The Dentist
A warning about Dr. Mary Fontana DDS:
It was a few weeks before my freshman year in high school when my dentist made the recommendation that I get braces because of my under bite. The Orthodontist appointment the next day yielded similar results but he had on recommendation.
Back when I was about 9 I was riding my bike and hit the side of the sidewalk the wrong way and went flying. The impact and sliding on the cement ground my upper left incisor down halfway, barely avoiding exposing the root to the air by a paper thin layer of tooth. Because the root was undamaged the dentist said that I did not need a root canal at the time, capped the tooth, and sent me on my way.
The recommendation of the Orthodontist was that I should have the root canal before getting my braces because if something happened and I wound up needing it while the braces were in place they would make it much harder to do the root canal.
I returned to my dentist a couple days later for my root canal and was given welcoming news. She was going to do the procedure in two sessions. This was because the tooth had already had severe trauma to it and she didn't want to piss off my gums and make the tooth fall out.
DAY 1: It is early in the morning and I head to the dentist's office in a good mood since I know she's only doing half the procedure today. I get there and she gets to work almost right away, shooting me up with Novocaine and drilling my tooth to get to the root. A small part of the root comes out and she closes the hole up and tells me to come back in 2 days.
DAY 2: I return to her office still in a chipper mood as I have had a bumpy thing on the back of my tooth to play with for a couple days. She calls me into her office and gets to work, immediately pulling out the plug and filing the inside of my tooth where root was still attached to tooth.
If you read those two paragraphs again you will notice one glaring difference. On day one I was given Novocaine. On day two none was given. If you've never had a root canal let me illustrate what the filing process looks like:
The file is like a little needle going into your root and gums. I was 13.....and I was in PAIN. The dentist, instead of giving me something to help with my pain closed the door, so my mother wouldn't hear my cries and had her assistant wipe my tears. I was unable to speak what with my mouth being wired open with dental appliances.
The ordeal over I rushed out of the room and out to my moms minivan and started bawling. My mother followed to find out what was wrong. When she finally calmed me down enough to get it out of me she went back in and gave my dentist a new asshole. It must have been something because two days later in the mail I received a 3 page apology letter from the dentist.
Needless to say I never returned to that dentist. That has not stopped me from going to the dentist regularly though. The lack of dental insurance and having to pay for everything out of my pocket however has!
It was a few weeks before my freshman year in high school when my dentist made the recommendation that I get braces because of my under bite. The Orthodontist appointment the next day yielded similar results but he had on recommendation.
Back when I was about 9 I was riding my bike and hit the side of the sidewalk the wrong way and went flying. The impact and sliding on the cement ground my upper left incisor down halfway, barely avoiding exposing the root to the air by a paper thin layer of tooth. Because the root was undamaged the dentist said that I did not need a root canal at the time, capped the tooth, and sent me on my way.
The recommendation of the Orthodontist was that I should have the root canal before getting my braces because if something happened and I wound up needing it while the braces were in place they would make it much harder to do the root canal.
I returned to my dentist a couple days later for my root canal and was given welcoming news. She was going to do the procedure in two sessions. This was because the tooth had already had severe trauma to it and she didn't want to piss off my gums and make the tooth fall out.
DAY 1: It is early in the morning and I head to the dentist's office in a good mood since I know she's only doing half the procedure today. I get there and she gets to work almost right away, shooting me up with Novocaine and drilling my tooth to get to the root. A small part of the root comes out and she closes the hole up and tells me to come back in 2 days.
DAY 2: I return to her office still in a chipper mood as I have had a bumpy thing on the back of my tooth to play with for a couple days. She calls me into her office and gets to work, immediately pulling out the plug and filing the inside of my tooth where root was still attached to tooth.
If you read those two paragraphs again you will notice one glaring difference. On day one I was given Novocaine. On day two none was given. If you've never had a root canal let me illustrate what the filing process looks like:
The file is like a little needle going into your root and gums. I was 13.....and I was in PAIN. The dentist, instead of giving me something to help with my pain closed the door, so my mother wouldn't hear my cries and had her assistant wipe my tears. I was unable to speak what with my mouth being wired open with dental appliances.
The ordeal over I rushed out of the room and out to my moms minivan and started bawling. My mother followed to find out what was wrong. When she finally calmed me down enough to get it out of me she went back in and gave my dentist a new asshole. It must have been something because two days later in the mail I received a 3 page apology letter from the dentist.
Needless to say I never returned to that dentist. That has not stopped me from going to the dentist regularly though. The lack of dental insurance and having to pay for everything out of my pocket however has!