Tales of Dentistry.

[Chako]

I just came from the longest root canal job ever. It took the Dentist and his trusty assistant a full 2 hours to operate on me...6 to 8 pm. I had to open my jaw all that time, and to be frank, my jaw is sore, at least the parts that aren't still frozen.

So I thought, maybe we can all share our horror or good stories of dentistry. The above was long, but not at all painful. I have a much better story for you all, and this one is a beauty.

Here goes...

6 years ago, I had to get some work on my upper teeth. My Dentist of the time was a great guy, and an awesome Dentist. Honest. However, this particular day, there was an accident. As he was inserting the freezing needle in my upper gums, he sneezed. I can tell it took him by surprise, because his needle went deep. So deep in fact that it entered my nasal cavity. He must have been distracted, because he commenced to pump my nasal passage with the freezing solution. As I am sitting there, I can no longer feel my nose Furthermore, the stuff starts running down my throat, freezing that for good measure. Once he pulled out, I told him what happened. He apologized, and took another needle and did the job properly. As he begins to do the work, I start to hyperventilate. My body can no longer tell it was breathing properly. I guess I was not getting any feed back...and it automatically tried to force me to breath properly. So here I am trying to stay still for the dentist, and my body and mind are having this fight. No, you are not going to die, my brain would say. The body was sending signals of immediate death. The Adrenalin started to work itself up. Eventually, I was able to get things under control, but it took me the whole time I was in that chair. The only good thing about this...I do not remember anything that the Dentist did on that visit. I was busy fighting the only fight you can never win...and that is against yourself.

So lets hear your horror or good stories.

[gregozedobe]

My worst experience was with a tooth that had had root canal work done a few years earlier.  The tooth had become extremely sensitive to touch, which is why I was at the dentist.

For some reason the dentist refused to believe me that it was very painful when he tapped it - to the point where I had to threaten to get out of the chair and "job him" (Oz for severe beating) if he didn't stop tapping it.  It wasn't visible, but there was an abscess at the bottom of the roots (it eventually burst out the side of the gum so I ended up having the tooth extracted and later, when I could afford it, I had an implant done there.

I did get him back, I was so affected by the pain that afterwards I had to sit in his waiting room looking all grey and like I had almost died from his treatment.  I'm sure it put off all the other patients sitting there waiting for their turn.

And yes, I did go to a different dentist after that, one who actually listened to what I said, and had much better pain management protocols.

[Chako]

Ouch.

I had a similar thing happen to me once. I brewed an abscess that caused severe pain. You know the type that throbs like a heart beat. All the dentist offices are closed because it is a national holiday (Easter). I called the emergency dental phone number and got a secretary. She told me to go to emergency for antibiotics. It was very early on Good Friday.

I do not know how I managed to drive down there, but I do. Because I do not know my way around the new Hospital, I parked at the main entry. I walked up to the small volunteer kiosk for information regarding the whereabouts of the emergency department. She points down the longest hall and tells me all the way at the other end of the hospital. 

I walk down to the emergency department which takes me exactly 2006 steps (I counted each painful step). I was the only one in emergency when I got there...which in the old Hospital...never happened. I sat down and waited. Eventually, a nurse noticed me as she traversed the floor. She calls me in, introduces herself as a nurse practitioner, and asked what ails me. I tell her about my abscess and the pain I am in. I told her how I called the emergency dental hotline...

She looks me up and down and accuses me of trying to get opiates for a nonexistant pain. In short, she called me a liar. She refused to believe me. Nothing more to do, I start my death march back to my car. I had to wail till Tuesday to see my Dentist. He called the nurse practitioner a few choice words, and gives me my prescription. Lucky for me, the pain quickly subsides, resulting in another root canal after my antibiotic course.

Talk about a miserable 4 days I shall never forget.

[Syncop8r]

I recently had a tooth out. They booked it for an hour as a "worst case scenario" and said they are usually quicker.
Well it took two hours! There was a lot of wrestling involved and eventually he got it out but there was still a root left in there which also took some time to remove. It hurt for many days afterward.
Apparently my roots are twisted which makes things difficult.

Then there was the time another dentist asked me to bite down so he could get a filling to the right level. My upper and lower teeth weren't meeting so he asked me to bite down harder. Then there was some blood and he realized I was biting my tongue and it was preventing my teeth from touching.
My tongue was numb so I had no idea. 

[pomsbz]

I once had a brick thrown in my face while waiting at the dentist by a thug outside who thought I had been 'looking at him' through the window. I still have the scar.

[Chako]

 

[tosh]

I had the abscess a few years back
I remember it well as it started on the day I finished work for Xmas break and didn’t go until 3rd January- yes 2 weeks of absolute agony. I’d wake up at 2 am with pain so excruciating it felt as though my head was splitting in two
The left side of my face was swollen that completely closed my left eye. I couldn barely open my mouth, let alone chew. I just drank milky coffee, with extra spoons of coffee
Bad mistake, caused the pain in my head to become so extreme it made me cry (lol) didn’t realise it was the coffee...so had another !! I actually really wanted to die. Never in my life have I felt so much pain.
The white of my eyes were either blue or red depending on how severe the pain was
I was popping a pack of ibuprofen a day, which then brought on the chits 
The only release from the pain was putting my head in the hottest water I could stand.
Yes, spent hours each day submerged naked in the bath in scolding water breathing via my sons toy snorkel!!

I can laugh now.

The emergency doctor said it had been something entirely different (forget now) and had prescribed antibiotics which did Sweet FA!!

Oh, just for fun the dentist later said it had been a large abscess beneath the back molars but had burst through my gum wall?? that was me forcing my jaw shut....dear god that hurt!!

Nice

[Syncop8r]

The next thing to attack on the list is an old root canal that never got crowned and recently a bit of tooth on the side broke off. Unfortunately when I went in this week to get it done I was informed it's not in good enough shape to repair and there's an abscess underneath it. He used the time to instead do a normal filling (which was fairly pain-free) and he will extract the failed-root canal molar in a couple of weeks. The appointment is for a half hour, probably a bit optimistic considering the last one took nearly two hours!

[gregozedobe]

The next thing to attack on the list is an old root canal that never got crowned and recently a bit of tooth on the side broke off. Unfortunately when I went in this week to get it done I was informed it's not in good enough shape to repair and there's an abscess underneath it. He used the time to instead do a normal filling (which was fairly pain-free) and he will extract the failed-root canal molar in a couple of weeks. The appointment is for a half hour, probably a bit optimistic considering the last one took nearly two hours!

I hope it goes smoothly and that the roots are straight (twisted roots on molars can definitely make extraction a bigger job, and especially if they break off)

I have to wonder, what percentage of teeth with root canal work fail after a while.  Certainly I hear of lots that have failed, but not very many where it has been OK for years.  I don't know whether that is because people are more vocal when something fails, or is root canal therapy just a bad idea ? 

My wife's dentist is trying to get her to agree to root canal therapy on a molar, but my missus isn't convinced due to the number of negative reports she has been told.

[Chako]

I have as yet had any troubles with my root canals.

[Syncop8r]

I have two, each on the first molar of my bottom row. They were done probably a year or so apart around 15 years ago.
During later visits the Dentist would say "we need to get those crowned so that we don't undo all our good work". I didn't know about this when he first said I needed a root canal, and if I properly understood I probably would have got them taken out instead as I couldn't afford that on top (and still can't).

The tooth that needs extracting now had only a thin bit of tooth on one side of the filling, which broke off a year or so ago, leading to it's current state. If I had got it crowned I'm sure it would still be in good shape. The other one appears to be fine.

So they're probably only a problem if you leave them half-finished. 

[Syncop8r]

It got taken out on Friday. It was a breeze compared to my other extraction.
The worst part was probably getting a sore jaw from having to keep my mouth open. Or seeing blood flash past in the suction tube. 
Or the pretty assistant seeing my worst feature - my horrible teeth.

The gap isn't in a great place for eating though which is why I got the root canal all those years ago in the first place.

[ToolJoe]

My favorite is when I go-to the dentist and they try to sell you work that isn't essential and the person at the desk pulls out the binder and calculator, does some crunching and tells you it will only be x amount a month (usually car payment amount  ).

[Syncop8r]

That doesn't happen at my dentist. He made a plan of what appointments were needed in order of priority and it was up to me to book each one when it suits me.

It reminds me of the first time I went to chiropractor - he was an American who tried to lock you into a payment plan and a certain amount of visits per week. No other chiropractors here do that, they say it's unethical as you can't predict exactly how much treatment you will need. I went elsewhere.
Apparently that's how things are done over there?

[Syncop8r]

After feeling good over the weekend my extraction got worse this week - a thing known as a dry socket.

Dry socket (alveolar osteitis) is a painful dental condition that sometimes happens after you have a permanent adult tooth extracted. Dry socket is when the blood clot at the site of the tooth extraction fails to develop, or it dislodges or dissolves before the wound has healed.

Normally, a blood clot forms at the site of a tooth extraction. This blood clot serves as a protective layer over the underlying bone and nerve endings in the empty tooth socket. The clot also provides the foundation for the growth of new bone and for the development of soft tissue over the clot.

Exposure of the underlying bone and nerves results in intense pain, not only in the socket but also along the nerves radiating to the side of your face. The socket becomes inflamed and may fill with food debris, adding to the pain. If you develop dry socket, the pain usually begins one to three days after your tooth is removed.

Dry socket is the most common complication following tooth extractions, such as the removal of third molars (wisdom teeth). Over-the-counter medications alone won't be enough to treat dry socket pain. Your dentist or oral surgeon can offer treatments to relieve your pain.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dry-socket/symptoms-causes/syc-20354376

So my dentist has been putting a small dressing in at the site to get it to heal.