Hey there.. I'm in pain and thought I'd say hi..

[yuppicide]

I've had bad teeth most of my life. I hated the taste of tooth paste. My Mom wouldn't supervise me, so I'd wipe them clean with a towel sometimes. I've had so many cavities in my life. My Mom worked overnights at a 7-11 and other years of my life she worked days at a deli.. so I always had Jolt! cola for breakfast and sugary cereals.

How many teeth are in your mouth? Let's say there's 34 because I am too lazy to look it up. Well, one time the dentist told me I have one less cavity than half of the number of teeth.. so in this example it would have been 16. I remember going back every few weeks for more work. It was horrible!

As I got older I remember going to a dentist that put a needle in my arm to put me to sleep. They pulled 8 teeth in one visit! 4 wisdom which were imbedded in my jaw and 4 others. I awoke during the work and I heard the nurse say "he's waking up and we haven't finished, give him more" whatever the liquid was. I went back to sleep.

Another time I went to this other dentist and he had to use 6 shots of novacaine to knock out one tooth. He was doing a root canal. He would put a shot in and wait.. then he'd start drilling and I'd go ouch.. so he'd put another shot in and wait.. start drilling and I go ouch.. 6 shots it took to knock out one tooth. This same dentist once had to shoot one up into my gum. It was the worst pain I ever felt. Also a root canal. My fist balled up and I was going to punch him. It's the only time I've ever had that rage inside of me.

So about 2 weeks ago I went to sleep and woke up with a toothache out of nowhere. I've had some toothaches over the years, but they don't last that long. No idea where this one came from as I felt fine the night before. Since then I've been trying to eat carefully, but only on the right side of my mouth. Tonight I felt confident to have some nachos.

So, I pretty much hate anything to do with any medical stuff. I might have a small fear of needles and drills and that stupid tool they use to poke your teeth. Let me poke you and you tell me if that hurts. Of course it hurts.

 

[Spike 1969]

Hi there

just thought I would say to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your previous negative experiences; for most of us here I think it's about finding the right dentist who will listen and work with you because nowadays with the right dentist and modern techniques and anaesthetics most things should be able to be carried out in a painless manner.

If you can find a dentist that is right for you, pretty much anything is possible; most of us are here because of previous traumatic and often downright painful experiences and are working on getting things sorted, it's a complete change of thought process in the face of what many of us have had to put up with in the past and it's not easy at times but can be done by taking it at your own pace.

hope you are able to get sorted soon, being in pain is not a nice place to be, for me the first thing to do was to make a shortlist of likely candidates and ask for recommendations from friends and family.

please keep us informed as to how you are getting on.

Kind Regards

 

[FlamingShadow]

Hello!

I'm sorry you've had such bad experiences with dentists. I can not fully relate to what you've gone through but I know the fear. I cracked one of my teeth and had to get it checked out. It ended up being infected and I had to have it removed. I had some other work done too.

I wasn't terrified until I had to get everything done. Mostly because of the needle in the gums. I'm fine with needles in the arms but the gums? No way! It scared me to death. The drill for me wasn't bad though I hated the sound of it in my ear. More than kind of annoying. It was also annoying to have to go to the dentist so many times. I wish they could've done everything in one sitting but that probably would have been way worse.

Even though it sucked to have to go I'm glad I did. I stopped going around when I was sixteen when I was finished having braces. For the next eleven years I never went. Who's to say I would have gone again if I didn't crack my tooth? But as I said I'm glad I did. My teeth are honestly better than they have ever been.

You'll find support here when you are in need. People here are always willing to help the best they can.

 

[yuppicide]

Needle in the gums was the worst!!


I've been trying to eat soft things, but there's some times you say "I feel alright.. I'm tired of eating soup and rice.. I feel confident I can have some nachos. I feel confident I can confine my chewing to the right side of my mouth" -- well that totally didn't work.


If anything, I should take a cue from my friend. He's got no insurance (I don't either). He bumped his leg or something one time and let it go. He was limping around for awhile. He let it go years. It finally got so bad he thought he should go see someone. Long story short, if he'd have went years ago it probably would have been a simple fix, but since he waited so long he ended up having to be in the hospital a few days and it cost a lot more than if he'd take care in the first place.


I'm at work today, but nervous just thinking about the needles and the drill.

 

[yuppicide]

You know the girl at work had to get some dental work a few months ago. I was trying to be nice and say it'll be alright blah blah, but in my mind I thought that was a load of crap, because I myself don't go to the dentist.

 

[FlamingShadow]

It's always easier said than done. You just have to keep thinking what will be better for you in the long run.