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dentist gave me an ultimatum. help!

B

babytooth

Junior member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
17
first some tooth info:

i have a massive half sphere like someone buried a large corn kernel under my gum above the fractured tooth. ive been on a round of antibiotic (several, actually... over the course of a few years) but it wont go down. it doesnt hurt at all though. my smile is asymmetrical from swelling but my relaxed face doesnt appear swollen. i get pressure in my brain sometimes and i always feel like i have the flu. tired, sick, dizzy. no fever though.


a few months ago i went to the dentist to have an 8-year-old fractured upper abscessed molar pulled. he gave me a measly 1 mg of valium before the appointment. i sat in the chair, got 4 shots, and he tried pulling. i could feel everything and was extremely anxious, crying... finally i screamed so loudly, covered my mouth, and repeated "i'm going home now, no more, no more" like a BABY.

so he gave me an ultimatum and sent me out the back door.

he said i HAVE to get an iv sedation of fentanyl and versed or i can't come back. not allowed any nerve med for the drive, even the ones my psychiatrist perscribes.... cause the thing is, i have an extreme phobia of sedation. i also breastfeed. he also said if i miss my i.v. sedation appt (even if i call in advance) i will be dismissed from his practice for good. this is bad because he is the only surgeon in my area who accepts medicaid and does sedation (if i absolutely were to need it)


FAST FORWARD TO TODAY. my iv sedation appt is on the 6th of november. but after some thinking i call a general dentist and they can get me in tomorrow for a consultation, and with an oral surgeon on the 6th for an extraction with NO iv sedation (but what if i cant get numb!!)

MY CHOICE ON NOV 6TH:

IV SEDATION WITH DR. D
pros: it might turn out okay
cons: i will have the nerves of a prison inmate getting lethal injection beforehand, i will have no control over my body, i cant nurse baby after, what if something goes wrong or there is malpractice or it hurts... I WONT REMEMBER IT therefor cant defend myself

NON-IV EXTRACTION WITH DR. K
pros: no sedation. this is what i want most of all
cons: what if its so infected i cant get numb


help! :( nervous wreck, scared this will kill me, confused, untrustworthy, a mess!!!!

i am so torn because if i dont go to dr. d on the 6th he's kicking me out of his practice. then again i feel he is not supportive of my wish to gently get this tooth out with communication and my wants and needs considered.

but if i go to dr k and it turns out i need to get sedation for real, i will have nowhere to go.

what do i do? any info on not getting numb?
 
Last edited:
bump. please help :(
 
I'd not go to someone who gave me an ultimatum unless I absolutely had no other choice. In this case it seems like you do. If someone said they were going to kick me out, I'd just leave myself. Obviously that Dr. does not want to work on you. I'm thinking it's going to be a bad experience if you go in knowing he doesn't want to work on you, and wants to kick you out. I've been kicked out before, and when I went where I am now, I told the dentist this, told her what I might do if I were panicked. She never let me get to that point, and now I don't get as bad.
 
Sorry to hear about your problems at the moment :(. I'm not a dentist, so I can't really give you any advice about your teeth, however I have had a lot of dental treatment this year and have also had both oral and IV sedation before, so I can share my experience with you and I hope it might be of some help :)...

a few months ago i went to the dentist to have an 8-year-old fractured upper abscessed molar pulled. he gave me a measly 1 mg of valium before the appointment. i sat in the chair, got 4 shots, and he tried pulling. i could feel everything and was extremely anxious, crying... finally i screamed so loudly, covered my mouth, and repeated "i'm going home now, no more, no more" like a BABY.

First of all, are you sure it was 1mg? The reason I ask is that 1mg of Valium is a tiny piddly dose and if the dose that you had was indeed 1mg, then based on my own personal experience of taking it for dental appointments, I'm not surprised that it didn't do anything for you. Different people react differently to different doses of drugs like Valium, so there is no definite dose that works for everyone and some people need more than others.

Earlier this year I was referred to an endodontist to have a previous root canal re-treated plus a few new root canals. Because root canal treatment involves using a rubber dam, I decided to go and see my GP (physician) to get a prescription for Valium because there's no way that I could cope with the rubber dam without. I really don't like IV sedation either so that was out of the question for me (because I need to be in control too ;)), but I was prepared to try taking Valium because I would be taking the tablets myself and I would still be awake and aware of what was happening, just not really bothered about it. To start off with, I was given a prescription for 2mg tablets and I was told to take one and if that didn't work, then take two, but no more. One tablet did absolutely nothing for me and neither did two, so I decided to read the information leaflet that came with the tablets and see what the suggested dose was, rather than what my doctor had said. The leaflet said that for dental anxiety, the usual dose is 5mg before bed the night before the appointment, 5mg when you get up the following morning and then another 5mg about an hour before the appointment. I tried this and I still didn't feel that much different. In the end (after a few trips to the doctor and a lot of patience from the dentist!), I found that 5mg the night before and then 10mg about 90 minutes before my appointment actually worked better and it put me in the fuzzy "whatever" mood that I needed to be in.

Being given an ultimatum is never a very nice thing, but for whatever reason, it seems that your dentist doesn't feel able to go ahead with treatment unless you're more deeply sedated. I've experienced real problems with getting numb, particularly during all the recent root canal treatment I've had. I do know that sometimes infection can make it more difficult for them to get your tooth numb, so it may be that you perhaps need some different antibiotics or maybe a different injection technique might be the answer. We have more information about problems with getting numb here:


As I said, I can't really tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but I think if it were me in your shoes, I would consider going to the second dentist and perhaps seeing whether a different dose of Valium might be useful (you need get proper medical advice before taking a different dose though). You could also talk to your doctor as they might have some suggestions that might help.
 
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