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A Dental Patient's Best Friend, Couscous
Wed Feb 08 2006

When I was told last week that I needed 4 fillings on 4 upper teeth (2 on each side), I was given the option to have it all done at once, or in two separate appointments. I chose to get it all done at once, and this morning I was reconsidering that. I hate having anything done to my teeth, and the thought of sitting in the chair for that long had me wanting to call and cancel or at least split the appointment in to 2 different appointments. I decided to grit my teeth and just get it over with all at once.

So, I had my dentist appointment this morning and have come home with four (relatively) newly drilled teeth and the top half of my face feeling like it is slowly sliding off my skull.

I got there right about 9 this morning, and almost immediately they shoved a needle the size of a harpoon into the upper gums on my right side, and then did the same to the upper gums on my left side. I waited the obligatory few minutes for the numbness to take effect, and then the dentist started to drill. My eyes flying open and a whimper indicated to him that perhaps he hadn’t used enough Novocain. (He said my "high cheek bones" made it necessary for me to receive more Novocaine. Whatever, just give me the damn shot and get it over with!) I got a second injection on the right side, then drilling commenced in earnest on the two teeth on that side. Those were supposedly the easy ones as they were extremely old fillings that needed to be replaced. Nonetheless, it took about an hour.

When he started drilling on the first of the two teeth on the left side, I hollered and jumped out of the chair. He rather quickly realized that by that time the original shot from about an hour before was starting to wear off. Yep, another shot was administrated.

Have I mentioned that I hate dentists? I like the individual who is my dentist, but as a whole I have very negative and extreme feelings about anyone and everyone who works in a dentist office. It seems that if they aren't gouging my teeth, they're gouging my pocket book.

I’m seriously thinking about finding a dentist who is closer to me, and who will knock me out whenever ANYTHING needs to be done inside my mouth. From cleanings to fillings, and anything else, I would VERY MUCH prefer to be blissfully unaware of the whole ordeal.

I got home around noon, and was starved. I had been so worked up before my appointment that I couldn’t eat this morning, and I was looking for anything to eat that did not involve chewing. Fortunately there was a large bowl of left over couscous in the fridge, so I indulged in a food that didn’t in any way, shape or form need to touch my teeth in order to be eaten.

My pain from today should subside about the time I get the pain from the bill that will be coming for the work done today. Isn't that always the way it goes?

Now, I’m ready for a nap. Everything from this morning has left me exhausted!

5 Comments
  • From:
    DowntownMom (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Feb 08 2006
    Try going through that but instead of fillings...its 2 root canals...I could feel the needle or whatever it was deep in the root of my tooth...I just about died when that happened! And can you believe she didn't want to stop to give me more Novacaine????! I was in tears and so she said...ok ok ...and gave me another shot...I was crying and shaking and almost passed out because I hadn't eaten and the extra Novacaine was making me sick. To top things off, she prescribed Tylenol 3...it was my first time using it...I soon discovered after one pill that I am highly allergic to codeine and ended up in ER that night with excrutiating pain in my liver...vomiting - the works. Horrid I tell you! LOL
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Feb 08 2006
    This is the precise reason I drive over 250 miles to see my dentist that I have had since I was 13 years old. I trust him. He hardly ever hurts me, and he educates me about my teeth every time I go.

    And he is about half the price of the ones down here....

    Need I say more?

    Hope you recover soon.
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Feb 08 2006
    Alli, I am totally with you on the subject of dentists!!!!!

    Once upon a time, I did have a dentist who would knock me out. I keep hoping for another one.

    Shalom
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Feb 08 2006
    Yuck. I'd rather go to the gynecologist than the dentist
    ((((hugs)))))
  • From:
    Toxicepiphany (Legacy)
    On:
    Thu Feb 09 2006
    I always opt to get them all done at once, unless they don't have the time (once, I had to have 6...so, no, they didn't have time). And, I always have to get the numbing gel on my gum before they put the shot in and then they have to give me a second or third usually, for it to be bearable. I've heard it's common among redheads to need more shots of novicaine than others, but I'd like to just say it's bull.