Questions About Fillings

[britt]

After over 10 years of not visiting a dentist, I finally worked up the courage to visit the dentist. The dentist I saw was very kind and gentle and seemed to be understanding of my phobias. After the exam and cleaning he showed me my x-rays and told me that I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed and several fillings. Well while my courage was up I found an oral surgeon to remove my wisdom teeth and I am now in day 12 of the healing process. However, I was given IV Sedation for the wisdom teeth removal (which was the only way to go-I figured if I were awake and aware of what was happening my anxiety would have gotten the best of me and things would not have gone smoothly at all.) I was out before he even went near my mouth.

Ok now that I have gotten the wisdom teeth taken care of it is time to start thinking about those fillings. I really like the dentist that did my exam and cleaning, but he is not able to do any kind of sedation. That means that if I use him for the fillings he will do it with only numbing shots. While needles in my arms don't scare me as much, I am terrified of needles in my mouth and knowing that the dentist will do some drilling adds to my anxiety of getting fillings done. Do the numbing shots hurt when the needle goes in? How loud is the drill? Are fillings as nerve racking as I'm making them out to be? How long should I wait after my wisdom tooth extraction?

 

[MekaDFC]

I went through similar issues lately with regards to fear on fillings. I still am still going through some fears currently, but that is another thread in itself. The drilling/fillings themselves were pretty much painless (I only got two fillings). They actually put a bit of fruit tasting numbing gel that feels a bit cool before they actually do the shots. The shots are really the "worst" part of it, but it isn't really that bad since it just feels like a small quick pinch in your cheek and for me and they did this 4-5 times in my case. The sound isn't bad, almost kind of sounds like a slightly high pitched whirring (sorry, hard to describe). You do get some weird smells though when they start drilling your tooth though.

If your dentist allows, mine did, you might be able to wear headphones and just close your eyes when the work is happening. Just ask them and see if this is okay (closing your eyes and earbuds) and make sure they know to tap your shoulders, cheeks, chin or whatever when they need you to open up wider or turn your head. Have a system in place so they know how to communicate with you if you are trying to drown out the noise completely with loud music or a podcast or whatever else you'd listen to. I personally just had one earbud in that was turned up moderately loud, so I still heard the drilling a little bit and if they needed to say anything to me they could; I just focused my hearing on the podcast I was listening to so it took my mind off of it.

I don't know about how long to wait after extractions or anything since it isn't something I've experienced myself.

Sorry this was a bit late, but I at least can tell you what it was like. These forums don't seem to be very active lately, but hopefully this helps a little and I wasn't too late. If he/she says the filling(s) is/are shallow, it most likely won't be bad at all and you have very little to worry about. If the filling is deep, the procedure itself still really isn't bad, it just takes longer and if you are like me, you might have other things to worry about.

 

[Scarlett88]

I am going through these days a variety of tooth issues, extractions, fillings, rootcanals, you name it. And I think you are already over the worst! Battling and swallowing my fear every time I am in that chair. So from my experience:

The injection hurts as much as a paper cut but literally lasts about 3 seconds, so it is less inconvenient. Once you get injections you shouldn't feel pain at all from the rest of the procedure.
The drilling sound is annoying. Headphones if they allowed them could work but won't shut out all the noise. Mostly because it echoes from within. BUT! Remember there won't be any connection between the sounds you hear and the worry of possibly feeling anything. For me one of the biggest worries about the sounds was that subconsciously a scary sound indicates that something will follow. But once your numbed up nothing can follow. There really is no connection between the sound and any feelings.

I would ask the dentist how long you should wait. They know the best. Probably not more then a week, but it would really depend where those fillings are located.

All in all if you found a dentist you like and trust I believe that is soooo important!

 

[Armaghoh]

Hi All,

I do not know how to post a new topic, so sorry to hijack.

My tooth has rotted to the gum line and parts of my tooth have broken off and now I have a rotten tooth just sitting just below my gum line.

I have a bit of a health phobia, and I am wondering will this cause any problems? From what I can remember, the nerve has been taken out so I am not in pain but I am worried about bacteria in bloodstream etc.