A Good Day at the Dentist, who would've thought?
That's right folks, I went to the dentist today.
A different dentist than before, the sedation dentist from before wanted me to go elsewhere to get my implant done on the upper tooth, but the place they referred me to was impossible to get a hold of, so I went elsewhere. After hearing a radio commercial and then several people at work use this place, I went there, and they were great. Considering what dental horrors I have been through, for me to say they were good means a LOT. I have an unbelievable time getting numb for dental work. I still feel so much, especially considering the decay and infections running (ran, really) through the two teeth needing work. I told my new dentist, whom I would refer anyone to, how hard it is for me to numb, about the time I took 5 shots in my mouth to try to get me numb and I never did. He gave me some powerful stuff straight off the bat and within a minute I could feel it working. He didn't even get up but worked it around my jaw a bit and BOOM! no feeling at all. I am mightily impressed. Every other time I had to get numb at a dentist, they would shoot me up and then walk away for, like, 20 minutes and then come back and check if I was numb. Well, this dentist said this is some powerful, fast-acting stuff and I love it. Didn't feel a thing, and this tooth will bleed at the slightest touch, aches regularly, and was well infected. He removed the tooth, the infected tissue, placed a bone graft, and sewed me up, and all I ever felt was a little pressure at the beginning. The worst was one of the three or four shots he gave me, don't remember how many, I was trying REALLY hard to not pay attention to what he was doing. One shot had to go into the roof of my mouth, near the middle, and that hurt, but the others weren't so bad. I have a high pain tolerance, and considering the amount of pain I have had to deal with coming from my teeth, I could handle that. But my tooth pain is the worst and I dreaded anyone actually messing with them. It was fine, and I shouldn't have but the most minor of pain from this. Advil and/or Tylenol should be all I need should I hurt now, and it has been a long time since that was all it took to stop my mouth hurting. He didn't have to use any power tools, so I didn't have to listen to the horrible sounds of dental tools. I also had my cd/mp3 player and I was focusing on my audio book, but it was really quick, only half an hour, and I had been told it would take about an hour to an hour and a half, so I didn't hear much of my story. They are really nice people there and are so willing to listen. I am glad I switched to them, I only wish I had sooner, may have been able to save a little money as they are partners with my insurance and thus give nice discounts. Also, I may not have needed to pay for sedation with my root canal if I had known they were so good at numbing, though that would have been a lot harder to sit though conscious.
Anyway, I am going to take a nap, as I planned this appointment earlier than I normally get up so I could be half asleep while I went through it. I really am quite nervous of dentists, considering that when my wisdom teeth were removed, I lost the feeling in half of my mouth, including half of my tongue, for six months. Plus, that dentist was a real jerk. I think I will still have anxiety about going to the dentist, but I don't think it will be as bad. I won't put off dental work ever again in my life except, of course, lack of funds will make it hard to go. Night!