Annoyed again

Finally binned my dentist, and almost lost my tooth yesterday. Firstly I do suffer from an anxiety disorder and due to it anything to do with medicine, is terrifying. I think it's the dentist finding something wrong, the pain etc. I have never had a bad experience with a dentist, well not any worse than the vast majority of people. But unfortunately my recent dentist was rubbish and there were several occasions where the treatment caused me further problems.I never went to another dentist,because it takes me ages to feel comfortable in these places with new people/ so I put up with it. But yesterday took the biscuit.

What happened was, my recent dentist told me I needed a filling replaced. It was the same tooth she had a struggle filling before,she had also told me the tooth was cracked in the past. She did it, and as soon as the local anaesthetic wore off I could tell something wasn't right. It was far too high. That first appointment caused me a lot of stress so I was pretty miserable to have to go back to have it filed down. So I went back, and her filing it caused massive pain. Then when I got home, I noticed after a few days, food was getting stuck between the tooth she had filled and another tooth,She had left a gap basically, from the end of the filled tooth.

I just thought despite that,I could manage.I bought some interdental brushes and just would remove all the food last thing at night. It got infected. I struggled and struggled and I just couldn't go back to her because I just wasn't confident and the last visit was very painful. In the end I was in massive pain,put my anxiety to one side and saw another dentist yesterday.

When he examined me and saw the pain I was in, he said it would probably have to come out. He numbed me up and then xrayed me. I noticed while waiting I wasn't getting numb.First time in my life. I then got scared and I think had a panic attack. I was called back in and told,he could probably save it, but he would have to remove the filling and put some dressing in it, clean it out and then fix the gap. I mentioned not being numb.And there followed an extremely painful experience with some kind of staple gun which he injected direct into the gums.He must have shot me 10 times, and I have to admit I cried out several times.

He was alright about it though,but I felt terribly embarrassed in front of the nurse. I was then sat in the chair for more than half an hour as he sorted all this out. I now have a new dentist. He was patient,told me everything he was doing ( the other dentist didn't speak to me once) . And shook my hand when he was done. Iam still in a slight bit of pain but he said I would be for a few days, it will also be sensitive for a week or so with cold stuff, as the tooth as almost unsavable, and he had to give me a lot of injections but it will probably be alright now.

My main worry is,that he couldn't get me numb the normal way and had to resort to this 'staple gun ' with a long needle at the end, and he shot it 10 times into my gums. What if I need a tooth taken and out in the future and I get an infection? what if it's this tooth?, I really want my entire jaw to be frozen. He said,the 'staple gun' only works for one tooth and for about 20 minutes or so. Until he'd have to reshot me.

annoyedofuk said:

My main worry is,that he couldn't get me numb the normal way and had to resort to this 'staple gun ' with a long needle at the end, and he shot it 10 times into my gums. What if I need a tooth taken and out in the future and I get an infection? what if it's this tooth?, I really want my entire jaw to be frozen. He said,the 'staple gun' only works for one tooth and for about 20 minutes or so. Until he'd have to reshot me.

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No idea what that is exactly and ridiculous it had to be used 10 times...ask over in Dentistry Questions. I am personally not convinced you have found your dream dentist tbh. Good on you though...was there any explanation re staple gun? You need to consent to stuff as it goes along not be surprised......
was this NHS?


It sounds a bit like infiltration i.e. give multiple injections around teeth rather than use blocks/combinations - likely to be uncomfortable without topical. Don't think it is commonplace at all. Single tooth anaesthesia is possible but does not normally involve 10 shots so I am really puzzled. I am not a dentist btw.

Thanks for the info.From the looks of it, he used intraligamental injections when I came back saying I hadn't gone numb. He said he had to use it a lot because the tooth was so infected. My question however really, is from reading the link you posted, why he didn't inject me a different way ,as it sounds like my nerves in my lower jaw are wrong, I don't think it is the case that I don't get numb from the numbing stuff as ,dentists have numbed me before with it.

The only reason I could think is, I was meant to be there for a checkup and I know the appointment had gone on much longer than thought. He could tell I was in a lot of pain and needed it dealt with today. There was a crowded waiting room. So he perhaps used intraligamental injections as a quick way of getting me numb.

He didn't have to treat me that day and to be honest so far his filling seems good, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt, I was in the chair about 40 mins, as it was a large deep filling, and I think he saved me tooth.If I had gone back to my old dentist I'd have probably had it out. But I will be using what was in your link ,next time to ask him about the local. Because when I questioned him, he didn't go into it. Because intraligamental injections were pretty painful. If he can't get me numb,but has to use those, I'll bin him too.