C
CuriousGeorgie
Junior member
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2015
- Messages
- 3
extraction of infected molar without anaesthetic, followed by amnesic drugs?
Hi everyone!
Sorry for the ramble but I'm pretty fed up with having teeth in my face right now. I have severe dental and needle phobias as well as generalised anxiety and I went to the dentist for the first time in 10 years in April. I'm doing my bit, I'm confronting my worst phobias, dealing with panic attacks, taking responsibility for my oral health and paying a fortune just to have really shitty experiences in return. I needed RCTs on UL7 and UL8 so went in for sedation with midazolam which was completely ineffective (too anxious, I produce too much adrenaline), coupled with a dentist who took 7 attempts to put in an IV and UL7 being an extremely "hot tooth' it was a pretty traumatic experience and no work was done. I was referred to a specialist centre with a resident anaesthetist. GA is still not a possibility, but the sedation would be much stronger to counteract my anxiety and would include strong painkillers to help with the hot tooth.
Went today for treatment - the dentist asked my mum to be in the room as I have a history of fighting anaesthesia. The anaesthetist dealt really well with my panicking and got an IV into one of my invisible veins on his first try! The sedation (ketamine/fentanyl/midazolam) worked a lot better and I remember nothing until the dentist started drilling the hot tooth. Local aesthetic does not work on really infected teeth. The pain was such it half brought me round and all I could do was grab at his arms whilst he was drilling to make him stop (massive health and safety fail). I was fighting the sedation too much and it was too dangerous to continue, they packed the tooth with a sedative filling and I next remember waking in the recovery suite.
The pain was unbearable. I have never felt anything like what I felt today. The recovery nurse was ignoring me and I started to feel totally desperate that I was in the worst pain of my life and no-one was going to help me (nothing like feeling looked after, especially in a place where they're supposed to treat people who need extra help!). Thankfully, the anaesthetist came to check on me and realised something was wrong, gave me more fentanyl which had no effect and fetched the dentist. He said it was pressure backed up from the abscess, not pain as such so even something as strong as fentanyl would not help and I could either spend the next few days feeling like my eyeballs were going to erupt out of my head or extract it right away. I'd been told previously that if I wanted it extracted I should go to hospital for GA because it would be baaaaad. Even knowing this and knowing the local anaesthetic wouldn't work, the pain was so off the scale I actually agreed to it.
They could not sedate me again but tried the local anaesthetic which was ineffective. I know it took a very long time to extract, but don't really know what happened as they gave me a huge dose of propofol and lorazepam(?) as soon as it was done to make me forget. I keep trying to ask my mother who was in the room what happened and she just bursts into tears (not like her at all, very stoical woman). I also remember my dental nurse being very emotional. Apparently, a couple of patients who were in the waiting room left because of the screaming coming from my room. Definitely getting the impression it was pretty barbaric! I am so glad I have no idea what went on, but saying that, a lot of my phobia is to do with lack of control/information so the amnesia thing is unnerving me massively and I have so many questions.
I know it was a difficult situation for my dentist and it took on an emergency nature in the end. Can any dentist/dental student tell me why an extraction would take that long/be that traumatic that they'd have to give me a memory disruptor? Was packing it up like that after the failed RCT the right thing to do? My last dentist left open to drain and it was fine. Why even try an RCT if the infection is that bad? Is there a point where you should say extraction is better but don't? The only thing my mother will say is that it was like abuse - would you be less careful doing such a procedure knowing that your patient would never remember it? I still have to go back to this clinic for the RCT on UR8, she doesn't want me to go, would you go? This is the specialist centre - is there a super specialist centre for when the specialist centre isn't specialist enough? (LOL)
Thank you for reading my rants and good luck with your journey to dental health
Hi everyone!
Sorry for the ramble but I'm pretty fed up with having teeth in my face right now. I have severe dental and needle phobias as well as generalised anxiety and I went to the dentist for the first time in 10 years in April. I'm doing my bit, I'm confronting my worst phobias, dealing with panic attacks, taking responsibility for my oral health and paying a fortune just to have really shitty experiences in return. I needed RCTs on UL7 and UL8 so went in for sedation with midazolam which was completely ineffective (too anxious, I produce too much adrenaline), coupled with a dentist who took 7 attempts to put in an IV and UL7 being an extremely "hot tooth' it was a pretty traumatic experience and no work was done. I was referred to a specialist centre with a resident anaesthetist. GA is still not a possibility, but the sedation would be much stronger to counteract my anxiety and would include strong painkillers to help with the hot tooth.
Went today for treatment - the dentist asked my mum to be in the room as I have a history of fighting anaesthesia. The anaesthetist dealt really well with my panicking and got an IV into one of my invisible veins on his first try! The sedation (ketamine/fentanyl/midazolam) worked a lot better and I remember nothing until the dentist started drilling the hot tooth. Local aesthetic does not work on really infected teeth. The pain was such it half brought me round and all I could do was grab at his arms whilst he was drilling to make him stop (massive health and safety fail). I was fighting the sedation too much and it was too dangerous to continue, they packed the tooth with a sedative filling and I next remember waking in the recovery suite.
The pain was unbearable. I have never felt anything like what I felt today. The recovery nurse was ignoring me and I started to feel totally desperate that I was in the worst pain of my life and no-one was going to help me (nothing like feeling looked after, especially in a place where they're supposed to treat people who need extra help!). Thankfully, the anaesthetist came to check on me and realised something was wrong, gave me more fentanyl which had no effect and fetched the dentist. He said it was pressure backed up from the abscess, not pain as such so even something as strong as fentanyl would not help and I could either spend the next few days feeling like my eyeballs were going to erupt out of my head or extract it right away. I'd been told previously that if I wanted it extracted I should go to hospital for GA because it would be baaaaad. Even knowing this and knowing the local anaesthetic wouldn't work, the pain was so off the scale I actually agreed to it.
They could not sedate me again but tried the local anaesthetic which was ineffective. I know it took a very long time to extract, but don't really know what happened as they gave me a huge dose of propofol and lorazepam(?) as soon as it was done to make me forget. I keep trying to ask my mother who was in the room what happened and she just bursts into tears (not like her at all, very stoical woman). I also remember my dental nurse being very emotional. Apparently, a couple of patients who were in the waiting room left because of the screaming coming from my room. Definitely getting the impression it was pretty barbaric! I am so glad I have no idea what went on, but saying that, a lot of my phobia is to do with lack of control/information so the amnesia thing is unnerving me massively and I have so many questions.
I know it was a difficult situation for my dentist and it took on an emergency nature in the end. Can any dentist/dental student tell me why an extraction would take that long/be that traumatic that they'd have to give me a memory disruptor? Was packing it up like that after the failed RCT the right thing to do? My last dentist left open to drain and it was fine. Why even try an RCT if the infection is that bad? Is there a point where you should say extraction is better but don't? The only thing my mother will say is that it was like abuse - would you be less careful doing such a procedure knowing that your patient would never remember it? I still have to go back to this clinic for the RCT on UR8, she doesn't want me to go, would you go? This is the specialist centre - is there a super specialist centre for when the specialist centre isn't specialist enough? (LOL)
Thank you for reading my rants and good luck with your journey to dental health
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