Dental experiences.

[Mr. Spencer]

Quite a few of you on here will be unfortunately more than aware of my constant questioning in regards to this, but for those not in the know - and I hope this doesn't come across as self-centred - I'll be having dental surgery performed tomorrow. As such, I'd like to create a topic about our experiences with the dentist. Since a child, I've been terrified of dental surgery. I had a back tooth extracted which was unpleasant, but painless. Though a front tooth that required capping was a lot more uncomfortable, namely because I felt the needle go into my upper gums. Something which I attribute to the dentist not using enough topical anaesthetic. As a result, I've been petrified of dental surgery ever since, to the point where I wouldn't even visit the dentist anymore.

For a year now, I've been suffering with an infected tooth - a back molar that's pretty badly decayed. To the point where I'm hardly going out, I'm keeping inside and taking strong painkillers. Codeine for a year is not a very good idea, so the time has finally come to get it fixed - and I hope it stops the pain I've been having in my jaw and stomach. Tomorrow I'll be going in and having it extracted, though due to my phobia I was given a specialist oral surgeon who is trained in sedation. Hence, I'll be under a conscious sedation. Awake, but too drugged up to care about what the dentist does. This'll be used in conjunction with a local anaesthetic, which if they use enough numbing gem, shouldn't hurt at all. It's funny, to the dentist this is probably a day's work, but for me it's like climbing a mountain. Yeah, I'm a pussy when it comes to dentists. It isn't like I'm having any major surgery done or a wisdom tooth removed, but it's still very unpleasant.

I'll be sure to see if I can keep the tooth as a memento, or a sticker book. Who cares if I'm 22, I want a sticker. I'm also going to see how many times I can squeeze in the phrase, "That's what she said" when I'm having the surgery done.

So, does anyone have an interesting stories to share of their experiences?

[Bertha]

The only thing I've ever had aside from cleanings is a filling for a cavity, and I got that back when I was in early grade school. Hope your surgery goes well too. You'll most likely be out of it for a while.

[Mr. Spencer]

Yeah, I'm booked in for an hour but that's namely because the sedation takes a while to recover from. To be honest, I am looking forward to it. Never had amnesia before, so it'll be an interesting experience. I don't think the extraction itself will take five minutes, I'm expecting noise and pressure but that's about it.

[Harry Mason]

I had a real problem when my wisdom teeth came in one of them was going into my molar at a 45 degree angle and needless to say I had to go to the dentist and to my surprise the pain caused by the pressure was greater than the dentist using something like pliers to rip it out..it was such a relief I shook his hand and thanked him and went home and passed out.

[Alexia_Ashford]

I have two teeth missing because apparently I had no adult canine teeth and they insisted on pulling the milk teeth out and one adult tooth. I had to have two injections in my top gums in the front, and one injection in the roof of my mouth, and I just remember sitting there with some guy yanking at my teeth trying to pull them out, spitting blood into a cup and then feeling like I had rubber strapped to my mouth (which was actually my lower lip but I couldn't feel a thing).

My dad's had a few nastier experiences. He had a molar taken out but the dentist wasn't very good and ended up cutting all around his gums and he had flesh hanging everywhere and blood going everywhere. Another time he had a nerve extracted from his tooth, and the tooth grew so brittle that it cracked, and when he had it removed, it couldn't be removed fully so they had to keep cracking away at the tooth.

You won't get any noise. With pulling teeth out, they just pull at the tooth till it comes out. They don't drill or anything.

[Darkmoon]

I had minor surgery for my canines, because they descended at a 45 degree angle into my mouth (and one never made it all the way over).

Oh, and some needed putting back together after a few folks got me in the mouth.

Other than I've been lucky. Not so much as a filling.

[The Dude]

Had 3 fillings on my back teeth from childish eating as a kid, nothing major you'd think but for a 7 year old kid to have the injection on the wrong side, and feel the whole thing from drilling and otherwise *while the otherside is numb as hell* was pretty traumatic, so when I got the next filling *and from now on if god forbid I ever need any again* I'll go without the injection because most dentists in my area are generally incompetant, it'll give them one less thing to worry about.

[nemesiswontdie]

i cant really say ive had any bad experiences with my dentist, its probably cause he kicks ass and listens to NIN, hell he gave me a ticket to see NIN with him last year in
chicago.


i love my dentist lol.


hope your surgery goes well john

[A-J]

I can proudly say I haven't ever had any need to go visit a dentist so far. All my teeth are in perfect working condition. Except for this one that got chipped a little bit, but it's strange, people say when you chip a tooth it becomes impossible for you to eat things like ice cream, cuz it hurts so much. It doesn't happen to me though.

[Weskers Flag]

No, but, I'm going to quote Final Destination 2 here.
If I ever wake up with my pants unzipped, I'm not paying.

[aris13]

When I was like 12 I went to the dentist to remove two teeth and it wasn't that bad, I didn't feel a thing.

I just hope that you haven't watched the Marathon Man yet....

[Dan Corson]

I had a dentist give me two fillings I didn't need. Apparently he had a habit of doing that... Money-grubbing dick biscuit. He isn't in practice anymore.

[Vector]

I wore braces for 3 years when I was a kid, but at the same time I've never had a cavity. *knock on wood*

I still have my wisdom teeth, too...


As for you, Spencer...godspeed.

[REmaster]

The only thing I hated about my last experience was that after I had a filling done, i was given some novocaine. Afterwards, my nose itched horribly and no matter how hard I scratched it wouldn't go away because everything from my upper lip to the top of the bridge of my nose was completely numb. Sucked.

[Mr. Spencer]

Update:

Thank you all for your encouraging words. They're appreciated. It has now been ten or so hours since the extraction. On my way to the surgery, I was incredibly nervous to say the least. Booked myself in, asked my mum to come and collect me at around 10am and then got underway. The dentist I was with was an oral surgeon who specialised in sedation, she was accompanied by a younger nurse. Both were very friendly and supportive, told me that I was in good hands. First they inserted a needle into a vein in my arm, which surprisingly enough didn't feel all that bad. I even watched it go in, probably the best part of the entire procedure was watching that needle go in. I didn't mind that at all.

Then they injected the sedative into my vein, most likely propofol or valium or something along those lines. I was talkative, but then I reached a stage where I didn't care what was going on. I was fully awake and conscious, but I didn't care. They gave me two or three injections into my gums are first, didn't really feel any of them. Then she started the actual work, felt some pressure as though she was pushing down on something, slight sound of cracking. I felt a little bit, so I told her and she gave me a fourth injection. I felt this one a little, but my pain threshold had been raised so high that I simply didn't care. It really is like there's no care to dredge at Giveafuck Bay, you just don't give a damn.

Heard some more cracking, felt more movement but that was it. Saw her take something away which was presumably the crown of the tooth, and then she said that she needed to use the drill to dig out the roots that were embedded since the tooth was so badly decayed. I remember my reply being something along the lines of, "Oh, you're using the drill? Oh alright then, no prob" and she used the drill, heard some noise and that was it, felt blood in my mouth but I didn't mind. Then the first root came out, then the second. Time seemed to pass a lot quicker. I remember the surgery, but I just didn't care about it. It was like having a haircut.

My mum came into the surgery room to collect me, the dentist and the nurse helped me up after stuffing a gauze in my mouth and then my mum thanked the dentist on my behalf since I was like Rocky Balboa at this point, and then she walked me over to the receptionist, the dentist prescribed some antibiotics. I remember my mum telling me that, "If one of us falls over, we both fall over", since my mum isn't too steady on her own legs since she suffers from varicose veins. Anyway, we made it out okay but I don't remember the car journey home. I vaguely recall giving directions, but that's about it. It was pissing down with rain, thunderstorms and such.

All in all, not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it was rather pleasant surprisingly enough. If you're afraid of surgery, I cannot recommend sedation dentistry enough. It's fantastic. God, valium is win.

In hindsight I suppose my biggest disappointment of the day was not getting a sticker book.