A Case of Dental Cruelty!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Let me start by saying that I love my dentist. Really. He does good work, his office staff are pleasant and efficient, and I trust him. That said, let me say a few words about yesterday’s visit. I needed a root canal, no big deal -
I’ve had a few before, and they’re more annoying than painful. So I’ve got the 9 AM appointment, feeling good, nobody in the waiting room. They call me in, sit me in the “old chair” (broken arm rest, uncomfortable to the max), no big deal - I can handle it. I hear him talking to someone in another room, and it dawns on me that ALL FOUR treatment rooms are full. So I put on the relaxation CD, close my eyes, and wait. Wait and wait some more. He finally comes in and numbs me with the usual stuff - I can’t use anything with epinephrine in it cuz it gives me palpitations, so he uses quick acting/short duration stuff. “We’ll get you done quick today.” OK, sounds good. 25 minutes pass. He comes in and does some drilling and stuff, about 10 minutes of work. The RDA sticks a cotton thing in my mouth, says “bite down”, and forgets to sit me up. The relaxation CD isn’t working it’s magic yet. 45 minutes later, he comes in, asks “are you still numb?” (answer would be “just barely”, if I could speak) and starts drilling and filing like crazy. Since the tooth already had a crown on it, all he needs to do is finish the root canal, take some X-rays and replace the crown. But NO! Off he runs to another room, where he has an involved conversation with someone named Jeff about the space program. Another cotton thing has been shoved into my mouth, yet I emit a silent scream of protest. When he comes
back to finish up, I say sweetly “busy day?” and he says “yep, that’s the way I like it”. Total time in office = 3 hours. Total time being attended to by dental professionals = approximately 40 minutes. I don’t think he was in his office, doing a line of coke between patients, but I can’t swear by it.

Should I send him the bill for the hour of massage required to return my muscles to normal? After the “old chair” and the clenched jaw, I feel the need for revenge. :dubious:

2

I loathe dentists.

I never used to have a problem with them up until I was around 15-16.

I’m one of those poor fools, that no matter how much I do to protect my teeth, they just seem to fall apart. So I was used to seeing the dentist alot, and never really had a problem. Then the nightmare event happened, and I only go back for emergencies, and later this year, i’m getting what’s left pulled because i’m through fighting a losing battle.

But the one event that has caused me to REALLY hate going into the dentist, and gave me an irrational fear, happened like this:

I had a nice little toothache in one of the lower left molars, so I went in to see the dentist. I figured a root canal or something, or even maybe just some pain meds and a scrip for antibiotics and a appointment later for a root canal, that’s what happened every other time something like this occured to me (which was quite often.)

Well, my normal dentist was out of town, so it’s his partner/collleauge or whatever who sees me.

Well, after the x-rays, I sit back and he gives me a few shots of Novacaine. I have a strange tolerence for locals, so after a few times of making sure I’m not feeling anything, and me sitting in the chair feeling pretty darn good, he says, “We’re gonna have to pull it.”

I think, that’s OK, at least i’ll be rid of the painful little sucker.

So he starts cranking down on the tooth like it’s nobody’s business, and I feel a terrible flash of pain, like someone just jacked me upside the head with a sledgehammer, and I let out a whimper of pain. (ok, maybe it was more than a whimper.) He pulls his hands out of my mouth and asks me, “Did you feel that?”

I gave him a look that was probably full of hatred and replied with something that sounded like, “Ob courbe I fubbin’ felb dab!”

He starts to look at me, thinking very hard, and then decides to give me a couple MORE shots of Novocaine, and leaves the room.

around 15 minutes later, he comes back in, and i’m feeling REAL good now, needless to say. He pokes around in my mouth a bit, checking to see if I feel anything, and sure 'nuff, I don’t. Se he grabs the pliers or whatever again, and heads back on in. He gets ahold of it, and the moment he starts twisting, there that horrible pain is again. This time I let out something that probably sounded like a scream. So he pulls out again, and looks at me and says, “you’re just expecting it to hurt, it’s all in your head.”

At this brilliant thought, I could just stare at him in utter disbelief. My father who had been in there the whole time, just turned away and hid his face, because he was laughing at the incredulous look that I had on my face while I was staring at this dentist.

I said something that sounded like, “Ib ish NOB in my HEAB! I felb EBERYDING!”

Well, Mr Dentist decides he’s going to try again, and once again, there’s that horrible pain. The dentist pulls out again, and says it once more, "You’re just expecting it to hurt, you have so much Novocaine in you you shouldn’t be feeling anything!. Lets try it one more time.’

Well, he tried it one last time, and oh good LORD did it hurt. By this time I had enough of his patronizing attitude and shitty chairside manner, so the moment I felt the pain, he pulled his hands out and was just about to admonish me again when I grabbed his …uh… Family heirlooms, and said something along the lines of, “Ib you fay ib’s all im my heab agiam, we’ll fee jusb how muth of fif will be im youre heab!” At this my father left the room, as he was just about to lose it outloud. The Dentist must have seriously thought I meant what I said, as he backed away, and get the x-ray machine ready again, and takes another X-ray, and then dissapears for around 30 minutes.

He FINALLY comes back in, and he’s stammering, and apologizing and everything. VERY apologetic. It turns out the tooth had an abcess, and he had missed it on the initial x-rays. So basically, the Abcess was just eating the Novocaine up like it was candy, and was no where NEAR numbed or anethized (sp?). He had been working on trying to pull a tooth which for all intents and purposes, had not been numbed.

I’ve had teeth worked on and pulled since then, but that one time was enough to REALLY make me have a almost phobic fear of going to the Dentist’s office. I’ll be glad when the rest of these little white demons are gone from my head and I don’t have to worry about their evil anymore.