's hospital have a different protocol and she needs to use her own dentist. I have an NHS dentist local to me who I have to have any ongoing treatment through.
You can check to see if there is an NHS dentist in your daughter's area by searching on the NHS website. Clicking on the link I've created will take you to the 'find an NHS dentist' page.
If there isn't an NHS dentist available in your daughter's area, and she has to see one privately, your daughter could get in touch with the Macmillan Welfare Rights Team by phoning 0808 808 0000 who can look at her situation and advise on any benefits, grants etc. that she could be entitled to.
I can see that you've already joined the breast cancer group which is a great place to ask questions and share experiences. You could also post there to see how others have found an NHS dentist.
It would be great if you could put something about your daughter's diagnosis and treatment to date into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
