(no subject)
I have been to the dentist twice in the past two weeks and have learned some interesting things. Last week I learned that I seem to develop stains on my teeth that shouldn't be there. The dentist and hygienist went through all the common culprits and we eliminated all of them. No one has a clue why I keep getting these stains. This week I went back to get a couple of minor cavities filled and this is where things started to go wrong.
While the dentist was filling my cavities, he seemed to have some problems. His drill seemed to get away from him at some points and started knocking against some of my other teeth (luckily just the back side and not the side that could cause damage). He also took longer than I really think he needed to. He drilled out one cavity, cleaned it and then filled it and set the filling with the light thingy. Then he drilled out the next cavity. I don't know why he didn't just drill them both at the same time. They were literally right next to each other. At one point I was expecting to have a bloody lip too. The dentist and the hygienist started pulling in different directions and it felt like they were going to pull my lip apart. If it had been winter time and my lips were chapped I'm sure there would have been blood.
I think the dentist gave me too much novocaine. I had 2 small cavities right next to each other on my lower right jaw while Brian had several scattered throughout his mouth. But after we were both done and went home I was much more numb than he was. He had numbness along his jaw while my numbness reached all the way up to my eye.
Once the numbness went away that evening I started noticing some discomfort in my jaw near the injection site. The hinge of my jaw on the one side felt very sore and I wasn't able to chew without pain. Happily, ibuprofen seemed to take away most of the pain but I was still left with limited movement (I could only open my mouth about an inch). I decided to take the next day off of work so I could rest and hopefully feel better. By that night most of the problems were gone and I was able to eat normally again.
The last and worst thing that I was told was about my wisdom teeth. I went in expecting to need my 1 tooth pulled since it has come in crooked and tends to trap food. Unfortunately I was told that all 4 wisdom teeth were present and the others seem to be impacted. When I look at the xray I don't think they look too bad but I can tell that they are positioned in such a way that they'll just get worse instead of better. Normally this dentist pulls wisdom teeth in the office without too much worry. I've been told that he almost never sends patients to an oral surgeon. Guess what. I'm being referred to an oral surgeon. As I expected, the tooth that has come in would be very easy to remove. Another one of the teeth is still below the gum but is also pretty routine. However, one of my upper teeth is still pretty deep (as in below both the gum and bone) and the root of that one reaches into my sinus cavity. But that one would still be able to be removed in the office. The most problematic tooth is my lower left. The 2D xray shows it to be near an important nerve. Better xrays would be needed to know if the root is touching the nerve, tangled with the nerve, or not near the nerve but just in line with it at that angle. Since damaging this nerve can cause permanent loss of sensation in my face the dentist felt he was not qualified to remove the tooth. At least now I know I'll be knocked out for the procedure. Now I just need to find a time when I'm not too busy to have lots of recovery time. I think October is out. Now I just need to see if I have any plans coming up in November.
While the dentist was filling my cavities, he seemed to have some problems. His drill seemed to get away from him at some points and started knocking against some of my other teeth (luckily just the back side and not the side that could cause damage). He also took longer than I really think he needed to. He drilled out one cavity, cleaned it and then filled it and set the filling with the light thingy. Then he drilled out the next cavity. I don't know why he didn't just drill them both at the same time. They were literally right next to each other. At one point I was expecting to have a bloody lip too. The dentist and the hygienist started pulling in different directions and it felt like they were going to pull my lip apart. If it had been winter time and my lips were chapped I'm sure there would have been blood.
I think the dentist gave me too much novocaine. I had 2 small cavities right next to each other on my lower right jaw while Brian had several scattered throughout his mouth. But after we were both done and went home I was much more numb than he was. He had numbness along his jaw while my numbness reached all the way up to my eye.
Once the numbness went away that evening I started noticing some discomfort in my jaw near the injection site. The hinge of my jaw on the one side felt very sore and I wasn't able to chew without pain. Happily, ibuprofen seemed to take away most of the pain but I was still left with limited movement (I could only open my mouth about an inch). I decided to take the next day off of work so I could rest and hopefully feel better. By that night most of the problems were gone and I was able to eat normally again.
The last and worst thing that I was told was about my wisdom teeth. I went in expecting to need my 1 tooth pulled since it has come in crooked and tends to trap food. Unfortunately I was told that all 4 wisdom teeth were present and the others seem to be impacted. When I look at the xray I don't think they look too bad but I can tell that they are positioned in such a way that they'll just get worse instead of better. Normally this dentist pulls wisdom teeth in the office without too much worry. I've been told that he almost never sends patients to an oral surgeon. Guess what. I'm being referred to an oral surgeon. As I expected, the tooth that has come in would be very easy to remove. Another one of the teeth is still below the gum but is also pretty routine. However, one of my upper teeth is still pretty deep (as in below both the gum and bone) and the root of that one reaches into my sinus cavity. But that one would still be able to be removed in the office. The most problematic tooth is my lower left. The 2D xray shows it to be near an important nerve. Better xrays would be needed to know if the root is touching the nerve, tangled with the nerve, or not near the nerve but just in line with it at that angle. Since damaging this nerve can cause permanent loss of sensation in my face the dentist felt he was not qualified to remove the tooth. At least now I know I'll be knocked out for the procedure. Now I just need to find a time when I'm not too busy to have lots of recovery time. I think October is out. Now I just need to see if I have any plans coming up in November.