Going to the dentist sucks

GregM · November-20th-2003, 07:42 PM

Let's have a bitch-fest about dentists. Just got back from an appointment. This hygienist thinks she was put on earth to rid the world of plaque. Every time, there's more disgusting news. Now a chunk of my gum tissue is gone between two upper left molars. "Will it grow back?" "No." That's great.

My gums are still totally numb. I'm bleeding and drooling like Kramer in the Seinfeld episode where he was mistaken for a retard and serenaded by Mel Torme at a fundraiser. Damn it. I'm a dental retard. What dental problems are ailing you?

jesus marion joseph · November-20th-2003, 08:07 PM

I'm in the chair on December 9. Can't wait.

When I was 17 or so I had all four wisdom teeth removed. My dentist ("Dr. Bob" Frigoletto) did the procedure at a local hospital, under general anesthesia. When I woke up in the recovery room I was still pretty foggy from the knock-out gas, and on one side they wheeled in a guy who was gurgling through a tracheotomy tube, on the other they wheeled in a very hefty woman who had surgery on her foot and was yelling "I don't want to die". All the while I was drooling blood into a kidney-shaped stainless steel pan. I will never, ever, as-long-as-I-live, forget that memory. I can still visualize it like it was yesterday (though it was more than twenty years ago).

Pete C · November-20th-2003, 08:15 PM

bostontricky · November-20th-2003, 08:33 PM

I can usually deal with routine dental visits or even visits to alleviate pain and suffering. I bounced back relatively quickly from having my wisdom teeth out (I was playing basketball two days later) and quietly suffered a number of root canals, caps and ultimately the extraction of a tooth that was cracked halfway down a root.

Dealing with the "Superior Dance" the dental hygenist gives you after flossing your gums to a pulp is not my forte. "Have you been flossing daily?" You're the fucking pro - isn't it obvious I haven't, you moron.

However, what I find simply intolerable is going through a significant amount of discomfort for what amounts to routine maintenance - I am now at the point where I have to have fillings replaced, and had three swapped Monday and two today. Pain in the ass. It's not as though I haven't been caring for my choppers (despite the surfeit in flossing) - I can deal with suffering due to my shortcomings.

This is just banal, a waste of time, annoying, and two days of walking around drooling out of one side of my mouth because my fillings were worn down to their treads. AGH. IT WASN'T MY FAULT.

MRS · November-20th-2003, 08:34 PM

Monte Smith · November-20th-2003, 08:48 PM

I'm up for a visit December 17 at 7am. Yeah, I like getting up early for that shit. My dentist is pretty good. A couple of times ago he put a filling in, some kind of UV-activated super epoxy. Neat. They had me sitting with a purple flashlight up my piehole for fifteen minutes. It was fun. I finished Bleak House sitting in that chair.

You gotta take care of your teeth.

Cem · November-20th-2003, 08:57 PM

Never had a cavity in my life (knock on wood). I went to the dentist for the first time at the age of 23, not counting getting all 4 wisdom teeth yanked at 18. Must be the Arab in me...?

GoodSpeak · November-20th-2003, 10:35 PM

Mrs. GoodSpeak just got a cap on a molar today...may need root canal.

Sucks.

willy · November-20th-2003, 11:16 PM

I am also cavity free at the ripe old age of 37. Years of smoking and drinking tons of sugar filled pop have built a protective layer around my teeth that's impenetrable

GoodSpeak · November-20th-2003, 11:18 PM

Good luck at 50.

willy · November-20th-2003, 11:24 PM

As long as I avoid the Chet Baker method of tooth preservation I should be ok

Jimmy Cantiello · November-21st-2003, 06:40 AM

Is it safe?

jesus marion joseph · November-21st-2003, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cem
Never had a cavity in my life (knock on wood). I went to the dentist for the first time at the age of 23, not counting getting all 4 wisdom teeth yanked at 18. Must be the Arab in me...?

I hate to admit it, but my upcoming visit will be the first time I've been to a dentist since I was 18 years old (Dr. Bob was a pediatric dentist). I'll be 39 in a week or so.

tippy · November-21st-2003, 08:18 AM

Once I was getting a filling after hours, and a neighbor dentist decided to sneak up on my dentist who was drilling my tooth at the very moment he said "Boo!" She dropped the goshdarn drill into my mouth. Fortunately those instruments turn themselves off without hand pressure. Oh they all just thought that was so funny.

Idiots!!!

I had nine teeth pulled on the instructions of my orthodontist. I have firsthand knowledge that "This won't hurt a bit" is short for "This won't hurt ME a bit--you, on the otherhand..."

I think I was very young, maybe six, when I received my first filling and that experience is firmly imbedded in my mind. My dentist put the blue rubber gas mask on and left the room and I was fidgeting with the cotton that was placed in the nostrils of the mask and I pulled it out because that scent was nauseating. My dentist came back into the room and was angry with me for pulling out the cotton. He replaced it and then left the room again and I pulled it out again. I don't remember Dr. Mean telling me anything about what to expect...I just remember the room spinning in my delerium--I still remember this visually in my mind--and not knowing what was going on. That's the only time I remember receiving laughing gas...not so funny in my opinion.

I had two permanent teeth and two wisdom teeth--all the wisdom God gave me--"dug" out under general anesthesia, I lost consciousness as soon as I saw my blood shoot through the tube. Unlike jmj, however, I greatly preferred that method of tooth pulling and woke up happy, laughing and high as a kite. I spent Christmas vacation on the couch jacked up on codeine with a bandanna around my jaw. Oral surgery rocks!!!

(May I never have to do it again though!)

tippy · November-21st-2003, 08:37 AM

jmj, I spent 3 years away from the dentist once and I was increasingly terrified of going back the more time passed. I was thrilled when I did finally go back in to discover that all was well. Lucky too, but I know others that spend longer times away from dentist and it's never as bad as they think it will be. It's better to know and get it taken care of. In spite of the inherently sadistic nature of dentistry, keeping our teeth and gums as healthy as possible for as long as possible is very important.* Good luck to you.

*paid for by the American Dental Association.

tippy · November-21st-2003, 08:53 AM

oh yeah--one more thing--I have a meticulous hygienist who is very responsive to my demands re discomfort/pain, etc. She is awesome especially because she explains everything and I love medical personnel who take the time to educate their patients, anyway...when you get your teeth cleaned, ask to have a topical anasthetic, or do I mean analgesic, rubbed on your gums before the procedure. This will help. It's probably like a flavored anbesol. (You know "pina colada or mint?") If they give you any flak, find a new office.

jesus marion joseph · November-21st-2003, 08:56 AM

Can you imagine flossing *other* people's teeth, day in, day out? Yuck.

Tom Storer · November-21st-2003, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jesus marion joseph
I hate to admit it, but my upcoming visit will be the first time I've been to a dentist since I was 18 years old (Dr. Bob was a pediatric dentist). I'll be 39 in a week or so.

Don't be ashamed, JMJ. I went to the dentist a couple of years ago and it was the first time in over twenty years. When I arrived in France in 1979 I learned that French dentists disdained local anaesthetics and preferred to drill straight in; if you wanted not to feel the pain you were a sissy.* OK, I thought, I'll just leave it at that - pas de dentistes pour moi.

Luckily, the modern world caught up with them and they no longer have that attitude. I finally went back to the dentist when a quickly worsening toothache appeared - turned out I had an abcess under an old capped tooth. She replaced it with one of those new-fangled fake teeth, and also took care of a nascent cavity. Now I've been thinking I really ought to get my teeth cleaned, as over the years they have turned black. Well, I exaggerate. A little.

* I kid you not. A friend of mine had root canal without anaesthetic. He said when it was over it was all he could do not to physically attack the dentist.

My laughing-gas memory: when I was five, we were on vacation somewhere when I developed an abcess and had to have emergency dental care. They gave me laughing gas, but too much of it. I was out like a light and still vividly remember the dream I had: I was driving a little red sports car all around a bunch of huge building blocks, the old-fashioned kind with letters on them. That was such a cool dream. I wish I could dream it again.

shrugs · November-21st-2003, 10:29 AM

Went twice a year in the Navy and learned to love to floss after a mean DH had me crying in pain. That was in '95 in Hawaii and ever since then visits have never been painful.
It's all about proper flossing.

bostontricky · November-21st-2003, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shrugs
It's all about proper flossing.

Right on. Despite the advances in toothbrush design over the last decade (Cross-Action this, Rotating that), the truth remains this: that crap stuck betwen your teeth will do you in. Get out the string, guys.

Tom Storer · November-21st-2003, 11:06 AM

I'm a regular flosser, and proud of it.

claude · November-21st-2003, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tom Storer
When I arrived in France in 1979 I learned that French dentists disdained local anaesthetics and preferred to drill straight in; if you wanted not to feel the pain you were a sissy.* OK, I thought, I'll just leave it at that - pas de dentistes pour moi.

Those would be the French Catholic dentists who would believe that suffering is good for the soul.

GregM · November-21st-2003, 01:04 PM

I gotta catch that flossing spirit. How did you guys do it? Flossing and shaving are about as fun as falling down a flight of stairs. If I could get away without shaving I'd do it.

Still no cavities for me, but some definite signs of gum receeding.

shrugs · November-21st-2003, 01:08 PM

remember this saying: "Floss before bed or my teeth will be dead."

November-21st-2003, 01:10 PM

Hey Schaumann, nobody else seemed to care, but great pic!!!!

I take it that was his sanitarium id photo?

GregM · November-21st-2003, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shrugs
remember this saying: "Floss before bed or my teeth will be dead."

I'm kind of partial to: "be true to your teeth or they will be false to you".