Dentist tomorrow - scared and expecting bad news

[Anne2021]

All done. It went well. The anticipation was much worse than the reality. My nerves actually started to calm once I got there. Now to avoid dry socket. I wish this oral surgeon was my dentist. He is so good at his job and so kind. I am still trying to find a new dentist I trust to replace my old one who retired. If I could be as comfortable with a new dentist as I am with this oral surgeon, I could probably get the rest of the work that I need done and not lose more teeth - at least for a while.

 

[NervousUSA]

@Anne2021 Great!!! It is so nice when the anticipation is worse than the reality! I'm glad the oral surgeon was so good, I wonder if he could recommend a good dentist to you? Again, so glad this turned out well, and I hope you have a good recovery!

 

[Anxiousasallheck_]

Yay! I agree with the above comment!! Glad it all went well and your worry was worse that the actual event! Hope everything goes smoothly from her!

 

[Anxiousasallheck_]

*here

 

[Anne2021]

@NervousUSA He actually used to see my now-retired dentist for his dental care and recommends I go with the dentist that replaced him, which he is doing. The problem is that I have already tried a different dentist in that office after my dentist retired because the one that replaced mine is fresh out of dental school, and I was afraid not to see someone with years of practice. I can't decide if I am comfortable with the one I saw there or not. I'm also running into difficulty with an assistant that I always seem to see when I'm there and who answered the phone the other day at that office. She is generally very encouraging regarding my phobia; however, when I called, I asked to break up an appointment for two teeth into just one at a time due to my phobia, as well as health-related energy issues. She wouldn't do it. I tried twice to explain to her why and she refused and just kept taking an "I know better than you and everything will be okay" attitude. I could also get in sooner if the appointment was for half the time instead of looking for an hour and a half appointment time. I'm scared to put these teeth off for so long. (They were part of being re-scheduled due to the snowstorm pushing my extractions back). She just said that - no, the two teeth are next to each other and should be done together. I understand that for someone without health issues and/or phobia, but I know what I need. I don't know how to push past her when I see her every time I'm there and it would be VERY awkward to deliberately get someone else on the phone and push. I can imagine from when I've been there, that she could be right there behind the front desk hearing everything and butting in. I had called the oral surgeon's office in December to ask for recommendations and there were a couple of other offices that his wife (who answered the phone) said that they really like. I don't know what to do.

 

[NervousUSA]

@Anne2021 That is weird that an assistant is making decisions like that. What I might do in this case, if I wanted to continue at that office, is talk to the dentist, ask to be put in contact with him to discuss it. My dentist wanted to pull three of my teeth at once, and I told him I wanted to break it up, and he said fine, he also wanted to do all my extractions before my implant, and I said I wanted the implant after one extraction and he said fine. He wanted me to have four extractions at once under sedation and I told him I wanted two at a time with local and he said fine. He thought his way was better in all these cases, but was still willing to go along with me. I have had issues with assistants and hygienists doing things I didn't like too. Because of it, I have kind of studied the behavior of dental assistants and hygienists on reddit and quora, and I believe that they are, in a way, professions who are meant to help or serve dentists, and make things easier for dentists, more than to help patients, but dentists are a profession that is meant to help or serve patients. On the two social media sites I have mentioned, I have observed that dental assistants and hygienists seem more aggressive/less conservative about treatment than dentists or orthodontists, more inclined to force treatment on minors, and very concerned about things like saving the dentists time and effort. I have also seen assistants and hygienists who seem to have something going on where they want the respect given to dentists, to diagnose or treatment plan like dentists, or for patients to see them as dentists, seemingly just an ego thing. On reddit I saw a hygienist saying that a hygienist who could minimize a dentist's time and effort with a patient, and minimize the need for the dentist to converse with a patient should be considered "a rockstar". In a dental office, these folks serve dentists, but don't have liablilty or their reputation at stake like a dentist. I do see what you mean about it being awkward to try and get around her, and I might feel the same way, though. Also, it might be ok to see the dentist who is a new graduate if the oral surgeon is going to them, even if they aren't experienced in practice, it seems like the oral surgeon could tell if they were any good. For me, I would consider it because of his recommendation.

 

[Anne2021]

@NervousUSA I have seen you share the name of a service or online business where you can ask questions of dentists. I can't remember what it was called. I need to ask questions about dental records to a dentist in the USA, and Gordon was thinking that there might not still be one on this forum from the USA actively answering questions. Could you share the service or online business that you have used?

 

[NervousUSA]

I have used two services, Denteractive and The Teledentists. Denteractive can be cheaper because it has $10 messaging with a dentist. I tried their free messaging and didn't get a response but always get one for the $10 thing which is called something like emergency messaging or emergency chat. I have also used Quora to ask questions for free and Reddit Ask Dentists, both of these are hit or miss. I had two questions answered by a USA dentist on dentistry-forums dot com, which was free. I have seen some of the same people from this site asking questions on that site.

 

[Anne2021]

@NervousUSA Thank you so much for the information!