Have you had the experience of a local anesthetic being ineffective with multiple dentists? A lot depends on the their skill in targeting the injections. Also, they should ask you if you feel numb before starting. I don’t know if this has been your experience or not so I’m just throwing it out there.
There’s no reason why a local shouldn’t work on you. From SciAm.
I guess it’s possible that you have some alien (feline?) sodium channels, but otherwise, the nerves that sense pain should be down for the count. So while I wouldn’t dismiss the possibility that you have a less than ideal response to the agents they’re using, it wouldn’t be my first guess without ruling out more likely suspects.
Of course it’s all irrelevant if you have found an approach that works for you. Is it much more costly to go the sedation route? I see that you’re in Canada so my guess would be that it’s covered by insurance and therefore not an issue. But if you happen to know, I would be interested.
I’ve had multiple needles from multiple dentists in my life; they varied from not too painful to I’m fairly sure they completely missed the nerves. I still have feeling in the tooth that had the root canal - maybe I just have more nerves than other people.
Sedation is much more expensive; we have dental insurance through my husband’s employment, but it doesn’t cover sedation at all. I’ll still do it because it’s worth it to me. Dental work shouldn’t be a torture session, and that’s what it’s always been for me. I’m 43, by the way, and started getting fillings in grade school (being basically un-frozen for all of them). I have crappy teeth, and need dental work done every goddamned year.
OK, here’s what you need to do. Normally I don’t give unqualified advice, but this is one of those times.
In Canada, you can get a preparation that has a 1.1% concentration of flouride. I know that because that’s where I order mine from. It’s call Prevident 5000+. They also make a gel which I think works better but I can’t get - even from overseas. So my comments are really about the gel but I think the toothpaste (the stuff I’ve referenced) should perform as well if used daily.
This stuff has made the enamel on my teeth so hard that one dentist actually asked me what I was using. It has saved me from many cavities - at least that is my firm belief.
Since you can get it OTC, it’s worth at least giving it a shot. The only thing to remember is DO NOT swallow any. Apparently some people swallow toothpaste. It probably won’t kill you, but I would do my best to avoid it.
I know you don’t know me and you should be skeptical of anything I say, but at least check it out.
BTW, dentists use lidocaine now. They have not used Novocain in decades because many people were allergic to it. But so many people expect that they use Novocain many dentists use that term so people don’t get confused or nervous.
I took valium for the first time while getting laser eye surgery. It just made me feel calmer, no real grogginess or anything. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I went for the full, knock me the hell out, IV anesthesia and would do it again.
Mike’s Hard Lemonade! Maybe add a splash of cranberry juice.
Seriously, take the nitrous oxide. Me before my wisdom tooth yoinking + IV sedative + general anaesthesia = over before I could blink. It’s definitely worth it.
Well, when you think of it, the procedures are still awfully barbaric. Calling it “torture” isn’t too big a stretch for people like me; I’m expected to just sit in the chair and let someone hurt me (and not grab either their tools or their genitals).
Years ago I had a whole lot of work done in one go including breaking up the roots of a broken molar to dig them out of the gum (the tooth had broken off at the gum line).
I had it done under some form of super valium administered by an anesthetist. It was interesting because I was not knocked out, could comply with requests, knew everything that was going on but just didn’t give a shit. I would lay there thinking, “oh he must be doing that to break the tooth,” without any anxiety at all. If they had asked could they saw my leg off i would have let them. I spent most of the time just listening to the three people chatting.
When the doc stopped shooting me the juice I thought, “what went wrong? That was only about 20 minutes,” but it was actually 4 times that. I actually kind of enjoyed it.
I decided to go for it… about 2 minutes ago. I was wavering between not taking any, taking half a pill, and taking the whole thing. I started to think about lying in the chair with them putting needles in my mouth and that made the decision VERY easy.
Wish me luck. I can’t wait until the whole thing is over & done!
All done. I’m slightly mellow from the Valium, but nothing more than that. I shoulda pushed for the nitrous, which I know works on me. I was FAR too aware of what was going on.
Now the numbness is wearing off, so I’m going to go lay down and feel sorry for myself.
For some people it isn’t the biochemical process, it’s getting the anesthesia to the nerve. My lower jaw is wired in a strange way, my Dentist injects a ton of medicine into my jaw, and still it’s only mildly numb.
I have to see my own dentist in a few weeks. I’ll ask about that. I saw him for the first time about a month ago for a cracked filling. I didn’t even notice the injections and didn’t even feel numb afterwards. I’ll ask him about his technique and about any patients he has that seem to be immune to local anesthetic. It may mean resurrecting this thread, but since we don’t seem to have any DDS’s here, it should be worth it.
The turning point for me was going to get a couple of fillings done with a new dentist (my old dentist had left town), and after I think it was six injections and I still wasn’t numb, I saw the fear in the dentist’s eyes, that he had no idea what to do next. That was it for me - sedation, here I come.
