M
Michael14
Junior member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2014
- Messages
- 7
Offered a GA to fix most if not all of my current dental problems, do I take it?
Hello everyone, I got back from the dentist yesterday (the appointment regarding other (medicated) options for treatment due to slow progress), but deciding what is best and knowing what to expect and what to be asking is tough, so below is all you need to know, any help is greatly appreciated:
Short backstory of the past 10 years:
I had a bad experience as a kid, didn't go back to the dentist for years.
About a year ago went to a dentist, had a check up, lots of work needed doing. tried to have an extraction, kept feeling pain, and he was generally not keeping me mentally and physically comfortable so I bailed out.
Got referred to a dental department inside my local NHS hospital and had a regular appointment every 2 weeks or so, sometimes to talk, try new things, managed one filling and got a few teeth cleaned in the months that passed but still none of the major works that were needed. An appointment was made to discuss other treatment options. See next section for the suggested plan and more...
The plan they set:
They suggested that I go to a hospital (still local, but further away than the one in the same town as me) to have an X-ray and medical assessment to undergo a General Anaesthetic. I would arrive early at roughly 8 am so not too long to start getting worried, they would give me a juice drink with a sedative in it to free me from the anxiety and then take me to be put to sleep by a GA. Once out, they want to remove broken teeth (1 or 2), remove any teeth that have been bent out of the way due to overcrowding, (another 1 or 2), do all 7-8 fillings I need, then clean all of my teeth, essentially "resetting me mouth" before being awoken, checked to make sure I was fine and given pain killers for when the anaesthetic wears off, and then heading on home.
along with this plan, they then want me to attend very regular appointments to keep me used to the dental environment and make sure that as soon as the tiniest hole appears, they can fix it before it becomes too much for me to handle, and also help me improve my brushing skills and that kind of thing to massively reduce the chances of it getting this bad again. oh, and its noteworthy that to help further reduce anxiety, the actual dentistry is going to be carried out by one of the semi-regular dentists I see so I am sort of familiar with them. Furthermore, im also afraid of the GA a little, but it sounds viable in that if I can make it to having the juice drink, things should be much easier, and completely forgotten by the time its all over.
Do I accept this plan? I always wanted to fight the anxiety, and beat it, because to me, having fixed teeth and no more dental anxiety would be of great return to me, but now its getting to the point where I cannot eat correctly and bits of tooth seem to just fall out, so it seems I no longer have the time any more, and the returns of the plan they have set far outweigh the returns of me fighting on my own and risking losing more and more teeth due to the time it takes to fight. Any advice or experiences would be massively appreciated please. I am set to have my discussions with the anaesthetist and the dentist carrying out the work at the end of December before having the GA in Jan/Feb time so any extra information I can have and the more I know about it so I know what questions to be asking the better. Thanks in advance! I know its months away, but I want to do whats best for the my greater health now so time to think everything through and take in information is precious.
Hello everyone, I got back from the dentist yesterday (the appointment regarding other (medicated) options for treatment due to slow progress), but deciding what is best and knowing what to expect and what to be asking is tough, so below is all you need to know, any help is greatly appreciated:
Short backstory of the past 10 years:
I had a bad experience as a kid, didn't go back to the dentist for years.
About a year ago went to a dentist, had a check up, lots of work needed doing. tried to have an extraction, kept feeling pain, and he was generally not keeping me mentally and physically comfortable so I bailed out.
Got referred to a dental department inside my local NHS hospital and had a regular appointment every 2 weeks or so, sometimes to talk, try new things, managed one filling and got a few teeth cleaned in the months that passed but still none of the major works that were needed. An appointment was made to discuss other treatment options. See next section for the suggested plan and more...
The plan they set:
They suggested that I go to a hospital (still local, but further away than the one in the same town as me) to have an X-ray and medical assessment to undergo a General Anaesthetic. I would arrive early at roughly 8 am so not too long to start getting worried, they would give me a juice drink with a sedative in it to free me from the anxiety and then take me to be put to sleep by a GA. Once out, they want to remove broken teeth (1 or 2), remove any teeth that have been bent out of the way due to overcrowding, (another 1 or 2), do all 7-8 fillings I need, then clean all of my teeth, essentially "resetting me mouth" before being awoken, checked to make sure I was fine and given pain killers for when the anaesthetic wears off, and then heading on home.
along with this plan, they then want me to attend very regular appointments to keep me used to the dental environment and make sure that as soon as the tiniest hole appears, they can fix it before it becomes too much for me to handle, and also help me improve my brushing skills and that kind of thing to massively reduce the chances of it getting this bad again. oh, and its noteworthy that to help further reduce anxiety, the actual dentistry is going to be carried out by one of the semi-regular dentists I see so I am sort of familiar with them. Furthermore, im also afraid of the GA a little, but it sounds viable in that if I can make it to having the juice drink, things should be much easier, and completely forgotten by the time its all over.
Do I accept this plan? I always wanted to fight the anxiety, and beat it, because to me, having fixed teeth and no more dental anxiety would be of great return to me, but now its getting to the point where I cannot eat correctly and bits of tooth seem to just fall out, so it seems I no longer have the time any more, and the returns of the plan they have set far outweigh the returns of me fighting on my own and risking losing more and more teeth due to the time it takes to fight. Any advice or experiences would be massively appreciated please. I am set to have my discussions with the anaesthetist and the dentist carrying out the work at the end of December before having the GA in Jan/Feb time so any extra information I can have and the more I know about it so I know what questions to be asking the better. Thanks in advance! I know its months away, but I want to do whats best for the my greater health now so time to think everything through and take in information is precious.
Sorry for not getting back to you, almost forgot I posted this. I now have an appointment for the 19th to have a final check of my teeth & discuss the plans, then they want to do the GA on the 28th (or somewhere close) which is much sooner than I expected. Mixed blessing in that I prefer to be prepared, but less time to worry too I guess? I'm super nervous, but at the same time, I have been getting bleeding, pain due to biting with damaged teeth, and general discomfort due to the overcrowding issue, so I really want to push on with it. Originally they wanted to use drugs just to relax me but keep me awake, but the reason they chose not to was because the waiting list is longer and even then, the chances of me coping were questionable, so if the GA is too much, I guess I could give it a go. Being perfectly honest, I am not sure I will cope, the idea of just considering it is almost impossible as it is. I am contemplating contacting them to see what else they can do to ease the stress since its still not sitting well, but I think part of it was due to appointment changes (both staff & place) on multiple occasions due to recent flooding. Hopefully during the checkup appointment a lot of my doubts will be put to rest about who is doing it, and what will happen. I question how much help the sedative drink will be pre-GA though, I aren't sure it will be enough.