I don’t know about that, i had never had any cavities ever, went in after a year (moved, missed out on one due to insurance) and i had 6!!! not as bad as ten, but still, i had to go in three days in a row to get it fixed.
Well, my story involves my wisdom teeth, nothing compared to the others posted here but I feel you need to balance things a little.
My top two were sideways and the bottom two were impacted under the other molars. It was decided that I should be put under. The suregery itself I don’t remember because I was unconscious, now the recovery. First of all I swelled up to a point that I could not open my mouth wide enough to get a spoon in and could not close it all the way either. I began to throw up the first day. Eventually, once the vomitting and swelling began to recede I thought I was on my way, HO-HO, not so! Excrutiating pain that woke me one night - caused by “dry sockets” and the bones being exposed. My dentist stuffed those little holes with gauze soaked in clove oil. Now, the taste of cloves is nice for the first hour. The second hour you are kind of tired of it, by the fifth hour I was puking again. Oh it was a joy. My swelling was finally completely done in a month.
BTW, aenea, OUCH!!!
In my life I had only had two cavities. No big deal, I had them filled and that was it. Then I went in for an X-ray and the dentist starts counting, “Uh-oh, 1, 2, 3, 4… 8 cavities!” They were all tiny and in between my teeth. I had to go get them all filled 2 at a time. Then one of the new fillings fell out and I had to get it replaced. I don’t like my dentist.
Ha, no kidding!
One thing I should mention about all of this is that I went from complete terror and anxiety over dentist visits to relaxed joviality. And all of this work has been done over the last year and a half. The level of care you receive is so important! I can’t believe how much of a difference the right dentist can make. ;j
aenea and anthracite are right, find the best dentist for you and things are MUCH easier. i know three dentists that i would recommend to anyone because they listen to you. i also had dentists that took me years to recover from. after college and the very good dentist i went to there, it took me a while to find a new one. this time i picked a female dentist. best thing i ever did. i got the idea from having our say by the delany sisters. one sister was a dentist and was know for her “light touch” BEFORE novacaine. that made me think go for the woman dentist, and it is true, she does have a lighter touch with the power tools. it is the power tools that get to me, i keep having dental nightmares about power surges and the drill going crazy. also my dentist was willing to have me knocked out for what ever she had to do. we did this three times, that way i don’t hear the drill and she doesn’t have twichy patient. one of these times was to replace 11 fillings that had cracked due to me clenching my jaw. she was able to get it all done in one shot and needless to say i didn’t feel a thing. the last time she had to do a filling i stayed awake, seeing i was not easily distracted from what that drill was doing she actually started singing. well that distracted me, she was done before she finished the song. what a dentist!
do ask your dentist a lot of questions about the 10 cavities. if your dentist balks at answering go to another one. any doctor that brushes aside questions about your care should be dismissed.
This is my story So far…
I was told I needed braces… sweet
I was told I had impacted Primary Cuspids… bad deal
I was told I needed them oulled…very bad deal
I was told I then needed them cut out-horrifically bad deal
I was told I needed CHAINS attached to my teeth
I was told I had my Secondary Cuspids FLOATING AROUND IN MY JAW BONE… bad
they then proceeded to CUT THE ROOF OF MY MOUTH OPEN, attach gold chains with 1MM links on them to my teeth, with brackets, and sew the roof of my mouth back up… they THEN attached those chains to ELASTIC THRED which they PULL AS TIGHT AS THEY CAN, and attach to the wire on my braces… it sucks…
once a month, I go in and they pull at least a millimeter on my elastic thread… seeing as it is elastic, it stretches, so up to a month after my last Ortho visit, the thread pulls my tooth still, so I have constant pain in my SINUSES from these teeth… sucky deal…
although… no cavities 
My tale of woe is nothing compared to some others, but I have two bridges (and I need another two) and four front teeth capped. I’ve had at least a dozen root canals – I lost count years ago.
But my worst dental horror story is the dentist who, about three months ago, told me (after $12,000 worth of work and with $3,000-$4,000 to go) that he didn’t like my “attitude” and fired me as a patient.
So all the time I thought I was fairly graciously putting up with his loudness, insensitivity and general boorishness, he actually hated me, too. There’s a certain irony in that, I guess.
Incidentally, Ad Noctum, what kind of freakin’ kinky medieval dentist do you go to?!! Geeze!
Catrandom
Do it. Do it for no other reason if need be than for the cost. You’ve already paid good money to have the tooth drilled out, why waste that money when they pull the tooth out and then you have to pay for bridgework? You just wasted the cash you spent on saving the canaled tooth by having it pulled out.
If your tooth is chipping, get to the dentist post haste. Eventually it will break down to the point where they can not reconstruct it and you’ll have no other option than to get it removed and be faced with either missing a tooth for the rest of your life or else getting the bridge. Plus if that tooth is rotting, there’s an excellent chance that the teeth next to it will start to decay and I doubt you want a full bridge done.
I’m not trying to harp on you; I just want to save you from making the same stupid mistake I did and save you a few bucks in the process. You’ll be happier with your own teeth than fake ones implanted.
For the record, if the tooth comes out, you also have the option of having a single false tooth installed instead of the bridge. If memory serves, it involves drilling down into your jaw, grafting a pin into your bone and setting the new “tooth” on top of the pin. While it doesn’t involve shaving down the neighboring teeth, it costs about 3x more to do and is a lengthy and painful procedure for the obvious reasons (I think you get drilled and have the pin set in, wait a few months for the bone to heal and then go back to have the false tooth set).
(I really love that name, btw)
Did we make you feel any better yet? Or have we scared you off completely? :eek:
Geez oh peets! Y’all have had some freakin’ bad dentist experiences!
I worked for (and still go to) the best dentist in the world. My sister, her husband, my mom, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, my husband, my aunt, my cousins, etc. have all started going to this guy because he’s so good. Does what’s necessary, gives you options, lets you make the decisions. What a gem.
However, when we moved to Nashville, I found a female dentist and she was one of the “milk the insurance for all its worth” types. “Very thorough” (I say) and my husband says “quack”. I finally started to disregard some of her advice after the third visit where I needed fillings on teeth that were fine (I still remember how to read a dental xray!).
Sue, get a second opinion. Don’t tell them what the other dentist found (don’t tell them who you saw, either). Schedule a regular cleaning and just see what the dentist says when he/she checks you after the hygienist is done. you’ll probably have to pay for that out-of-pocket but if it’ll save you $1000’s, it’d be worth it. Dental work is nothing, if not expensive!
You win. :eek:
That is just horrifying! Why are they doing all of that ‘cut your mouth open and attach CHAINS’ torture to you?
I thought I was familiar with most dental procedures, but that is beyond anything I have even heard of! You poor kid! :eek:
they’re doing what I’ve had done to pull down my other teeth from my upper jaw… it’s not cool, one of my teeth is now coming down through the jaw, and you can see it, it jurts SOO bad!
I now know why kids cry and cry during TEETHING!
I went in today to have the elastic tightened, and I can’t eat a thing my jaw hurts, the roof of my mouth is now healed almost completely, but I am still missing the bone from there, so it hurts like a Bizatch when I eat something and it pokes the roof of my mouth,
but anyhow,
yea, the chains are VERY small, but surprisingly virile and strong… and can put up with AMAZING tensile stress… I am beginning to slightly dislike my orthodontist… believe it or not, there are permanent HAND PRINTS in the chair from me grabbing in pain…
but anyway…
anyone got any good stories to make ME feel better?
(P.S. I should have my teeth fully down in ABOUT 6 more months, whee!)
P.P.S. Wisdom teeth haven’t even came into the picture yet…
Jeezus Keee-rist! And I thought I had it bad!
Thanks for all the support Dopers, I realize now that I’m lucky to have my minimal problems.
My heart goes out to the lot of you. May you all have beautiful smiles!
BTW, I picked up my whitening kit today and used it for the first time. It’s amazing!
I can already see a difference, but my teeth are a bit sensitive. Apparently, a flouride mouthwash will take care of that.
Too cool.
flouride Mouthwash?
I wanna get me somma that…
You say you had the cavities “sealed”.
What does that mean?
My dentist said my fillings “leak”, which made no sense, but then he never did tell me and I’ve wondered ever since.
Do you think “sealing” would cure “leaking”?
I for one despise the dentist - I didn’t go for 6 years as a kid, and from then on I’ve been going through holy hell to get fixed up as it goes -
But I digress - a quick story for those of you who hate the dentist.
My father was a young kid (7 or 8 I think) when the dentist wanted to pull out 3 teeth. He said NO, but finally agreed to let the dentist pull one of them - of course the dentist went ahead and pulled all of them (no novacaine). My grandmother had gone to the store while he was in the dentist so she was not there to take my father home after this. So he walked (2 miles I think it was) back to his house. My grandmother went to the dentist found out what had happened and started to drive home. She then saw my father who had walked BACK from home and was a mere block away from the office, carrying a large butcher knife he had taken from the kitchen. When asked where he was going he calmly replied “I’m going to kill the dentist.”
She took him home without any homicide taking place, but from now on - whenever I break in a new dentist, I make a point to tell them this story (which is true) and they look at me funny and make it a point not to cause undue pain.
Try it and see.