I
ilostmysoul
Member
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2014
- Messages
- 30
Hey everyone.
I have been bugging this community for a while now regarding 2 extractions I had to do.
I once had an intra pulpal injection and it made me terrified of dentists.
Two upper molars broken beyond repair with no structure to sustain anything else but bacteria. Previous dentist gave up on one of them and told me she would only do something if it started having problems, probably because she knew I was an anxious patient and it would not be an easy procedure. This was almost 1 year ago, and since then the tooth next to this one also broke beyond repair.
Other dentists disagreed and they said I needed to take care of that tooth and it neighbor because I could very easily develop an infection.
Went to another dentist and as we were talking about the procedure she told me how it would go and that she would have to inject the roof of my mouth, aka the palate, to remove the teeth. I then embarked on a search to avoid this injection because searching about it online terrifies me with stories of people saying how painful it is and some studies claiming patients can be traumatized from that injection.
So in the end I stumbled upon a solution: electrical anesthesia. I had to pick between The Wand and Quicksleeper. Apparently, Quicksleeper can bypass this injection in most cases unless it's a particularly difficult procedure (i.e. impacted teeth), whereas The Wand does not bypass it but gives it in such a way that it is painless. At least that's what I gathereed. I picked Quicksleeper due solely to the proximity of the dentist.
I also asked for conscious sedation with nitrous oxide, just to be sure. I have been terrified about what to expect for the last few weeks, and yesterday as I was waiting I was pacing around and contemplating walking out. Went to the bathroom a few times due to anxiety too.
Eventually I go in. They put me under nitrous oxide with a face mask for 3 minutes. The first 30 seconds were AWFUL. This was the only bad part about the procedure, which is unexpected. But about 10-15 seconds in I realized I was losing control of my thinking processes and my brain fought back and awareness. Hard. I started panicking, trying to talk, to yell at them to remove the mask, trying to remove it myself, my heart was exploding out of my chest and I was worried I would have a heart attack and they were not taking me seriously. It's like I desperately wanted some control back
Fortunately my dentist remained calm, calmed her assistant down (she was also starting to panic) and told me to relax, be calm, that I could breathe and that nothing bad would happen to me. So, I let go. And a few seconds after I had let go I relaxed completely and was somewhere else entirely. Amazing experience.
They took the mask off and for 1-2 minutes I was still somewhere else. Then they put a nose mask in and I closed my eyes. Did not feel any injection at all, I just felt my mouth slightly numb. I felt them doing their work but it was like I didn't care. I have sinus problems so I have trouble breathing through my nose, which means it's possible I wasn't having the full effect of the nitrous, but having to focus on my breathing ended up relaxing me in itself as well.
When I opened my eyes again, we were done. No pain, no injection, nothing. And it took a while too, 30-40 minutes. They definitely had to break at least one tooth, pretty sure, but I did not ask.
If you can afford it and you have the chance, I would recommend this combo (electric anesthesia + nitrous) to anyone undergoing a complex procedure. I could not even bear thinking about extracting teeth and I almost burst into tears when I first heard these teeth had to go just imagining the pain.
Now it's over and done with. Amazing experience. Completely and absolutely painless, not even a pinch.
I have been bugging this community for a while now regarding 2 extractions I had to do.
I once had an intra pulpal injection and it made me terrified of dentists.
Two upper molars broken beyond repair with no structure to sustain anything else but bacteria. Previous dentist gave up on one of them and told me she would only do something if it started having problems, probably because she knew I was an anxious patient and it would not be an easy procedure. This was almost 1 year ago, and since then the tooth next to this one also broke beyond repair.
Other dentists disagreed and they said I needed to take care of that tooth and it neighbor because I could very easily develop an infection.
Went to another dentist and as we were talking about the procedure she told me how it would go and that she would have to inject the roof of my mouth, aka the palate, to remove the teeth. I then embarked on a search to avoid this injection because searching about it online terrifies me with stories of people saying how painful it is and some studies claiming patients can be traumatized from that injection.
So in the end I stumbled upon a solution: electrical anesthesia. I had to pick between The Wand and Quicksleeper. Apparently, Quicksleeper can bypass this injection in most cases unless it's a particularly difficult procedure (i.e. impacted teeth), whereas The Wand does not bypass it but gives it in such a way that it is painless. At least that's what I gathereed. I picked Quicksleeper due solely to the proximity of the dentist.
I also asked for conscious sedation with nitrous oxide, just to be sure. I have been terrified about what to expect for the last few weeks, and yesterday as I was waiting I was pacing around and contemplating walking out. Went to the bathroom a few times due to anxiety too.
Eventually I go in. They put me under nitrous oxide with a face mask for 3 minutes. The first 30 seconds were AWFUL. This was the only bad part about the procedure, which is unexpected. But about 10-15 seconds in I realized I was losing control of my thinking processes and my brain fought back and awareness. Hard. I started panicking, trying to talk, to yell at them to remove the mask, trying to remove it myself, my heart was exploding out of my chest and I was worried I would have a heart attack and they were not taking me seriously. It's like I desperately wanted some control back
Fortunately my dentist remained calm, calmed her assistant down (she was also starting to panic) and told me to relax, be calm, that I could breathe and that nothing bad would happen to me. So, I let go. And a few seconds after I had let go I relaxed completely and was somewhere else entirely. Amazing experience.
They took the mask off and for 1-2 minutes I was still somewhere else. Then they put a nose mask in and I closed my eyes. Did not feel any injection at all, I just felt my mouth slightly numb. I felt them doing their work but it was like I didn't care. I have sinus problems so I have trouble breathing through my nose, which means it's possible I wasn't having the full effect of the nitrous, but having to focus on my breathing ended up relaxing me in itself as well.
When I opened my eyes again, we were done. No pain, no injection, nothing. And it took a while too, 30-40 minutes. They definitely had to break at least one tooth, pretty sure, but I did not ask.
If you can afford it and you have the chance, I would recommend this combo (electric anesthesia + nitrous) to anyone undergoing a complex procedure. I could not even bear thinking about extracting teeth and I almost burst into tears when I first heard these teeth had to go just imagining the pain.
Now it's over and done with. Amazing experience. Completely and absolutely painless, not even a pinch.
