• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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Need Information BADLY!

J

JA

Junior member
Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
4
Hi all, first post on here and I need to know something thats got me VERY upset.

I am in my 30's and won't lie or make excuses, I have not been to a dentist in years due to being overly nervous about getting work done.

I recently started a new job and once the insurance went active, I promised myself that I would bite the bullet and get my butt to a dentist and start fixing the years of neglect.

1st visit to dentist was last month, needed 3 wisdom teeth out so Oral Surgery was done. No bad experiences there, was IV sidated and woke up missing 3 teeth and was groggy. week later no side effect and happy.

2nd visit, teeth cleaning and check for cavities then was told that need root planing and deep scaling. So appointment for 1st of 4 sessions was performed today.

So far all was well and I was getting relaxed at being in the chair.....until...

todays session to begin the root planing was going well and i was relaxed, then the dentist came in to numb my upper right section of teeth. Now it has been years since I had numbing shots so I didn't know what to really expect but mentally had planned for the "pinch" sinsation.

I was WAY WAY WAY off....

The dentist grabs his syringe and starts at the back of the mouth inside and jabs multiple time, sorta uncomfortable....then went right in the front of my mouth behind the teeth into the gums. The pain was so great that I had to grunt and bear down each of the 3 times he stuck in the needle. There were tears running out of my eyes and the assistant in the room backed into the corner "think she thought i was comming up swinging"

Sorry for such a long build up to a question but I am sort of working this out in my head to convince myself to follow up with the next 3 procedures.

Isn't the dentist supposed to use some sort of anestetic gel prior to numbing?????

I thought u sat around for a few minutes with a q-tip stuck in your mouth that helped make the shot not hurt???

My reason for qustioning this was because just prior to the dentist comming in to numb me, the assistant told me he (the dentist) was having a hard time with another patient who was not cooperating.

The way he went at me with the syringe and held my head down seriously makes me feal like he was taking out frustration and I was the whipping boy.

Once numb, the procedure was done all by the assistant and the dentist only returned to the room afterwards to check her work and send me on my way.

I didn't speak to the girl during the procedure and I think she knew I was almost beyond angry.

Did I just get the brunt of a bad day or is this the type of pain I can expect for the next 3 visits plus returns for fillings?? if so, I'm done.


sorry for all the bad grammar and mispellings, not my day....
 
Well so sorry to hear that..I think you need to find a new dentist with better injection technique and some compassion for patients.....yes numbing gel (topical) can be used but it has to be left for long enough but the key thing is injecting slowly and not rushing the fluid in.


The Wand is the best guarantee of a comfortable dental injection in all areas of the mouth but alas not many dentists have it yet. It does sound though like your dentist has a particularly bad technique so even in a better mood (why should you bear the brunt of that anyway?) it would still be painful probably. It doesn't sound like your pain was even acknowledged...? I don't think the vast majority of dentists routinely reduce adult patients to tears when giving injections so yes..in my view... not a guy to stay with.

Sounds like you had prepared yourself so well, it's a real shame, he let you down like that. The way to look at it is, if he can't be bothered to do a slow injection to minimise pain, then he may also be the sort who isn't too bothered whether or not you are 100% numb while doing treatment..the two types do overlap i.m.v. although not in every case obviously.
Do you like him at all apart from this?
I don't know about you but I'd rather not have to assert myself at the dentist and demand extra pain relief...I'd rather they were showing an interest in my comfort level too.
Modern dentistry can be totally comfortable but the dentist has to want to deliver it that way. :grouphug:
NB Just re-read he should not have been holding your head down!! That's restraint. It would be normal to press a thumb in your mouth to use pressure points to also make it more co mfortable. Also behind your front teeth is the palate..that is the most sensitive area and some dentists can do it better there than others but with no gel and no Wand it is not likely to be comfy. So if your other work is not at the front, it maybe wouldn't be so bad next time...but he could have explained this surely and expressed some concern at your obvious distress.
 
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Well,

I slept on it for the night and am still not sure if next weeks appointment will be met. I still can't believe that numbing shots should bring a grown person to the point of tears and literally having tunnel vision due to being close to passing out.

The way the dentist has scheduled my procedures means I need to have the front upper portion of my mouth numbed 3 more times because he won't do the scaling and fillings in the same visit. I asked why and he says the procedure of scaling and root planing is to invasive and that doing the fillings at the same time would be to tramatic. I still can't grasp this as I have no residual pain at all from yesterdays procedure other that 1 sore spot in the roof of my mouth which ironicaly is the injection site that caused the severe pain and tunnel vision.

In total, I have 6 more sessions to do because of the return visits for fillings, 3 scalling/planing and 3 filling sessions.

As for my reputation with this dentist, there is none. My wife uses him and she highly recommended him because she has never had a bad incident with him. She says he always uses topical gel and always makes sure that she is as comfortable as possible. She says that the times she has had numbing shots for dental work, he has never hurt her and that the only pain she feels is the pinch when the needle goes in.

I may look into getting sedation next time and using a different dentist as this experience has all but made me sick to my stomach to think of multiple repeat experience like yesterday.

The only other option I am considering is taking 2 vicodin before going to see if it helps at all and giving it 1 more try. The pills will have ample time to kick in before hand because its a 70 mile drive just to see Mr. Martin, doctor demento satanica....(DDS).

This sux, I was just beginning to think I was wrong for letting myself be so nervous about getting work done, now i am a grown man who is just shy of terrified.:cry:
 
hey

i'm sorry to hear about your scary experience with the jags as i have had the same problem especially as i have a rather large phobia of needles, i have had the little qtip thing before a jag and i gotta admit i'd rather be without it not because it doesn't work but cause of the TASTE! it is so bad that i would rather put up with the pain that taste that stuff in my mouth lol i don't know if it is just me/my dentist or if it is the same stuff that all dentists use but eurgh it was nasty! when i was getting a wisdom tooth extracted i had a jag in my gum and one in the roof of my mouth and yes that did hurt!! that brought me to a quivering wreck attempting to lie in the foetal position on the chair but as i say i would rather take the nipping than that god awful taste and i have never thought it makes that bt totally numb but maybe its just me who doesn't feel such good effects with it

good luck with your next appointment though :) i need to make another one but i'm kinda in a wreck after the last one lol
 
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As for my reputation with this dentist, there is none. My wife uses him and she highly recommended him because she has never had a bad incident with him. She says he always uses topical gel and always makes sure that she is as comfortable as possible. She says that the times she has had numbing shots for dental work, he has never hurt her and that the only pain she feels is the pinch when the needle goes in.

This is strange - do men not get topical then? Did he use topical..if not why not? Maybe men have to request it? It would help as it anaesthetises down a few milimetres if left to work properly...I've never had issue with the taste of the gel personally.
What do you think of his chairside manner? Is he the right dentist for you..the advantage to finding one you are 100% happy with is that you won't be afraid to go back and attend regularly.

Breathing nitrous could help as it numbs the soft tissues a bit - does he have that? but really it should be possible to find a dentist with good technique and some empathy...with TheWand even palatal ones can be totally comfortable...it would be a shame to let just a dentist's poor injection technique and lack of empathy put you off getting the work done.
I can see it is embarrassing to think you have to risk being reduced to tears just to get dental treatment ....it doesn't have to be like that....just because you are a bloke and so is he, doesn't mean a 'sorry - they're not always that bad' was not in order from the dentist.

If you are driving 70 miles anyway..why not find a dentist within 70 mile radius who has TheWand, then check their reviews on DrOgle and if positive give them a try...at least that way you are virtually guaranteeing yourself a comfy injection...going down the sedation route is fine if that's what you want but it sounds like with a comfy injection, you'd be fine without and that's ultimately a less restrictive way to overcome your phobia. You shouldn't always need to be numbed for routine cleanings as iot should be comfy without but you may prefer to be numbed.
 
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I agree with Brit. I would find another dentist. It doesnt have toi be this way.
I had a dental experience like this once and the trauma of it is still with me today. You deserve better.
 
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