My teeth are bringing me to tears

[Rock Chick]

Things have changed again, I'm getting sick of it but there's little point.

The 22nd May appointment still is happening and the 11th isn't. The thing is the 22nd is for a screening that is required before you get assigned (what, I was already assigned?) however they weren't aware of it when they gave me the 11th appointment. Also the dental students are having exams soonish so even after that I wont be able to be seen be any until July (bloody hell that's 2 months away!). I'll probably end up with the same dental student who called me about it today but it's just made things more difficult. I'm getting seen by somebody this month yet regardless I can't get work done for free until July & I'm freaked out about the whole thing now, I just feel like it's moving at a snails pace when my dental issues and fears are speeding along.

So I've made another emergency appointment for the 9th and it's back to spending money and the usual anxiety over the rushed nature.

I'm also anxious about how I'll be treated during the screening, I have no idea who this dentist is, I need to feel I need to not be too difficult in case they wont let me see a dental student if I do, by difficult I mean complaining about so many dental issues and coming across as a nervous wreck. What if I'm uncomfortable with what they're doing? They might feel I'm being uncooperative, etc. I've spoken to the dental student and feel she's nice & someone I can work with but I have no clue what this dentist will be like. The prodding thing freaks me out a bit, I almost feel somewhat powerless when I have the power. I guess I wanted to vent about how things just seemed to be piling up and getting me down. I just would have preferred they knew what they were doing to begin with and not making me feel so confused.

I was told of a possible way to get a medicare rebate or even bulk billing to see a private dentist and get work done up to a certain amount of money, I'll look into it but honestly doubt I will qualify.

BTW, is a screening like a general consultation you get when you first see a dentist to get a treatment plan, I'm assuming so, just never heard it said that way before?

 

[Rock Chick]

My screening for treatment is in just 2 days and I'm already stressed about it, however I am more stressed about needing soon yet another extraction. I was hoping to be able to put it off until I started my treatment in July likely but as of recently the tooth has been hurting most of the time and it's that sharp type of pain that means I don't want to put up with it for too much longer despite my fear!

I don't know when I'll get it removed, not before Tuesday unless it gets unbearable before then, perhaps I could even get it pulled during the screening, that's scary because it's so soon but the way I feel I wouldn't want to put up with this pain for too much longer anyway, at least if it's done then it'll be free because it's not an emergency appointment and it wont be as rushed I suspect.

The tooth that had the filling done a few weeks back is still playing up, why didn't that dentist listen to me more, why couldn't he at least have done an x-ray? Even I suspected it had more issues than he felt it did but he just didn't seem to want to take notice, I'm already stressing it might need to get pulled eventually too but another normal style filling might make a difference, I dunno.

I have decided regardless of whether I'm getting a filling or extraction I'm gonna insist on an x-ray, twice I have had fillings done without them and they both failed, I know they don't catch everything but I'm not a fan of old school tests that are not as reliable IMHO.

 

[Patti]

I feel your pain on health providers that don't LISTEN. I just went through a bit where I went to a doctor for what I KNEW was a muscle pull in the rib cage area. The doctor would not listen and just decided i had a gallbladder attack and said it would have to come out. He threw some prescriptions at me and said goodbye. NO BEDSIDE MANNER and NO LISTENING TO MY SYMPTOMS which were not symptoms of a gall bladder attack. I went to my mom's doctor and had all kinds of tests done. While it turns out my gallbladder is MILDLY slow, this doctor explained why what I had was NOT a gallbladder attack at all. It was exactly what I thought it was.

Can you see a different dentist?

 

[carole]

I really feel for you Rock Chick, I hope you get sorted out on Tuesday, well part way sorted out anyway. I am really wishing things will happen for you sooner rather than later, let us know how you get on.

GOOD LUCK

 

[LeDiskoLove99]

I know how you feel, I've had a couple of bad experiences at the dentists office that just made everything so much more worse. While, I try to take the best care of my teeth possible I know that I can't really do much if I don't have the proper help. I completely understand about depression and letting stuff go. I deal with really bad depression and when I'm so depressed that I can't get out of bed I don't even bother with anything, like hygiene or you know eating. There is nothing to be ashamed of, there are a lot of people who are in your position and shame on the people at that clinic for being so unsupportive! What people need is for them to be gentle and understanding not harsh and rude. And I'm sorry that I have no helpful advice for you because honestly I'm still not able to get myself to go see a dentist. But I do understand how you feel and want to let you know you're not alone.

And that is a really crappy situation they have you in, I can understand how this would be making you even more anxious. But perhaps you'll finally get someone who is caring and decent and will actually listen to your fears and let you complain without being an ass about it. Because if I ever manage to get MYSELF to a dentist you'd better bet they'll be hearing every single fear and complaint I have. Perhaps I'll even teach them a few words they've never heard before haha. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Mikey Boy]

Thanks for this thread i know what it's like to be in fear your whole life I don't know what I'm going to do I'm scared to death but I must overcome this i had really bad experiences when I was a kid some to horrible to talk about but I'm glad that you are trying to get the help you need I forget how different dentist in other countries are from us and how they work like How does a waiting list work I'm sure it's an easy answer and I'm just dumb lol anyways keep informed

 

[Rock Chick]

Firstly thanks for the encouragement and support!

The screening on the 22nd was fairly quick, it wasn't a consultation like I assumed, that is set up for the 31st and will be with the dental student, a different 1 to the other person I mentioned, this 1 works in the afternoons instead.

I asked about any sort of treatment during the screening but they wouldn't do it, I was told I could wait for an available student but that could take many hours and my anxiety was too much to wait that long for something I was already scared of. It's highly unlikely I'll be able to have any treatment done during the consultation either but at least it's sooner than I expected. I kept meaning to ring up their line designed for emergency work by student students for those already having or waiting for treatment by them in general but have kept putting it off, I'll need to wait until Monday to do so now as they aren't available on weekends.

I'm now fairly sure I need 2 teeth removed and would really like them both pulled on the same day, they're on the same side of my mouth but 1 up, 1 down so they may try and refuse that request, however I don't know how I'd be able to handle going back so shortly after having 1 removed to get another pulled considering for days afterwards it makes me anxious as it is.

I forget how different dentist in other countries are from us and how they work like How does a waiting list work I'm sure it's an easy answer and I'm just dumb lol anyways keep informed

It's not a dumb question, I only know a bit about overseas dental services myself. Waiting lists in Australia are generally crap honestly, I once needed to wait almost a year to see a dentist at a public dental clinic just for a consultation ages away from where I lived because apparently at the time closer places had even longer lists. Generally though I'd say you could expect at least a few months wait if not more.

Dental student waiting lists are much shorter but then again the overall treatment takes longer because the work all needs to be checked, so less can be done during each visit, however visits can take up to 3 hours whereas at public dental clinics it's generally not longer than an hour if that depending on what's to be done.

If you weren't dental phobic or had issues seeing a dentist getting on a waiting list before you have many dental issues is the way to go considering the waiting list times.

Basically all the public dental work is done via either dental hospitals that usually also have students as well or by smaller public dental clinics, there's no dentists who take on public patients at practices in general like the NHS system.

Can you see a different dentist?

Well not a private 1 so in essence my options are rather limited, I chose the dental student option because shorter waiting lists, it's free & many want to get things right and not miss things or screw them up regardless that they're being monitored, they also have more time per visit to listen and answer questions. I'm not saying dentists that work at public dental clinics are inept (well most aren't, sadly from my experience some seem to be) but they're more rushed and I've just come across too many who don't seem to take some of my concerns seriously enough. I was working once for a short time with a good 1, nice personality, she seemed to want to help me, I screwed it up myself. I just stopped seeing her, I suspect it was at least partly related to not feeling comfortable brushing my teeth at the time and I didn't feel I could tell her about that properly.