Krloveherkids777,
First, many many thanks for your kind words and support. This has not been easy for me... I have been pretty much working for the past year to get myself back to a decent condition. It started with a few ancients fillings that fell out, no dentist at the time (mine retired... then passed away), a touch of dental anxiety, and those lousy isdom teeth that got infected. I pretty much ignored the lost fillings and pain from, the infection from the wisdom teeth got into the adjacent molars until I couldn't stand it any longer. I'm in the VA/MD/Washington D.C. area and even though I have decent insurance, I could not find a dentist for treatment. On the weekends I would go to the E.R. for antibiotics and something for pain management. This went on for three months before I was able to find my periodontist in January (a retired Navy dentist recommended to me by a co-worker.) for treatment (i.e. extract wisdom teeth/infected teeth, implants, etc). He was willing to work with me at my pace and things went well and was starting to feel a little bit more relaxed.
However,t I am working on the restoration/implant crowns he has passed me on to the general dentist at the practice. They work at a lot faster pace then he did, and one's solution to my nervous at our first meeting was sedation!! I was really offended in that if I managed to get through 3 extractions and two implants under my own power ( i.e. no sedation), clearly, sedation was a necessary tool for me. If they had taken 10 mins to read my file and talk to me as a person they would be able to figure that out. I worked with them and a co-worker, because I wanted to continue to move forward. But they had problems numbing me, etc. and I have become more anxious about dental work then when I first started with them. Working at their faster rate with prolonged visits (i.e. 2 hr appointments), just not for me , I need to take things slow. So I'm taking back the control and visits I feel most comfortable, even if it means 1 appointment a month, for no longer than 1- 1.50 hr at a time. We work on one tooth or project at a time. This rate I won't be done until the spring, but hopefully, I'll feel better about it again. Technically they are all very talented dentist, I'm just not sure that they empathetic enough as to how patients may feel and long term dentists for me. For example, when I mentioned that I needed to take a brief hiatus from the dentist's chair in that I was getting stressed out, they didn't get how emotional stressing and draining being the "dental patient," can be. I think this problem has to do with the fact that they are former military dentists. Just the same, I am making slow progress.. and taking a month-long dental-free vacation.
Regarding the name, I am a big animal lover and almost become a vet. (I ended up becoming a microbiologist instead.) I have 1 Quarter horse mare who is 24 years old, 3 rescued NYC alley cats that I raised from kittens, and 4 society finches (Ernie, Bert, Hazel, and Byrd). I had to put Labrador retriever that I had for 14 yrs to sleep a year ago. I have always had pets and will always animals in my life. They keep me sane. Thanks for your support. Knowing that I others working there way through this challenge really helps.