I had a dentist who didn’t believe me when I told him a tooth wasn’t numb. I was on nitrous, and he’d given me three or four shots of Novocain. He kept drilling and hit the nerve.
I punched him.
Total reflex. But he put in another shot and turned up the nitrous.
I don’t put up with any crap.
My current dentist seems very good, though I haven’t needed any major work done yet. He gets that I’m a huge dental chicken.
I’m sort of the opposite of the OP. I don’t like novacaine, it takes a long time to wear off, and I ask my dentists if minor things can be done with no shots. I also opt for the short-acting one. (They have a variety of drugs they can choose.)
But I agree that you should shop for a dentist that respects you, and your needs. I’ve had a dentist who gave me a hard sell for cosmetic dentistry while I was pinned in the chair. I found a new dentist asap.
I just had the first part of an onlay last Monday. The dentist started by putting an absorbent thing on the floor of my mouth. I don’t know why, but it triggered my gag reflex. Without thinking, I pulled it out. But then we talked about it, and she found a silicone shield thing she could use instead, that didn’t bother me. Also, because the tooth was far in the back, (apparently harder to numb/slower to work on) and she’d spilled some of the numbing agent when she tried to inject it (tastes nasty!) she was worried I might feel pain, and she was careful to discuss how I could tell her if it hurt too much. We agreed I would raise my left hand, and she would stop immediately if I did that. In fact, some of the drilling towards the end did twinge, but I knew she was nearly done, and chose to tough it out. (And didn’t have to deal with a numb mouth after i left.) But I knew it was my choice. That’s important.
Can you interview dentists before you submit to major dental work with one?
Good luck.
Dentistry has a weird relationship with anithesia, in my opinion. Their view, (regardless of patient info or experience), seems to be, we’ll give you a standard set amount and if it proves insufficient, we’ll give you more!
Not, I’ll decide the dose based specifically on your needs, previous experiences. Would you let someone perform minor surgery on your child who viewed anithesia this way? “Don’t worry, if little Tommy suddenly screams in agony, we’ll give him a little more, no worries.” No, you wouldn’t.
It’s a bizarre way to address numbing people for very painful procedures.
My teeth do not freeze well, I spent a lifetime begging dentists to help me, but they were unmoved. I went from dentist to dentist, each time a similar experience. They seem utterly indifferent to how throwing in a lot of random electric shock like experiences, with people’s dentistry, is precisely how you create customers who are 100% phobic!
Dentists suck in my experience. They don’t care what you tell them, they assume you’re full of shit and the other dentist’s that hurt you were just crap dentists. Then, when they also fail to fully freeze your teeth, they blame you. Because clearly you have issues. I have actually been told, “It happens!”, like it ain’t no big shit!
The roots of your teeth are close to a lot of other sensitive nerve endings, because your neck and head are packed with them. When they hit the nerve, it send an electric shock through me and straight to my brain! I will tremble mildly for hours afterward, and have a blinding headache for at least 24hrs. Then a low grade headache for another day following that! My Dr fully understands how this is possible. Every dentist I’ve ever met is ignorant and/or utterly indifferent.
(Often I have considered that if I was permitted to give the dentist a little electric shock whenever they hurt me, things might actually improve!)