Dental Work
I had some dental work done this morning. Firstly, it meant I had to get up pre-dinner time (bastards), and secondly I ended up with several sharp objects rammed in my gob. Of course, it is my own fault for eating copious amounts of cappucino fudge bought from The Pink Sugar Mouse and not brushing my teeth properly as a kid.
I don’t know what it is about the dentist that bothers me so. I know that most people don’t like going to the dentist, and it’s not like I’m terrified.. I just sit down in that giant reclining blue chair and my legs start shaking, my arms jerk about in all directions and I’m just about ready to have a panic attack. This is even before my nice lady dentist has asked me why I’m there..
I’ll tell you now, for those who look after their teeth and who’ve not had the pleasure of fillings, they not nice. Not nice on the mouth or the bank balance afterwards. First, the dentist scrapes at the tooth with a sharp instrument, analysing it intently in preparation for the tooth-torture. Next, a 3ft long needle is inserted into the gum, usually near the back of the mouth, to inject it with that face-numbing stuff that tastes like absolute crap and leaves you feeling like your face has fallen off. Then of course there’s the drilling — oh, the drilling! If you’re lucky, the numbing-stuff has properly kicked in and it just feels like a dull whirr against the side of tooth. If you’re unlucky, this will be a sharp pain which goes on and on and on and on and… yeah, you get it.
By this point I’m usually wishing I were somewhere else, because I will have lost all control of my mouth and generally drool will be spewing everywhere. This is also the point where my tongue tends to have a fit and will jump about randomly, much like a slug who has had the misfortune of being covered in salt (don’t do it, it’s cruel). I am so glad the dentist wears gloves, otherwise I’d end up licking her finger like a rabid mutt.
Moving on.. the dentist will now clamp the tooth with a great wire contraption to prevent the tooth from breaking as the filling material is inserted into the tooth with a weird array of tools. I’m not quite sure at this point what the tools actually look like, because the protective glasses I’m wearing (don’t want to be blinded by flying drilled-tooth) have steamed up and it’s like undergoing mouth-surgery in a bucket of water.
Lastly, it’s a case of biting down on the new filling so that it fits snugly in the new tooth with no sharp edges. This would be all well and good if I could actually feel my mouth and know whether or not I’m biting down hard enough. Rinse with the pink crap (what is that?) and spit. All done, time to go home and wait for the numbing stuff to wear off.
Of course, there was no need whatsoever to share this random tale of dental woe with you guys, I just need a little sympathy.
Seven said:
On 30 May at 3:09 pm
Uggh, I’m so terrified of the dentist. I hope your mouth recovers quickly. I’ve had so much oral surgery though I don’t know where to begin. I had that little flap of skin that holds your top lip to your gums lasered off (it was too long, but it wasn’t bothering me so I still don’t know why it was done), all four wisdom teeth pulled, insane braces with pretty much every accessory but headgear, and a rogue tooth lost in my gums yanked down slowly over a period of a year or so with a chain. That last one was the worst. The sugery to attach the chain to the tooth wasn’t so bad, but attaching it to my braces and tightening it was hell. I must have skipped about a month of school that year because the pain after the tightening was so intense I’d get a migraine for about 3 days after. Yeah, so that’s my horror story.
Amelie said:
On 30 May at 3:20 pm
If I were terrified of the dentist, I’d still look like a cross between Bugs Bunny and a racoon. I went to an orthodontist several hundred times a month between the ages of around 9 and 15 – braces here, retainers there, plaster moulds and x-rays all over the place as well. I’ve not yet had a filling, but I can never find time/be bothered to brush my teeth in the mornings anymore so I can’t see that lasting too long. Oh yeah, and you think that drill they use is painful? Try having some clamp attached to your teeth for a year meaning you can’t eat solid food or talk properly, or even feel anything for the paaaaain. Blech.
Vixx said:
On 30 May at 4:12 pm
There, there, pet. *pats back sympathetically* If it helps, M’s the same – in fact, when he switched to my dentist a few years ago he had to go through a number of ‘induction’ appointments where the dentist eased him in, showing him the equipment and then sitting in the chair, then lying, etc. etc. before M would let the dentist near his mouth. :| V xx
Michelle said:
On 30 May at 4:43 pm
My old dentist had flavored gloves. I licked his fingers while he worked on my teeth. xD I’ve never really been afraid of going to dentist. Sure, I hate the feeling of a numb mouth and my teeth being drilled on but it is a lot better than the pain a cavity can cause.
Elisabeth said:
On 30 May at 6:20 pm
I feel for you! I hate going to the dentist to! But the good thing is that now your boyfriend have to be really nice and spoil you the whole day.
Tom said:
On 30 May at 7:13 pm
In my country, there’s a kid went to see the dentist, now his brain stop growing, can’t walk and sadly he can’t say the word “mom” This happened because the kid is so imp and too terrify the dentist he cry and fights the dentist then his parent allowed the dentist to ties him ( just like you see in the movie when they tie a mad person in hospital ). the dentist tied him too tigh till he couldn’t breath and had no enough oxygen into his brain, that was cause him became paralysis.
Shaun said:
On 30 May at 8:32 pm
I am so sorry. Especially the numbing part. I hate going home and touching my face and noticing it feels just like the material they make Barbie’s face out of.
Jessie said:
On 31 May at 12:01 am
*sympathises* I’ve never had a filling. Everyone else in my family has, though. My younger sister has three, hah… but she said it was fine to get fillings! Hm… was she tricking me? =O
Megan said:
On 31 May at 12:07 am
Eek. I always hated going to the dentist just because he would put that nasty fluoride stuff in my mouth and I wouldn’t be able to eat for an hour or so. Now I realize I’ve had it easy.
Shannon said:
On 31 May at 1:25 am
Oh gosh. I hate the dentist. In fact, I know for a fact that my friend had to go to her dentist today. HA! I mean… umm… Anyway, the dentist people there at the teeth place all know me by name. And know I have a huge mouth-full of fillings. Errgh. But lately, (and luckily) I haven’t had any cavities. But, I remember that once, they started to put on the err… whatsit. The pre-numb-er. The thing that numbs before the shot… And I clamped my mouth shut. And shook my head when they told me to open up. And refused. They filled it in without a shot instead. The cavity wasn’t all the way to the core, so it didn’t hurt or feel bad. Damn you, shot. My dentists like to hold in the 3ft long needle for at least 30 seconds (feels like 5 minutes). Blah. (Still feels loopy.)
Mariah said:
On 31 May at 1:30 am
I need braces.. not looking forward to that. I’ve yet to experience anything quite so terrible at the dentist, thus it really doesn’t bother me. You’re quite the story teller though, it strikes fear into my heart. Ah! ;)
Heather said:
On 31 May at 2:34 am
I feel your pain, Jem. I recently had my “wisdom teeth” removed. I had the luck of being knocked out for the whole thing, though. It’s too bad they couldn’t have done that for you!
Ang said:
On 31 May at 2:42 am
I think I’m one of the rare freaks who enjoys the dentist. I haven’t had a cavity since I had baby teeth, so I don’t remember what the filling process is like. I got my mom’s strong chompers. Something about the dental staff singing the praises of my healthy teeth just makes it all worthwhile. Now if only I could afford to get them straight… Wisdom teeth removal, now that was hell.
Stephanie said:
On 31 May at 3:14 am
I had braces for four years. If you think someone drilling on your teeth is evil, just imagine the thought of someone smearing cement on your teeth, glueing on metal blocks and wiring them together with all sorts of magical contraptions only to rip it all off four weeks later because they want to change out the system. It’s quite cruel, really, and thinking about it turns my stomach. I’m glad it’s over, I really do feel for you :( My dad hates the dentist too… childhood trauma, I think, we’ve never discussed it.
Lita said:
On 31 May at 3:23 am
Wow, I’ve always wondered what happened when people got fillings. I didn’t think it was THAT bad. Ouch. I don’t really have a fear of the dentist.. Well, I guess I’ve never really been there much anyway. I have pretty good teeth, though. Oddly.
Amanda said:
On 31 May at 7:36 am
*now has braces and goes to the dentist every three weeks/month to get them tightened so that cannot eat solids for three days afterwards* a.k.a. knows exactly what you’re going through. *pats*
Chans said:
On 31 May at 10:34 am
I’m not a dentist fan either blah. I had 5 cavities filled the last time I was there (I use meds which damage my teeth.. YAY). Even though they were filled they bothered me for weeks after. Which according to the dentist was normal, it could last as long as 3 months before it was completely ‘healed’. I hope it’s not bothering you too much and especially not for that long :)
Claire said:
On 31 May at 1:23 pm
that reminds me…got to book my check-up…last time I went I had 8 fillings (hereditary awful teeth that rot from the inside out…bastards) hope you’re feeling better…
Joni said:
On 31 May at 3:30 pm
You have my sympathy, believe me…I hate going to the dentist. I don’t even like having my teeth cleaned, that’s bad enough in my book, but don’t get me started on fillings and all that stuff, ugh! And I relate to the panic attack thing, about six months ago I had to get a filling and I started crying (seriously) before the dentist even came in the room to give me a pain killer…horrible, horrible time. I’ll also spare you the story of when I had my wisdom teeth pulled…but trust me, it was awful and I wouldn’t wish that experience on my worst enemy, it was that bad…*shudders*
Kimmie said:
On 31 May at 3:35 pm
I totally sympathize with you. I feel the same way when I get to the dentist office. I start to shake and start to freak out a little. Fillings are the worst. :( I’m always tempted to tell the dentist, “Bust out the laughing gas! Get me high and then we can do this all day long!”
Chrissy said:
On 31 May at 5:47 pm
Reading about dental work makes my tummy go flipflop. I did not know this about myself until just now.
Louise said:
On 01 Jun at 9:39 am
Ok so I must be one of the 1/50 people who isn’t afraid of the dentist. Maybe because my one is as gentle as a teddy bear. Sometime last year I had pretty much the same procedure as you with a filling replacement, and I wouldn’t have described it as unpleasently. But I guess experiences like that can be different for everyone.
Malin said:
On 01 Jun at 11:20 am
You definetly get my sympathy! I feel the same way. Im not terrified either, but the pain. THE PAIN. The last time I was at the dentist one of the drills (it was on) fell over from the table and landed on my chest, bare naked chest. So it appeard a nice little red line on my chest. Dentists are evil, and Im going to change to a private one next time. Assholes.
Mike Haddad said:
On 01 Jun at 4:56 pm
Maybe this will make me a horrible person, but I really don’t mind going to the dentist. Then again, my dentist is also my neighbour who loves expensive things as much as I do. So that might make it a little more doable.
Angela said:
On 01 Jun at 5:12 pm
Dentists aren’t bad unless you don’t have one who is kind & patient with his/her patients and will try to keep you calm so you don’t dread each time that you come in for a procedure. That pointy thing is called an explorer. Usually, a dental assistant like myself will be the 1st to see you even before the dentist enters the operatory room. I would come get you from the waiting room, ask how your day is, seat in the dental chair, place the patient napkin on you, chat with you a bit, tell you what procedure will be done and where at, and then place a topical anesthesthia (gel like stuff that is rubbed on the area where you would be getting the injection to prepare the area). Then I’ll call the dentist in and hand him/her the syringe (local anesthesia) for them to inject into your gum tissue. Usually they will jiggle your cheek so that you are distracted with that and aren’t concentrating on the actual injection. It all depends on the manner of the dentist that you go to. You usually get 2 injections of either carboncaine, septocaine, or lidocaine. Immediately after the injections, if you want you can request a rinse of water from the air-water syringe and the dental assistant will suck out that water (so you don’t choke on it) with the saliva evacuator (the straw looking one). You can close your mouth around on that one. The dentist will usually walk out of the room to give your mouth enough time to numb up enough for the filling preparation and actually process. Typically, the dental assistant will stay in the room with you to make sure that you are doing okay and to keep you calm. Perhaps chat with you about your interests. Once you feel like you’re numb enough, the dental assistant will let the dentist know that they can start on the procedure. The dentist will poke the teeth that have the cavities to locate the decay. He/she will then pick up the high speed handpiece which contains a diamond bur (best to use when cutting through teeth). The dental assistant will pick up the HVE (high volume evacuator) and keep it pointed right where the high speed handpiece is drilling. The diamond bur when cutting through the tooth will create such a bad odor that you have the option of having water run from within the high speed handpiece. The HVE is a high powered wider tip that sucks up all that excess water that is sprayed into your mouth by the high handpiece and also sucks up all the tooth remains that are being cut out. Once the dentist cuts away all of the decay in that tooth, the assistant sprays more water on the tooth and then dries it with the HVE. Then the assistant hands the dentist the spoon excavator to check for soft decay that might be still in the tooth. If there is still some, the dentist goes back to using the high speed handpiece. If not, they move on to the next step. The assistant picks a mixing pad (or glass slab) and a chemical in a small squeezable bottle known as Dycal. The assistant squeezes a few drops on the mixing pad and mixes it with the Dycal instrument until its evenly mixed. She/he then hands the Dycal instrument to the dentist. The assistant holds the pad under the patient’s chin with one hand and a 2X2 gauze with the other hand. The gauze is used by the dentist to wipe off any excess material left on the Dycal instrument while placing that material into the tooth. Don’t worry the stuff doesn’t burn or anything. It acts as a liner to protect the very inside of the bottom of the tooth from the filling material that will be placed into that tooth later on in the procedure. So I guess you could say that it acts as a buffer. The dentist would then hand back the Dycal instrument to the assistant to be put away along with the mixing pad. Now is when more fun happens. The assistant will pick up some capsules which are actually the amalgam (silver filling material) compressed until needed. She/he will place one capsule into what is known as an amalgamator. The machine will shake or triturate that capsule for about 7 seconds. Basically, it turns that compressed material into soft substance that the dentist can easily put into that hole of your tooth where that decay had been removed. The capsule is removed from the machine and opened. It is placed into a little tiny bowl known as the amalgam well. The assistant will then pick up an instrument called an amalgam carrier and put that filling material into both ends. It’s usually a double ended instrument so that more material can be put in that tooth. The carrier is passed to the dentist and then passed back to the assistant back and forth until the material overflows a bit into the tooth. It’s better to have a tiny bit more than not enough in that tooth since one is filling up the area where the decay used to be. The assistant will then hand the dentist the condensor (another instrument) which packs in the excess material into that tooth to make sure that the hole is tightly sealed. If more material is needed, the carrier is used again. The ball burnisher (another instrument) will smooth the amalgam material so that its nice and smooth and not bulky or rough. Ball burnisher is handed back to assistant. Oh, the HVE is used again to suck away any amalgam material that overflows into the mouth. The cleoid/discoid (another instrument) is passed to the dentist so that he can carve the amalgam material that was placed in that tooth. Normally, each of your teeth have grooves in them so he’s basically trying to recreate that look. While he/she is using the cleoid/discoid, I would be again sucking away any excess material and possibly spraying water in your mouth but of course sucking up that water too cuz don’t want the patient to choke, now would we? Another carving instrument known as the Hollenback is also passed to the dentist to still recreat that tooth anatomy. Don’t ask me why there’s about 2-3 instruments to use to carve the anatomy back. I just hand over the instruments as they need them. While dentist is using the hollenback, I’m still there sucking away that excess material. The dentist then passes THAT instrument back to me and I hand him articulating paper. That’s the stuff that they ask you to bite down on. Basically, he/she has you bite down on it to check your bite to make sure that the material is not too high or too low. If its too high, your other teeth will be chomping down on that filling and eventually causing pain and/or headaches. If its too high, the discloid/cleoid is passed back to the dentist to carve away any excess. Once that is done, the bite is checked again and if everything is ok… the dentist starts to floss your teeth to check for any excess material that might have gotten stuck there during the filling process. The space in between your teeth must not have anything there cuz you got to be able to floss there. That space is known as the interproximal. Finally, the dentist leaves the room and the assistant will clean your face up if anything got on it during the procedure. She/he will flip a few switches so that your chair uprights you into a seating position. You will be taken to a sink to swish your mouth out with some type of mouth wash, the patient napkin will be removed, and you will be told that you can check out at the counter with whoever is in charge of taking your money for the procedure. Now that’s all if you would be getting a silver filling. The procedure is a little different if you were getting a tooth colored filling known as a composite. They cost more, but look so much nicer. Whew… I’m tired from typing all that out, but thought you might enjoy having the procedure explained to you from a dental assistant’s perspective :)
Qis said:
On 01 Jun at 5:24 pm
Surprisingly, I kinda like going to the dentist. I find someone fiddling around in my mouth somewhat… a turn-on. Then again, I’ve never had my teeth filled, so I really can’t say. I feel sorry for you. That sounds nasty.
Karl said:
On 01 Jun at 6:41 pm
my dentist also happens to be a webmaster for several dental sites, so I get on quite well comparing notes on his CMS with our work one..
Kenneth said:
On 02 Jun at 10:15 am
Why are people so scared of the needle? The anaesthesia in the mandibula is better than a whole lot of pain!
Jordie said:
On 03 Jun at 11:26 am
I had to get a filling once, but only a teensy one. The dentist just hammered in a tiny chip of metal and was done with it. O_o
Amber said:
On 04 Jun at 3:51 pm
Don’t have an injection. It stops a lot of pain. I’m terrified of the dentist – I nearly fainted after my first filling, and on the second one I didn’t have an injection and only felt a little pain.
Michelle said:
On 23 Aug at 11:21 am
Uck. I just realized yesterday I have a cavity. It’s on one of those sharp, pointy teeth. It’s right along the gumline, and I can feel the little crack with my tongue. I am terrified. I hate dentists. Not as people…just for their jobs….I could barely sleep last night after I discovered it. I plan on being numbed and laughing-gassed thoroughly before ANY sharp object pokes at my poor tooth.
Geraint said:
On 31 Aug at 8:42 pm
I am afraid of the drill I always take a cd walkman with me with a relaxation cd if I need any drilling done I find this drowns out the noise of the drill and helps me relax.
Hillarie said:
On 09 Oct at 12:39 am
I hate the dentists…none of my ‘needs for fillings’ have been far enough along to need numbing (by the way, I’m not counting when I was 6). I have two fillings from…like, 8 years ago and they say I’ll need them replaced soon…it sucks.
Donna Robertson said:
On 27 Nov at 11:56 am
oooh hate even the name dentist almost 60 and never had a filling, but my poor daughter arlene has had many some went badly wrong ,now because of mercury fillings she has allergies and receding gums, and hardly any dentist will touch the mercury fillings as it can be dangerous, now for her xmas present, mmm what a present Im paying to have one of her fillings removed, at a costly price I may say, surely these type of things can be done cheaper , but now Im couging up £80 plus as they have to see her first, dont know how many she needs done so hope not a lot, or Ill be bankrupt, but dont want her to lose her teeth at such a young age, shes only 34. when I was young I used to eat liquorice root all the time and sure thats why I have most of my teeth today, and all looking nice. any comments