Starting to worry about my teeth...

scotlass99

Well I have survived my first appointment. Dentist seemed nice, think we was itallian! I half-expected him to burst into "Whats the matter you? Hey! Gotta no respect? What-a you t'ink you do? Why you look-a so sad? It's-a not so bad it's-a nice-a place Ah shaddap-a you face!"..but he didn't...

So I told him I was nervous etc and he was very good about it. I need a root filing (is that what it's called) and another filing (I think that is just to start with!!!). He also said to the nurse DO or OD, any of you dentisty people know what that means??

So, dreading my next appointment on 6th March now.....gotta be brave though...

Toothsmith

DO = Distal occlusal.

A cavity on the biting surface of the tooth that goes over the back edge.

Can't tell much about it just from that, you can have tiny DO cavities or huge DO cavities.

Sounds like a positive experience though.

scotlass99

Dentist tomorrow for filing and root filing...very very nervous..

One of the teeth that is going to be treated has been giving me a bit of pain the past couple of days..I think it knows something is going to happen to it..lol

Will let you all know how it goes....wish me luck!!

whatatwit

Good luck, I'm sure you'll be fine.
The worst bit is the waiting.

belfastgirl23

Good luck!! Come back and tell us how brave you've been!!

scotlass99

Just got back from the dentist. I was so scared! The dentist sat me in the chair and I asked him to explain what he was going to do. So he numbed the tooth, which was fine. Then he drilled out the tooth, which was fine (but I could smell burning..is that normal?)

Then he used the instrument thats metal and has a tapered end like a toothpick and touched the nerve. It was SOO painful I just about jumped off the seat. I started to panic a bit because I wasn't expecting it to be that painful. So he gets his needle out again and puts more anesthetic on it, but it's still PAINFUL, like when you bite on foil with a filling! So he says he's going to put 'medicine' on it and then put a filing on top.

At this point i'm thinking, are we finished or what? So I ask him and he says that he has put something on the tooth which will kill the nerve, so next time it won't be painful. Oh lordy how long does root canal take?

I came out of the dentist and cried as soon as I got in the car..I wasn't really expecting it to be so bad..and I felt that I hadn't made any progress, except now I have a bigger hole in the tooth (although he put a dressing on it)

Toothsmith, if you happen to read this, should a root canal be painful? Should the dentist perform a root canal on a healthy nerve? (I take it the nerve was healthy else I wouldn't have felt any pain..) Should this medicine he put on it kill the nerve or am I going to go back and endure the same pain next time?

Oh god, oh god i'm starting to wonder if he is the right dentist for me now..he speaks broken english so it's hard to communicate. Plus, while he has both hands plus whatever implement he is holding in my mouth he is saying "There is pain?". How the hell can I answer??! I need to learn sign language or something..

I'm away to feel sorry for myself now...

LouBlue

scotlass99 wrote: »

"There is pain?". How the hell can I answer??! I need to learn sign language or something..

Are you very flexible? A kick in the b&lls should work. :rotfl:

scotlass99

LouBlue wrote: »

Are you very flexible? A kick in the b&lls should work. :rotfl:

LOL!:rotfl: That should work! Thanks for making me smile...well, the right side of my mouth anyway!!

belfastgirl23

Aw poor you. Though hopefully this should sort out the pain issue once and for all. Sorry no advice on the specifics but if it helps my dentist tells me to raise my right hand if I'm in pain although she can usually tell by the stiffening and eye rolling And I can usually manage an 'uh huh' elvis style no matter how much wadding is in my mouth...

I know I do have one tooth that I always experience some pain with no matter how much she dopes me up. It's not nice at all at the time but it does sort things out longer term...try to hold on to this.

On the burning smell a friend of mine came out of the dentists convinced he had bad breath till she realised what she had smelt was coming from her own tooth and not him at all .... ugh!!

Toothsmith

scotlass99 wrote: »

Toothsmith, if you happen to read this, should a root canal be painful? Should the dentist perform a root canal on a healthy nerve? (I take it the nerve was healthy else I wouldn't have felt any pain..) Should this medicine he put on it kill the nerve or am I going to go back and endure the same pain next time?

Oh god, oh god i'm starting to wonder if he is the right dentist for me now..he speaks broken english so it's hard to communicate. Plus, while he has both hands plus whatever implement he is holding in my mouth he is saying "There is pain?". How the hell can I answer??! I need to learn sign language or something..

I'm away to feel sorry for myself now...

If everything felt numb, but right in the centre it was still painful, then that is a very long way from a healthy nerve. It's a 'hot' nerve that despite being very poorly hasn't had the decency to die yet. They are a right pain in the bum for dentists and patients alike. And the number of times they strike on the more nervous patients really is Sod's Law!!!

They are nerves that are so sensitive that despite it seeming like the anaesthetic has worked, you fine out once your there that it hasn't! Not nice at all, but fortunately quite rare.

The stuff put on it should kill it completely.

One of the things about all local anaesthetics is that they never take out 100% of the nerve fibres. 80% at best. It's just that when a nerve gets to a 'junction box' if only 20% of the nerves are firing, then the chemicals released arent enough to keep the transmission going across the joint, and the signal stops before it gets to the brian.

How much chemical is necessary to fire the reaction across the joint is down to 'pain threshold' and is a very varialble thing.

In someone very nervous of something, it is right down, and if you 'start to panic' it reduces even more.

I know it's hard, but if you try and stay relaxed and calm, the whole process will be a lot better.

Having said that, come next week and that stuff having worked, it should be a different experience altogether.