Fun Times at the Dentist!!

[RoJoHen]

However, as a result of law changes, I was able to go back on my mom's insurance this past year, so I have a dental plan until I turn 26 (which is in April, so I should probably take advantage of it soon).

You're lucky. The health care reform law doesn't include dental, so that must be either a state law or your mom's insurance company being generous. The company I work for is including dental coverage, but not until 1-1-11.

It's my mom's insurance company. Her dental is part of her overall plan, so I get to take advantage of it for the time being. I only have a select group of dentists I am allowed to use, but it's better than nothing!

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm really not looking forward to going back next week. My mouth was stretched open for over an hour on Friday morning when it's supposed to but clenched shut as much as possible over the next two weeks due to the jaw problems, even with the freezing I was in extreme discomfort and they knew it. Thankfully Lindsay was there (who's been my favorite dental hygienist and welcomed me back after not having gone there for four years) to comfort me.

I went to the hockey game last night and my jaw was incredible pain throughout the entire thing after the freezing finally wore off. Today it's been fine.

@RJ your story definitely beats out mine...sounds terrible. I've been glad that for the most part and aside from current problems I've suffered from no serious mouth or teeth problems.

 

[Kestra]

A few years ago I had my 25-year-old molar fillings replaced and it took 3 tries to numb my lower right jaw enough that I could bear the drilling. My dentist said I must have 3 nerves going to that one tooth, because he'd never had to drug someone up so much. It took almost 24 hours for the numbness to disappear completely.

Drugs are wonderful when undergoing dental work ... unless they don’t actually numb the area well. On one root canal, the endodontist had to stop and give 3 shots into the root to get it to fully numb up again. A dentist once said after one procedure, “I’ve given you enough to keep half your face numb for a day, and you’re speaking normally. Are you numb at all?” Nope. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t numb. The stuff doesn’t last on me.

Thank big-pharmacy for vicodin.

This sounds like me. The last time I had a cavity filled, they had to give me three separate shots. The drilling in between was highly unpleasant. Then half my face was numb for the rest of the day. I hate the shots themselves too though.

I had four wisdom teeth taken out and they gave me the gas, then tried to start an IV line. I'm really difficult to draw from, and I remember them going back and forth from arm to arm, stabbing me and starting to sound desperate. By the time they finally got it I was so drugged up I just asked "Can I go to sleep now?" and promptly passed out.

Recovery wasn't that bad at all with the exception of one tooth where he carved into my bone to get to it.

 

[SVD]

A lot of you guys got me beat, RJ and Flukie/Agent Spooky especially.

My worst dentistry experience: Back in december '08, I was eating my lunch, a slice of cheap cafeteria pizza, and I noticed something strange sticking to my long front tooth. upon further inspection with my tongue, I realized that I had a cavity on the end of my tooth. After finally getting to the dentist, by which time shots of pain up the tooth were periodic, the dentist I had was the pits with respect to bedside manner.

He manhandled me, giving me no warning for the jab with the Ambesol swab. He mistakes my confusion for a "go ahead" with the numbing agent, stabbing me with it, and my flinching having it go almost to where it would do no good. After the requisite preparation of the tooth, he put a crown on it that, after a few weeks, felt like it rocked a little, and I could feel it clicking.

A year later, I had it replaced by his much nicer, gentler replacement.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Nothing's worse than a health care provider with no respect for his patient. My Mother once went to a place that anesthetized her and pulled a tooth without once asking; then sent her to drive home alone in a compromised and traumatized state. About a year later, a class action suit was brought against the place-- I told her to join, but for some reason she wouldn't.

One cool thing about the dentist I have now is that he can give shots without pain. He does this little trick where he reaches in and gives a sharp wiggle, and somehow the needle goes in minus the ouch. Which is good, because like some other folks here I need a lot of Novacaine to get a little numb.

I arrived to the dentist's on the day of the removal and the dentist says "So, which one are we taking out today?" I look at him, "Um, I'm scheduled to have all my uppers out." and he finally looks at my chart and goes "Ohhh... ". I get all numbed up, get the lamp right in my face, nurse holding my arm and he starts going to town on them. So, he's pulling away at them, rocking them with with a tool like he's working the slot machines, and he's having a hard time getting them out, tough roots I guess.

He actually stops mid-extraction of one tooth and goes behind the curtain or wall, whatever it was, and I hear him breathing hard and swearing (in Korean I think) under his breath. I look at the nurse with as much eye communication as I can muster, and she shrugs. He comes back and says, "Ok, let's try this again.." More rocking teeth and and cracking as the teeth are breaking apart and the smell of burning bone wafts through the air. Finally got them all out, he scraps the jawbone to make it smooth, and then put the stitches in. Took two whole hours. It was quite the ordeal. Once I got home, I cried like a baby.

That sounds like the struggles they had with my back teeth. I learned to love Demerol.

It's my mom's insurance company. Her dental is part of her overall plan, so I get to take advantage of it for the time being. I only have a select group of dentists I am allowed to use, but it's better than nothing!

Yeah, that's a good deal.

 

[Mary Ann]

I had to have all my uppers removed seven years ago, thanks genetics.

Egad, that couldn't have been fun. For my surgery I needed to have two canines removed, and, in order to see how well I healed, my surgeon asked my regular dentist to pull one a few weeks before my surgery. The area froze well and I didn't feel a thing, and I remember the dentist pulling at the tooth with all his might and needing the help of his colleague to pull it out. Both men almost fell backwards when the tooth finally came out, and I recall my shock at seeing how big the root was. The other canine was removed on the operating table, and I've had 30 teeth ever since.

When I had my impacted wisdom teeth removed at 19 I was knocked out and that idiot dentist (a different one from above) stitched my cheek to my gum. They were dissolving stitches and I was high as a kite on codiene so didn't go back to complain, but that was more uncomfortable than actually having the teeth removed.

 

[Warp Coil]

I have a fear of the dentist. I don't mind doctors too much, but I loathe the dentist. Everything about the experience, in fact. The chair, the tools, the light, the smell, the sounds. My senses are bombarded by unpleasant sensations that tell me to run out the door and never return. When I was growing up, I was forced to visit the dentist every 6 months by my parents. As soon as I graduated high school, I stopped going.

I never saw a dentist while I was attending college (that's five and a half years... yeah, I was a slow poke). Once I graduated and got a job with benefits, I decided that I should bite the bullet and return. I was paying for dental insurance and might as well use it. So I forced myself to go, terrified about how much damage and decay my teeth had incurred over that long stretch of time.

Imagine my surprise when the dentist told me my teeth were fine. In need of a good cleaning, sure, but otherwise healthy. I've been going for regular check-ups and cleanings for the past six and a half years and I haven't had any trouble (yet). When I was younger, my trauma at the dentist involved one cavity that required a filling. The dentist didn't give me adequate novacane so I felt it. The doctor was like, "if it hurts, hold up your hand and I'll stop." Suffice to say, I kept holding up my hand and he had to stop several times. You'd think that he would have given me another shot, but nope, the bastard kept going. I also had several adult teeth that did not grow in exactly over top of my baby teeth. Instead of pushing the baby teeth straight down and out, the adult teeth pushed them off to the side so I had baby teeth hanging on and titled out at an angle. I had to have several of them pulled because they refused to come out on their own.

All of these horror stories scare the hell out of me!

 

[Surfin' Santa]

I have a fear of the dentist. I don't mind doctors too much, but I loathe the dentist. Everything about the experience, in fact. The chair, the tools, the light, the smell, the sounds. My senses are bombarded by unpleasant sensations that tell me to run out the door and never return.

“IS IT SAFE?”