dental work (1 Viewer)

jordan

lothario speedwagon
what's the worst dental work you've had? i had a root canal to save a tooth that was rotting from the inside out, and even numbed to hell, that fucker hurt. and i had 14 fillings done between 2008 and 2010.
 
I'm a veteran of many, many dental procedures. My worst was getting 3 wisdom teeth pulled and undergoing bone-replacement for my lower gum line. It was all done in one day and I was a mess for about 48 hours. It was a cycle of pain meds and sleep with weird dreams. My mouth was tender for about 4-6 weeks. It was good to finally eat solid food after that. I dropped about 10-12 lbs.
 
About three years ago I had a moderate toothache that wouldn't go away. I went to my dentist, told him that I thought it was under a crown but wasn't sure, it might have been the tooth next to it. He took x-rays and didn't see anything, so he sent me to an endodontist to see if I needed a root canal.

The answer was no, so I went back to the dentist and he referred me to a periodontist because I had some bone loss right near the toothache where one of my wisdom teeth used to be. The periodontist decided that that was probably the problem and did oral surgery which entailed opening the gum, scraping out dead bone, and using cadaver bone to fill the hole. About 6 weeks later, when the pain killers were all gone and the pain from the surgery had lessened, the same toothache was back... so back to the periodontist I went, where she looked and looked and finally decided that the tooth next to the one with the crown was cracked... more oral surgery to remove the tooth, and when the pain killers ran out and the pain from pulling the tooth was lessened, the same toothache was back.

I went back to her, pretty fed up by now, and told her that i thought all along that it was the tooth with the crown. I think she thought she was looking at a law suit, so she basically said there was nothing she could do for me and she didn't want to see me again... and back to my dentist I go.

Finally, the dentist takes the crown off and found that there was indeed some decay under the crown and the base of that tooth was cracked. He cleaned out the decay, cemented the crack and put a temporary crown on to make sure that I didn't have anymore pain before putting the permanent crown on.

In the meantime, all of the above had used up all of my insurance coverage for the year leading to me keeping the temporary crown for about 6 months. It broke at one point, and I had to go back to get a new temporary crown (these temporaries are like sandpaper against your tongue when you try to talk, so were really uncomfortable for the entire time I had them). Finally, with new insurance at the beginning of the year, I went back to the dentist to get the permanent crown put on. He fitted me for the permanent one and about two weeks later I had it put on. His receptionist didn't bother to check, and when it turned out that my dentist was not on my insurance plan, I ended up having to pay out-of-pocket. Since I had started getting an intermittent toothache again from the same tooth, my dentist decided that he would put the permanent crown on with temporary cement to make sure that I wouldn't have more problems. Then, with my divorce, I lost my insurance entirely, so for about a year now, the permanent crown has been held on with temporary cement... and I still get occasional toothaches from it.

Well, you asked.

One last thing... I still have the tooth that the periodontist pulled and it looks to me like it was a perfectly healthy tooth.
 
I had some work done on the second tooth next to a front one. It looked fine. A few days later as I was playing with the stir stick from my coffee, the tooth broke in half. I phoned the dentist and had to have a root canal. One day, the crown felt in my mouth at the restaurant. I left with the tooth in my pocket and put it back with crazy glue. I had glue on my finger, so when I went to release the pressure to hold it in place the tooth was stuck to my finger . Then I cleaned the tooth and got ready to put it back in place, but there was glue left in the root, so I coudn't push it back in place. It was now a lot longer than the front one and it was stuck solid. Then the dentist had to grind the tooth down because I couldn't afford the prodedure to have another crown. I now have a new crown, but it is whiter than my other teeth. When I smile I look like Lil Wayne.
 
I've got a dental implant.

They had to pull out the old tooth, drill a hole in my bone, put a screw in it, let it heal and then put the implant on. The operation went fine, except that feeling the drill in your bone right in your nose (sort of) was kind of strange. But afterwards it got infected (probably because I was stupidely smoking cigarettes two days after the operation) and my face puffed up double-size. They had to open it up again and let the, errrm, juices come out. It was so infected that the anesthesia wouldn't work anymore. They gave me 11 shots and still the pain almost killed me. It was the worst I ever felt, physically.
 
Hate to be like this but I had a tooth that cracked in half about 4 months ago. It's entirely painless, so I haven't bothered to go to the dentist about it. I have a cleaning later this month and I'll find out then what they want to do. Probably a crown, which I can't afford, but maybe more, given the tooth is half gone. I can't figure why it doesn't hurt. It seems like it should. Maybe my whole head is infected by now and I'll lose half my brain...
 
I've had half a dozen root canals/crowns (that's a general number because you lose track after a while), some more complicated than others. I am on the mend from one now that took six weeks to complete due to various complications that others have described in more grisly terms than I could.

What's funny is most of them were the result of unnecessary filings I got when I was a kid. I grew up in a very small town, and as it turned out, the town's only dentist was found to have been doing all kinds of unnecessary dental work for decades because apparently a small town full of healthy teeth doesn't make the local dentist rich. So that guy has caused me, and probably a thousand other people, a lifetime of dental suffering because he was greedy and insane.

But even having said that I would not characterize them all as quacks. The dentist(s) I go to now are like artists. And they always tell me if something is unnecessary or can wait.
 
yeah, i feel like i've found a good dentist. i had my doubts when he recommended so many fillings on my first visit (it was my first to him and also my first in 7 years), but then he told me to get a second opinion before he would start the work. and now, my teeth don't hurt after i eat certain foods, so i know that i needed at least some of them.
 
What I like about going to the dentist is there's very little chance they will say you have six months to live. It's doctors who freak me out.

While they are unlikely to say it, it's my understanding that they are the first line of defense against certain serious illnesses. Or maybe I've just been buying into some serious dental propaganda.
 
You know what I like about going to MY dentist ? She's from Brazil and her daughter plus a couple of other Brazilian-American girls are her assistants. I don't think any further explanation is necessary, gentlemen.
 
Dentistry scares me to death. I avoid it even through I know I should go. It's always some bad news, even if it's "small." I am a big baby and to me it's just a torture chair. I'd rather tattoo my eyelids.
 
My dentist used a bone cutter for half an hour to wipe out an inflammation that would have otherwise cost me two of my teeth, that was the worst dental work I've had. The good part is that my teeth didn't have to be pulled out, of course, but the scalpel cut into my swollen gums was a nasty pain despite being anesthetized. The rumble and squeak of the bone cutter lasted for what seemed like forever. Real horror!
 
While they are unlikely to say it, it's my understanding that they are the first line of defense against certain serious illnesses. Or maybe I've just been buying into some serious dental propaganda.

I've noticed that -- like dentists are creeping into doctor territory. I'd had them take my blood pressure, ask about medications, general health questions. I'd rather they stuck to teeth.
 
The last couple of physicals my GP has given me he has asked if I go to the dentist, and the optometrist, regularly. Seems like he believes there's a connection. Only good thing is my teeth are holding up well these days. The optometrists can look at the back of your eye for signs of high blood pressure and all sorts of weird shit. And mentioning diabetes to them gets the charge cut in half. Of course, a few years back it was all free. Then the politicians decided they had medical degrees to go with their accounting degrees.​

About 25 years ago I had four wisdom teeth pulled. No real complications. Sore neck, pain killers, figured out who Charlie Russell was while convalescing, bought various books by and about him, etc. Heard later that a dental surgeon in the area was charged with fondling patients. Not sure if it was mine except that my guy's eye brows looked suspiciously plucked.​
 
What is it with the examination and all these x-rays? You go in for a cleaning and they want to charge you for an exam that you do not want, and radiations that you don't want to pay for, or have?
I always ask how much does it cost for this and that, and they refuse to take you as a patient unless you surrender to them.
Now, they ask you first, if you have a dental plan. If you don't, I notice that they'll take less for the same procedure.
 

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