General Your Love of Dentists :D

[Huntn]

I’m approaching 70 years old and I just had my last molar crowned. Of possible interest, I had made a dentist appointment due to some new tooth sensitivity which I described as upper left front. But once I got into the dentists office it was hard to identify exactly where it was. They had me bite on a small piece of plastic in an attempt to identify the culprit tooth but no real luck, then they observe my molar top left rear, the back molar which had 2 small metal fillings for decades had some cracks and I decided might as well crown it. As soon as the prep work was done and the temp crown applied all of the tooth sensitive in my mouth subsided. Same status for when the permanent crown was cemented in.

As far as rogue sensitivity, the dentist says due to the layout of the nerves in the mouth, this is not that unusual.

As far as love, I think I love my female, 50-60ish blond dentist. She is the first dentist I’ve ever gone to who can numb me up without any pain. Her son, the newly credentialed dentist who works in the same office can learn something from mom.

 

[Yoused]

Nothing, just, I will only go to a woman dentist, because I expect pain from women. (I even told her that.)

 

[rdrr]

I too have a hard time getting numb, and I absolutely dread going to the dentist. In my childhood, the dentist never believed me when I said I wasn't numb, and kept drilling. I was told I was over-reacting, and every session was me white knuckling the arm rests. As an adult I had to go in three times to get one root canal and the endocrinologist said in the first two sessions he couldn't give me any more Novocain. Just recently at my current dentist the technician and the dentist had a hard time finding the nerve in the back of my lower left jaw and kept poking me so many times, that I couldn't fully open my jaw for over a month. Needless to say I am looking for a new dentist.

I have been told many different things on why I am hard to numb up, but one crazy one stuck out. Apparently people with red hair, or red in their hair (I did have reddish brown hair), are harder to numb up. I just think its another anti-ginger, tall tale...

 

[Yoused]

One time, I was on my 4th quadrant of a deep cleaning, and I told the hygenist to skip the novocaine, that I would just handle it. It was not particularly pleasant, but it was tolerable. Then the dentist came over and looked at my mouth and said "Looks like a problem with the DF on 19. I should do that, since you are numbed up." I told her I wasn't, but WTH, just get it done. So she did about 40~50secs of drill work, and it was again, not plesant, but tolerable, and then the filling, which does not hurt.

Mostly I prefer numb, but the pain can be handled sometimes. The first time she did a tooth, a tear down and build up for a crown prep, I kept feeling stuff so they kept doing shots – by 7, I asked what that grinding sensation was, and she told me that was putting the needle in till it hits bone. I was very sore for quite a while after that job. But, when I was 14, I had an extraction that called for a palate shot. Those shots really hurt, and that made me averse to dentistry for many, many years.

 

[Roller]

I too have a hard time getting numb, and I absolutely dread going to the dentist. In my childhood, the dentist never believed me when I said I wasn't numb, and kept drilling. I was told I was over-reacting, and every session was me white knuckling the arm rests. As an adult I had to go in three times to get one root canal and the endocrinologist said in the first two sessions he couldn't give me any more Novocain. Just recently at my current dentist the technician and the dentist had a hard time finding the nerve in the back of my lower left jaw and kept poking me so many times, that I couldn't fully open my jaw for over a month. Needless to say I am looking for a new dentist.

I have been told many different things on why I am hard to numb up, but one crazy one stuck out. Apparently people with red hair, or red in their hair (I did have reddish brown hair), are harder to numb up. I just think its another anti-ginger, tall tale...

If you'd gone to an endodontist, you might have had a better outcome.

But seriously, I've found over the years that there is tremendous variability in how much local anesthetic patients require for invasive procedures. In fact, I've had some who declined medication and didn't mind at all.

The most pain I've ever had in a dental chair was when I went to an endodontist to find out which tooth was causing pain. He proceeded to tap on each one in succession. Both of us knew right away when he found the offending one.

 

[Huntn]

One time, I was on my 4th quadrant of a deep cleaning, and I told the hygenist to skip the novocaine, that I would just handle it. It was not particularly pleasant, but it was tolerable. Then the dentist came over and looked at my mouth and said "Looks like a problem with the DF on 19. I should do that, since you are numbed up." I told her I wasn't, but WTH, just get it done. So she did about 40~50secs of drill work, and it was again, not plesant, but tolerable, and then the filling, which does not hurt.

Mostly I prefer numb, but the pain can be handled sometimes. The first time she did a tooth, a tear down and build up for a crown prep, I kept feeling stuff so they kept doing shots – by 7, I asked what that grinding sensation was, and she told me that was putting the needle in till it hits bone. I was very sore for quite a while after that job. But, when I was 14, I had an extraction that called for a palate shot. Those shots really hurt, and that made me averse to dentistry for many, many years.

I don’t know, When I was a kid early 60s dentists were just starting to use anesthesia. I had a dentist who did not, and frankly in hindsight I don’t know how I stayed in the chair for fillings. I have an Aunt who my Dad said literally fled from the dentist’s office as a child getting a filling, ran right out the door and went home. Recently when I have infrequently felt dental pain, it was an intense localized rapidly escalating shot of pain to my head, and brings to mind Marathon Man.

 

[Edd]

Always need a 2nd shot also. 1 shot has never been enough.

I was in for a checkup last year and a filling just fell out while I was in the chair. Great timing for me, not so much the staff, who were compelled to take me into the next room and replace the filling. I was not a popular guy that day.

 

[Huntn]

Always need a 2nd shot also. 1 shot has never been enough.

I was in for a checkup last year and a filling just fell out while I was in the chair. Great timing for me, not so much the staff, who were compelled to take me into the next room and replace the filling. I was not a popular guy that day.

You upset their schedule.

 

[Pumbaa]

Ugh. Closed a tab and read “Your Love of DeSantis ”. Slow context switching today. >.<

My dentist told me her favorite procedures were the emergency ones rather than planned ones, having people arrive with pain and leaving with so much less pain. Must be awesome seeing the relief, knowing you did that!

 

[Herdfan]

As far as love, I think I love my female, 50-60ish blond dentist. She is the first dentist I’ve ever gone to who can numb me up without any pain. Her son, the newly credentialed dentist who works in the same office can learn something from mom.

When I was in college, I got hit in the jaw with a baseball which cracked a tooth and they sent me to a brand new dentist. This guy was less than a year out of school and went straight out on his own.

Most painless dental experience ever.

Since then I have gravitated toward younger dentist because they are learning new techniques and ways to do thing that are less traumatic. I like them in their late 20's to mid 30's. The current one is about 35 and she took over from my old one who just up and decided he was done and was going to move to Costa Rica.

I don't have but a couple of cavities and one crown (cracked tooth from above) so I didn't have a mouthful of cavities from my childhood. But my wife's genetics blessed her with more porous teeth, so she had a mouthful of cavities from her childhood. And back then, dentists liked to drill way more than was necessary so she is now in the process of having most of those teeth capped. I figure at some point she will need implants.

As for the crown, whenever I run into a little kid who just lost a tooth, I tell them if they can keep their tongue out of the hole (which no one ever can ), it will grow back in gold. And I show them my big gold tooth. They are fascinated by this.

 

[Yoused]

As for the crown, whenever I run into a little kid who just lost a tooth, I tell them if they can keep their tongue out of the hole (which no one ever can ), it will grow back in gold. And I show them my big gold tooth. They are fascinated by this.

Arrgh, that reminds me of a scene from a movie, Paradise Road. The women are prisoners of the Imperial Japanese army, and when one of them has died, the movie depicts another one pulling the dead woman's gold crowns in order to use them to mollify their captors. The sound effects are enough to set your … um, I mean, make you cringe.

 

[Herdfan]

Arrgh, that reminds me of a scene from a movie, Paradise Road. The women are prisoners of the Imperial Japanese army, and when one of them has died, the movie depicts another one pulling the dead woman's gold crowns in order to use them to mollify their captors. The sound effects are enough to set your … um, I mean, make you cringe.

Apparently my grandfather, whom I never met as he died 2 years before I was born, was quite the wheeler-dealer. I'm not sure I would call him a loan shark, but he would loan money to people and take whatever they had of value as collateral.

One of those things apparently was gold teeth. When mom died and we were going though old boxes of stuff and found a little pouch with 6 or 7 gold teeth in it. Ever weirder was the "gold guy" at the flea market was pretty unfazed by this. He tested them and weighed them and "calculated" that 20% of the weight was from the teeth and gave us some cash.

 

[Huntn]

When I was in college, I got hit in the jaw with a baseball which cracked a tooth and they sent me to a brand new dentist. This guy was less than a year out of school and went straight out on his own.

Most painless dental experience ever.

Since then I have gravitated toward younger dentist because they are learning new techniques and ways to do thing that are less traumatic. I like them in their late 20's to mid 30's. The current one is about 35 and she took over from my old one who just up and decided he was done and was going to move to Costa Rica.

I don't have but a couple of cavities and one crown (cracked tooth from above) so I didn't have a mouthful of cavities from my childhood. But my wife's genetics blessed her with more porous teeth, so she had a mouthful of cavities from her childhood. And back then, dentists liked to drill way more than was necessary so she is now in the process of having most of those teeth capped. I figure at some point she will need implants.

As for the crown, whenever I run into a little kid who just lost a tooth, I tell them if they can keep their tongue out of the hole (which no one ever can ), it will grow back in gold. And I show them my big gold tooth. They are fascinated by this.

The mom dentist blames her son’s less experience and less skill in anesthesia on COVID. Hopefully he’ll get better in this department. As far as gold crowns, I have 2 gold crowns on molars in the back of my mouth. The first was because the dentist said the clearance was too tight and they needed the extra strength in a thinner wall that a gold alloy would provide. “Fine” I said.

Then I had a crown that was not that old break (installed by the former dentist- the one who wanted to get more out of the insurance company by claiming we had periodontal disease) during the course of normal use and it bothered me, because I thought a crown should last decades. So I requested another gold crown on a back molar, thinking I wanted that strength.

For this last molar, the price for gold has gone up, a gold crown is about a $100 more than a regular crown, but my current dentist told me there have been advances in current crown composition and they are stronger, so I went with the traditional ”porcelain” crowns, although I’m not sure they are still called that.

 

[AG_PhamD]

My sister is an oral surgeon- who went the DMD (doctorate in dental medicine) + MD route. I think a he mainly does extractions, implants, and orthognathic (jaw alignment) surgeries. She lives way too far away to provide any dental care to anyone in my family, but it’s always good to have her for a second opinion. And of course, I love my sister dearly.

Dentistry is definitely not a job I would be interested in. Being arched over all day picking around in people’s mouths, no thank you. But I respect the years of training and artistic skills that are involved.

I know she’s not much of a fan of these big dental chains that have cropped up- like Heartland Dental, Aspen Dental, Gentle Dental, etc. Not to say there can’t be good dentists there, but the best usually don’t work for such chains and they have an high turnover rate. They are notorious for providing unnecessary procedures. Many of these chains reportedly pressure their dentists for profits over sensible care. They also have been known to grossly overcharge patients.

The other thing she complains about are these online mail-order Invisalign alternatives. As you can imagine, having your teeth corrected remotely is not going to be the same as having it done in person. And perhaps what’s most alarming is the fact some of these online services use dentists to review patient progress, rather than actual orthodontists.

I’m personally not a fan of this trend of chain and online medical services. While it can be extremely helpful in situations where patients do not have adequate access to local healthcare, it’s probably not the best choice for providing top quality healthcare.

It’s insane to me that online pharmacies have expanded from erectile dysfunction meds to Adderall, Suboxone, Ketamine treatments, etc. And as someone who works in inpatient and residential psychiatric medicine, the whole online therapy and psychiatry deal I think can be very problematic for those with more severe issues. Texting your therapist as a primary means of communication is just not appropriate. Continuity of care is a problem. We’ve had our own problems trying to coordinate with these online providers, some of whom do not seem particularly invested in their clients. But I digress.

 

[Huntn]

Brush Your Teeth? This is one of those “could be “” issues. No worries, I brush mine, daily. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/silent-killer-disease-could-caused-30416846
One more tip, why wear your arm out? Let technology do the work. The best thing you can do in defense against gun disease is get a SonicCare Tooth brush and a Waterpik Water Flosser, and use them daily. Years ago I was plagued by bleeding gums, noticed when I flossed. No more.

 

[Roller]

The best thing you can do in defense against gun disease is get a SonicCare Tooth brush and a Waterpik Water Flosser, and use them daily. Years ago I was plagued by bleeding gums, noticed when I flossed. No more.

It was a typo, but if you also have a remedy this effective against gun disease, I’d love to hear it.