Dentist tomorrow. Extraction, and filling.

[WiredIncorrectly]

It's taken me a year to bottle up the courage to do this. I'm in a lot of pain a lot of the time, and so the pain is now worse than the fear.

I'm just scared the numbing agent will kill me. Stupid I know, but this is my biggest fear.

Anybody else had dental work recently? Could do with some reassurance.

[Catkins]

Not had anything really recently. But I've been regularly going over the last few years. Since the pandemic started I've had a few fillings, an extraction within a week prior I think of the first lockdown and one between lockdowns. I hate going but I hate pain more.

The anaesthetic won't kill you, the worst bit is the pain of the injection. If you are incredibly anxious and do need a lot of work they can refer you to your local hospital for the procedures. I had to be referred a few years ago because even with the maximum dose of local anaesthetic I wasn't sufficiently numb for them to get the tooth out. I went there and had gas and it was absolutely brilliant, never felt a thing and was so relaxed I could happily have my own personal supply of it at home.

It so hard anticipating it, but use your relaxation techniques and you will be fine.

[Carys]

I'm just scared the numbing agent will kill me. Stupid I know, but this is my biggest fear.

I had this fear for many many years, infact it led me to leave a wisdom tooth that needed removing for months with severe and eventually intolerable pain. I have an intense fear of medication in general, of any kind. Anyhow, I told my dentist about the fear and he talked with me about it in detail - said that never in his whole lifetime of dentistry, or amongst those dentists that he knew, had he heard of an anaphylactic-type reaction to a dental anaesthetic. This didn't calm my fears , because I still had the 'but what if its me anyway' in my head. He explained that they are fully trained in emergency first aid procedures, and as part of their practicing licence they have to have in the room all necessary resources, medication and gadgets to recusitate or treat sudden reactions to anything they use on patients. They have updates and refresher training on it - and lets be honest dentist often do years more training that some doctors. So, the only way I was able to have it eventually was knowing that they could save me IF something happened. Hope this helps.

P.S.I was totally fine , of course

[WiredIncorrectly]

Thanks Catkins and Carys.

The place I'm going to is for anxious patients. I've had 2 teeth out here before and it's been ok, but the part I hate is when they inject you and then the heartrate rises, sweaty palms, sweaty bum etc. I can lie there and just get on with it once they've done the injection and I just tell myself "This is classic anxiety you'll be ok as you always are, except this time you're stuck to that chair for bit" I'll have to wear black jeans tomorrow incase I have sweaty bum again.

I was meant to have this tooth done with a root canal this time last year. Now the tooth has almost gone and the pain is so bad.

[Magic]

Good luck for tomorrow WiredIncorrectly xxx

[Pamplemousse]

You'll be absolutely fine, fella. I had a large filling done a couple of months ago which meant injections - but they did the trick, I didn't feel a thing. Also, the dentist and any assistants will be suited up like they're on a Covid ward so you'll be perfectly safe in their care where that's concerned.

Just look forward to being pain-free

[WiredIncorrectly]

Thank you to all and thank you @pamplemousse.

Today went fine. I almost bailed. I was in so much pain this morning, and so much anxiety, that I caused an argument at home so I could storm out and avoid the dentist.

I quickly returned, to a very unhappy wife and my wife's friend who was taking me.

On the way there I thought I was going to die of a heart attack. I couldn't breath. My heartrate was like 200bpm. Then my diazepam kicked in and I got there and felt fine.

Got in the chair and said to the man "No novaciane or lidocaine please". He numbed me up and proceeded to extract. At this point I was lying on the dentist chair as if my bones were deformed in some awkward way. Stiff from anxiety. Dentist man said "Lie flat", me said "I'm good".

He put the contraptions in my mouth and t pain seared through my body. I bit his finger. I clawed his arm.

I told him "More pain relief that hurt like hell". My mind set shifted from worrying about the numbness, to then being worried about that awful pain I just felt. I begged him for more.

It was still excruciating every time he tugged. My tooth snapped all over the place and I spat it all out.

He continued to dig at the tooth. Very very painful. I put a tear in the dentist chair from my nails.

But the 3 people in the room were convinced this was normal and that it was a tricky tooth because of the nerve location. He said when I pull this tooth, it's pulling your other one up causing all that pain.

i said "do it".

Then he went at it for 15 minutes and poof, it was out.

Sat here now with a bit of pain meds, a little tickle of whiskey, and feeling absolutely fantastic that I got it removed. Still got pain, but it isn't the same pain. My jaw doesn't hurt, my head doesn't hurt, and I feel like a huge weight has gone.

Was it painful? Oh absolutely.

Was it worth it? Hell yes!

He accidently damaged the tooth next to it, and I urgently need another filling. I called my local dentist, and due to COVID they're closed until mid January and can't be certain if they're seeing people so I've been added to the list of "callbacks".

Thanks all, and seriously, however painful this was today, it was God damn worth it. Talking of God, I was watching Mufti Menk while I had the extraction and praying for an easy time.

It could have been worse.

[WiredIncorrectly]

Ps. Anybody that says they've removed their own tooth is a complete liar. No way on this planet could one remove their own tooth and not be in so much pain they pass out.

[SG1977]

Dang sorry I didn't catch this thread yesterday as I had a tooth extracted a few days ago. To be honest the initial jag was a bit nippy but once thats out of the way you dont feel a thing and even post extraction a simple painkiller usually sees you through. Post op a couple of days tenderness is so much better than tooth ache pain. Glad you got it sorted... enjoy that whiskey!

[Carys]

I honestly don't understand why this was painful if he had used injected anaesthetic ? He shouldn't have proceeded without checking the injection had worked.