P
pinkyminx
Junior member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2010
- Messages
- 2
Dear All,
I am new to this forum, and found it during a googling session trying to find out whether the experience I had at the dentist last week was 'normal'! I am perhaps not fully 'phobic' of the dentist as I can make it through the door without freaking out etc, but when it comes to injections and pain in my gums and mouth, I just go to pieces! I went last month for first check-up in 3 years, and she did a scale and polish. I was bleeding all over the place and it really hurt cos my gums were a bit crap. She said I also needed 4 fillings (gulp) and that it would be a good idea to do it under 'conscious sedation'. I wholeheartedly agreed! She said she prefered to do this using a liquid form of Temazepam.
So, I dutifully went along to my appointment last Wednesday, and drank my dose of temazepam (a very sweet, minty solution), about 10ml. After 15 mins i wasn't feeling a bit sleepy or any different at all, so she gave me another 10ml. Another 20 mins, still no effect, and by then she wanted to get started. So she squired ANOTHER 10ml into my mouth via a syringe, and got started with the local anaesthetic. By this time the topical anaesthatic the nurse had applied to my gums 40 minutes earlier had totally worn off, and so I underwent her very rough injections with no pain control and no sedation whatsoever- I still felt totally wide awake and aware, and petrified! I went through the ceiling- I was shrieking with pain, sobbing, and the nurse kept having to push my legs down as I was going a bit foetal by that point! She also had to force my mouth open because I was crying so much that my mouth was closing and I was gritting my teeth together. She managed to leak a bit of the aneasthetic in my mouth, which made me gag- I asked to rinse but was ingored. I presume at this point she assumed I was gaga.
I can recall every part of the treatment, when she had assured me I wouldn't be able to remember any of it. The bit I don't recall is being taken to another room to sleep after, or the cab journey home with my boyfriend - so obviously the drug DID have the desired effect, but was not given long enough to work by the dentist! Also, she said I would be fine to go to work as normal the next day, but when i woke up the following morning I was very unsteady and weepy, and after an aborted attempt at having a shower I had to go back to bed while my boyfriend called in sick for me. As an optometrist, this meant an entire day of patients to be cancelled, a huge incovenience.
Overall I'm really unhappy with what happened- I specifically went to this dentist because on her website it says she specialises in people who are anxious about the dentist. She was also very expensive! What i would like to know is whether I just reacted weirdly/badly to the temazepam, and it was a freak one-off situation, or whether she did not follow normal protocol with the use of this sedative. Also the dose she gave me seems huge- I read there is 10mg of temazepam per 5ml of liquid, and I think I had 30ml altogether, making the total dose 60mg! I have emailed her with my complaint, but not heard back from her yet....
Any feedback would be really appreciated. I just feel that once she saw that i was still very much aware and very distressed during the treatment, she should have stopped and waited for the sedation to take effect. Maybe I'm just being a big pansy??!
Many thanks,
Sophie
I am new to this forum, and found it during a googling session trying to find out whether the experience I had at the dentist last week was 'normal'! I am perhaps not fully 'phobic' of the dentist as I can make it through the door without freaking out etc, but when it comes to injections and pain in my gums and mouth, I just go to pieces! I went last month for first check-up in 3 years, and she did a scale and polish. I was bleeding all over the place and it really hurt cos my gums were a bit crap. She said I also needed 4 fillings (gulp) and that it would be a good idea to do it under 'conscious sedation'. I wholeheartedly agreed! She said she prefered to do this using a liquid form of Temazepam.
So, I dutifully went along to my appointment last Wednesday, and drank my dose of temazepam (a very sweet, minty solution), about 10ml. After 15 mins i wasn't feeling a bit sleepy or any different at all, so she gave me another 10ml. Another 20 mins, still no effect, and by then she wanted to get started. So she squired ANOTHER 10ml into my mouth via a syringe, and got started with the local anaesthetic. By this time the topical anaesthatic the nurse had applied to my gums 40 minutes earlier had totally worn off, and so I underwent her very rough injections with no pain control and no sedation whatsoever- I still felt totally wide awake and aware, and petrified! I went through the ceiling- I was shrieking with pain, sobbing, and the nurse kept having to push my legs down as I was going a bit foetal by that point! She also had to force my mouth open because I was crying so much that my mouth was closing and I was gritting my teeth together. She managed to leak a bit of the aneasthetic in my mouth, which made me gag- I asked to rinse but was ingored. I presume at this point she assumed I was gaga.
I can recall every part of the treatment, when she had assured me I wouldn't be able to remember any of it. The bit I don't recall is being taken to another room to sleep after, or the cab journey home with my boyfriend - so obviously the drug DID have the desired effect, but was not given long enough to work by the dentist! Also, she said I would be fine to go to work as normal the next day, but when i woke up the following morning I was very unsteady and weepy, and after an aborted attempt at having a shower I had to go back to bed while my boyfriend called in sick for me. As an optometrist, this meant an entire day of patients to be cancelled, a huge incovenience.
Overall I'm really unhappy with what happened- I specifically went to this dentist because on her website it says she specialises in people who are anxious about the dentist. She was also very expensive! What i would like to know is whether I just reacted weirdly/badly to the temazepam, and it was a freak one-off situation, or whether she did not follow normal protocol with the use of this sedative. Also the dose she gave me seems huge- I read there is 10mg of temazepam per 5ml of liquid, and I think I had 30ml altogether, making the total dose 60mg! I have emailed her with my complaint, but not heard back from her yet....
Any feedback would be really appreciated. I just feel that once she saw that i was still very much aware and very distressed during the treatment, she should have stopped and waited for the sedation to take effect. Maybe I'm just being a big pansy??!
Many thanks,
Sophie
Last edited by a moderator: