Front tooth filled with Nitrous Oxide

[JAB]

My dentist recommended that I have my front tooth filled after it had broken off. I am really afraid of the needle. Experience tells me injections in the front of the mouth are extremely painful. I also fear the numb feeling afterwards. I just want my life back.

My dentist recommended I get this done with nitrous oxide, but that adds significantly to the cost. I'm so torn about the nitrous. I'd rather save the money and face the work without the nitrous. However, I have not had any work done by this dentist since she is new to the office. I also have no idea how good the dental assistants are with anxious patients. If I knew I would have a good assistant and a dentist skilled with injections, I could get through it without the extra expense.

Am I making too much of this? Are these injections as painful as I fear? How long will that numbness take to wear off? Any feedback would be appreciated.

ps. I had a great experience when I went in for the cleaning. The hygienist was amazing and I felt comfortable with this new dentist.

 

[Gordon]

Are these injections as painful as I fear? How long will that numbness take to wear off?

Shouldn't be that bad if the dentist is careful and takes plenty of time over doing it. Trouble is sometimes you get a vicious circle, dentist sees the patient flinching (sometimes because they're expecting pain) then they try to hurry up the injection, which makes it more painful for the patient and so on... then next time the patient is even more likely to flinch. Takes a bit of mental fortitude and experience from the dentist to overcome this!

Depends on the individual, about 90mins to 2hrs is about normal.

 

[LittleLynnie]

I had many incredibly painful injections in the roof of my mouth in my younger years, but then needed an emergency extraction of a front tooth and saw a newly graduated dentist at a clinic. As I sat flinching in the chair, she assured me that it wouldn't hurt too much, and it didn't! What she had learned was a new technique for minimizing pain in that hard palate, by pressing her thumb hard up against it, and then sliding the needle in to the side of where her thumb was. All I felt was the pressure of her thumb pushing up into the roof of my mouth, and as you can imagine, that wasn't a problem at all. The painful shots were from the 1970's to about the year 2000 (which was when I saw her). That lovely new grad came out of dental school with more knowledge about this than her predecessors (who clearly weren't reading up on new advances in dentistry either!). I even made this request to another dentist I saw a few years later, but he already was using that technique in his treatments.

 

[krlovesherkids777]

Hello Jab..

It is scary to go to a new dentist and wonder about how the shots will be , though it sounds like you had a good experience so thats a good sign. I can tell you from personal experience I've had many shots in the front that were pain free . The dentist took their time , and also had me close my eyes and talked to me through it. and I hadn't even known they gave the shot yet.. I asked them when and they said I did already.. really hoping your dentist is like this for you!

 

[StuckInIndia]

My dentist recommended that I have my front tooth filled after it had broken off. I am really afraid of the needle. Experience tells me injections in the front of the mouth are extremely painful. I also fear the numb feeling afterwards. I just want my life back.

My dentist recommended I get this done with nitrous oxide, but that adds significantly to the cost. I'm so torn about the nitrous. I'd rather save the money and face the work without the nitrous. However, I have not had any work done by this dentist since she is new to the office. I also have no idea how good the dental assistants are with anxious patients. If I knew I would have a good assistant and a dentist skilled with injections, I could get through it without the extra expense.

Am I making too much of this? Are these injections as painful as I fear? How long will that numbness take to wear off? Any feedback would be appreciated.

ps. I had a great experience when I went in for the cleaning. The hygienist was amazing and I felt comfortable with this new dentist.

I also have the same fear of the numbness (had a lingual nerve innury from dental injection as a child and now any numbness around my face or mouth sends me into panic attacks) I did some research and found that they can do a ligmental injection (peridontal ligament injection I think?) That only numbs the one single tooth without collateral soft tissue numbness like cheeks lips etc. It can sting a bit more to get though but Infind is not as bad as a nerve block and def not as bad as palatal. You can maybe ask for the same to try it.

Usually I dont get the injection at all. The pdl ligament injection in my case is a "just in case" I cant handle it without. For reference I just had all four front top teeth ground down for crowns (there was no cavities or anything it was purely cosmetic because I hated the crowding and overlapping) I did get through the drilling without any local anesthetic at all and no real sedation just Xanax. I wouldnt recommend trying though if you dont have a high tolerance for pain / reacting physically to pain like flinching etc. I have trained myself to remain still even through intense drilling pain just because I am THAT phobic of the injection! But it IS possible.

As for the cost why not ask for a scrip for triazolam (halcion) instead? That should only cost you the actual cost of the prescription itself and if you have a drug plan would be covered to fill it.