looking for ideas/suggestions

[zombiegroupie]

so I have been dental phobic for a really long time.

I need some work on a few of my teeth. I had an extraction on my upper left molar this past friday. it was truly scary but i managed even though i couldn't get numb or stay numb.....i felt some pain and the noises/pressure were a bit scary.

anyway the rest of the work i need currently is on my bottom jaw. i hate getting numb on the bottom. i tend to get numb everywhere but my teeth....like up to my eye, my nose, my throat. this causes me panic.

Anyone else experience this and what can i do? I don't think i can ask to go without because I need one extraction and a deep filling I think.

 

[Tink]

Re not liking the sensation of being numb, I'm not sure there's much I can suggest there, although if you really can't face it and the work is too big/deep to do without a local anaesthetic then sedation might be something to consider? They would still need to use a local as well, but the sedation could make this more tolerable for you (in fact, with IV sedation, chances are you won't even remember it).

There are others on the forum who have difficulty with this though, hopefully they'll be along shortly with some ideas.

i tend to get numb everywhere but my teeth...

Now this problem I do recognise. I've had exactly this with the bottom teeth - everything will go numb (gum, lips, tongue, cheek…) *except* my teeth. I've been told that in my case it's probably to do with having extra nerve branches supplying those teeth. The good news is that if you have this type of problem then is it solvable with more advanced local anaesthetic techniques - or sometimes even something as simple as just giving the anaesthetic longer to take effect before starting on the procedure.

Talk to your dentist and make sure he/she is clear on what you are concerned about and what you need - especially if you are finding that the rest of your mouth is numb but your teeth aren't. There may well be more they can do. Don't settle for having work done without anaesthetic unless this is what you really want - you don't have to.



(For what it's worth, an intraosseous injection worked for me, although everybody is different and what was the right answer for me may not be the right answer for you. Note that I'm just a patient, you might find a more informed answer from the dentists over in the "Your Dentistry Questions Answered" section.)

 

[zombiegroupie]

thank you for responding, can you tell me more about your experience with the intraosseous injection? Is this something that most oral surgeons would know??

 

[Arzoo Nasiry]

Your eye and nose shouldn't get numb if you're being numbed for work on the mandibular or lower arch. The injection is given in a different spot than the injection for maxillary or upper teeth. You will feel numbness on your lip, cheek, and tongue and will have to be careful not to bite yourself. You can discuss your past experience with the dentist.

 

[zombiegroupie]

I normally have a loy of trouble being assertive at the dentist...however this problem with the lower jae has occurred every single time. I don't really want IV sedation just for this...if I can avoid it

Is it really a big deal to ask a dentist aboutdifferent numbing techniques?

 

[Tink]

I normally have a loy of trouble being assertive at the dentist...however this problem with the lower jae has occurred every single time. I don't really want IV sedation just for this...if I can avoid it

Is it really a big deal to ask a dentist aboutdifferent numbing techniques?

No, it's totally OK to ask that. Essentially, everybody is different and what works for one person will be different to what works for another, your dentist will need to use their knowledge and experience to find the right solution for you. They need you to tell them things like if and where you are/aren't numb, what the things are that you struggle with (e.g. if you find the sensation of being numb distressing) - that will help them to do their job, and mine certainly encourages me to tell him stuff and discuss things with him! (Seriously, he says this nearly every appointment, it's very much "please tell me stuff, it's really helpful when you do").

When I said "talk to your dentist and make sure he/she is clear on what you are concerned about and what you need" I could probably have phrased it more clearly - "what you need" here refers to things like telling them that your teeth aren't numb, rather than instructing them on exactly what they should do technically to achieve that.

I think of it like this: you're working *with* your dentist to solve a problem *together*. They have the technical knowledge, skills, and experience you need - and you have the information about your concerns and experiences that they need to get to the bottom of the problem. It's much more like a partnership than a battle over who's in charge. If you can build this sort of relationship with your dentist (as with any healthcare professional) then it's awesome and it really *works*.




You referred to "this problem with the lower jaw" which happens every single time - can you clarify, is the specific problem you are referring to here that you don't like the sensation of your lower jaw being numbed, or is it that the teeth themselves never go numb even when everything else does? Those are potentially two separate problems and being clear on exactly what the issue(s) is/are will help your dentist to find a solution.

thank you for responding, can you tell me more about your experience with the intraosseous injection? Is this something that most oral surgeons would know??

Well, bearing in mind all the caveats above (I'm just a patient, this is just one person's experience, what's right for me may not be what's right for you…etc…) here's my experience:

Personally, my problem was with everything *except* my teeth going numb, and this would happen every time I tried to have any work done on the lower jaw - I ended up having a lot of fillings effectively without anaesthetic, and frequently they wouldn't be able to do the job properly because I wasn't numb so the fillings ended up needing redone. I've had issues in the past with not being believed, or the dentist simply reaching the limit of their skills and running out of ideas. At least 4 or 5 different dentists tried over a period of about 15 years before I found one that had the right answer for me, which turned out to be an intraosseous injection. He figured this out by trying a few things to see what worked - he told me he once took 8 attempts (8!!) to get a patient numb enough to complete the treatment, so it can be well worth persisting.

The actually process of the injection itself, although it sounds horrifying on paper, was actually very quick, very easy, and completely painless - there's a description of how it feels over in the FAQ section of this forum if you want the details. Best of all, it worked - for the first time ever, I had a filling done on a lower tooth that was totally numb.

Re. whether most oral surgeons would know how to do it, I'm not sure, although my guess would be probably yes as they generally have more training in the advanced stuff. Not all general dentists have the training or equipment, but there are some that do.

Hope that helps!

 

[zombiegroupie]

I'm definitely not wanting to boss the dentisy around, it's not that. More of just working with me so I can actually get my work done.

 

[Tink]

I'm definitely not wanting to boss the dentisy around, it's not that. More of just working with me so I can actually get my work done.

Spot on This is exactly the kind of relationship that works well, and the best dentists will respond very well to it.




(You know, the more I have this sort of conversation, the more I realise just how lucky I've been with the dentist I have now! In fact, I now have two dentists that I'm working with in this way, and they're both awesome.)