going after 14 years

[brennuhhh]

this may be pretty long.
i haven’t been to the dentist since i was 9. im 23 now and obviously i have some issues but recently i had tooth pain for days that drove me to make an emergency appt.
i went to the appointment and had to get two teeth pulled (top and bottom right molars), which was actually better than i expected. it wasn’t terrible and was pretty fast, but while doing comprehensive exams, the dentists obviously found some other things that didn’t look good. they discussed all of this with me and put together a treatment plan. the plan includes fillings, early periodontitis treatment therapy, more extractions and removal of all 4 impacted wisdom teeth. they gave me a packet outlining my expected plan, and it has 16 planned visits in it. the overall cost was originally going to be almost $12000, but they were able to help me and finance it so it is only around $4000, which i can afford right now.
my first scaling and root planing appointment is in 10 days. of course i expected something to this degree, but i’m so anxious. when the hygienist checked my gums and explained to me what the results meant, i couldn’t stop crying. i just feel overwhelmed by the anxiety and paranoia. i even made a second emergency appointment 2 days after the extraction because i thought i dislodged my blood clot, but the dentist said it looked normal. it’s also just not been a good time for me recently in general in my life, and now i have this on top of what i was already feeling. i just don’t know what to do. obviously all i can do is try to do my best to heal and not worry, but it’s so hard with my anxiety for me to even stop thinking about it.
i don’t have a lot of people i can talk to so i just wanted to come here and unload. thank you for reading if you read this far. it makes me feel better that there are other people who understand how i’m feeling, who are able to do what needs to be done. it helps me to remember i can do it too!

 

[brennuhhh]

the hygienist showed me the bone loss in one of my teeth on my x-rays, but i’m hoping it’s just that one or a few others that will need root planing because i’m afraid of the feeling and i’ve heard it is a long appointment. i’m not looking forward to the sensitivity of my teeth after it’s done. i’m afraid to think about my chances of dry socket going up with each extraction. i’m not looking forward to a few months of basically giving up smoking weed and only eating soft food and being in pain. and nobody at the dentist’s office told me that birth control almost doubled your chances of getting dry sockets, so no more birth control, either. but i want to get it all out of the way so i can be healthy and i don’t have to worry about these specific problems later. i know the key to avoiding this is regular dental visits but i don’t want to think about the regular dental visits yet. i just want to think about it being done. i wish i had an idea of how long i would be doing all this. i look at the treatment plan and i feel like i’m looking at almost a whole year of just healing from dental work.

 

[Dg6300]

Look at you, advocating for yourself for an emergency appointment!

You’ve come a long way.

I’ll look forward to more posts from you with interest.

 

[brennuhhh]

i’m starting to worry about my next appointment and about the work in general that i need because i’ve been reading online about the office i went to (aspen dental). i’ve pretty much only read terrible things, but my first visit and extraction went well, and everything they told me i need seems accurate to me. like i said it’s been 14 years of poor dental hygiene since i last went to the dentist, so i feel the periodontitis claim is accurate, and i have visible cavities and teeth that obviously need pulled, that they found in the office. they didn’t tell me anything i wasn’t kind of expecting, and no other dentists can get me an appointment until after my next scheduled appointment at aspen.
most claims seem to be about overcharging/over treating, but they talked me through everything they planned to do, with x-rays and all, and i feel confident about their judgement. they can’t give me the care card because i didn’t qualify and i have extra money to cover any extra charges, so i almost don’t want to worry about all the reviews and just try to get through whatever happens. now that i have it all laid out i don’t want to start over and end up being too afraid or getting nothing. i don’t know what to do! there was nothing that felt wrong with the initial visit. i also don’t have dental insurance or a job right now. i think i’m just going to give them another chance and go until something feels wrong. if anyone else has advice for me i on this would greatly appreciate it.

 

[NervousUSA]

I have heard the bad things about Aspen dental and corporate chains too, but at the same time, it seems like you are pretty confident that you are getting good treatment here. The only advice I can give you is you might want to ask any questions you have about the treatment in the "ask a dentist" forum on here, or get your X-rays and use Denteractive to talk to a dentist, which I do sometimes, you could get a dentist on there to discuss your treatment plan with you, and message them photos of your mouth and your X-rays and it costs $10. If you start to feel less confident at any time, I would say go and get a second opinion on the treatment plan from another dentist in person.

 

[brennuhhh]

I have heard the bad things about Aspen dental and corporate chains too, but at the same time, it seems like you are pretty confident that you are getting good treatment here. The only advice I can give you is you might want to ask any questions you have about the treatment in the "ask a dentist" forum on here, or get your X-rays and use Denteractive to talk to a dentist, which I do sometimes, you could get a dentist on there to discuss your treatment plan with you, and message them photos of your mouth and your X-rays and it costs $10. If you start to feel less confident at any time, I would say go and get a second opinion on the treatment plan from another dentist in person.

i ended up making another appointment at a place closer to where i live. the appointment is in feb, but i’m not necessarily in urgent danger and i would rather be safe than sorry. my brain is just running in circles about all this

 

[NervousUSA]

@brennuhhh If it makes you feel more safe and have more peace of mind, then I think that is a good thing.