ThatDamnPanda
Junior member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2023
- Messages
- 8
- Location
- Georgia, USA
Whew. Been awhile since I was at the dentist; about a year (mostly due to new job, new insurance, and scheduling from my old practice)
Last year, went for a cleaning. Dentist said several fillings on my LR Quad were starting to wear down and need to be replaced soon, but right now they looked okay to be reevaluated in 6 months, radiographs all good too. 2 days later, sudden pain in one of my teeth, with horrible sensitivity to mouthwash and vibration (sonic toothbrush). Figured it was just sensitivity, because I had no pain with hot, chewing, percussion and changing the speed on my brush to 'sensitive' made it better. Alternated between Sensodyne and nHAP toothpaste. about 2 weeks later, sensitivity was gone.
6 months later, dentist kept cancelling my appointments and I had gotten a new job which changed my availability. It ended up getting pushed to a year later, but at that point, I changed practices due to location and better scheduling.
With no pain I was expecting at worse one of those filling needed to be replaced, but nope. Radiographs showed an old infection on tooth 29 and the dentist she she might have to do a root canal on it, maybe not, since I'm asymptomatic, but wouldn't know until she opened it to replace the filling. tooth 30 had decay under the old filling, needed a crown. 31 had a broken filling which cracked, and 32 had a small class 5 on the buccal side.
"Root canal?" PANIC MODE
Luckily I had taken some Clonozepam prior to the appointment so while I was freaking out inside, outside I was like "Ah. well, crap."
Doc said she'd make sure she'd get me super numb and get them all knocked out in one go so I wouldn't have to be traumatized in having to keep coming back.
She gave me Triazolam to take the night before and an hour before my appointment, and they added Nitrous which in the past didn't really help (apparently my prior times I was too anxious that I was overcoming the gas)
Gave me a lido nerve block, which shockingly was the least painful block I've ever had (The doc is actually an adjunct professor dental students, so she knows her stuff), so that immediately made me feel more relaxed. then 2 more shots locally with septo.
She opted to do the rct first which was good because 31 and 32 were starting to get sensitive during drilling (I guess I metabolize the lido quickly?), wasn't enough for me to bother speaking up- which I have done in the past when it got bad, plus the gas and drugs were leaving me pretty chill.
But apparently 29 was dead, or at least circling the drain.
Whew. Load off my mind for sure. The most painful part... the bill.
Yeah, the anxiety leading up to the procedure is the absolute worst part of it all.
Last year, went for a cleaning. Dentist said several fillings on my LR Quad were starting to wear down and need to be replaced soon, but right now they looked okay to be reevaluated in 6 months, radiographs all good too. 2 days later, sudden pain in one of my teeth, with horrible sensitivity to mouthwash and vibration (sonic toothbrush). Figured it was just sensitivity, because I had no pain with hot, chewing, percussion and changing the speed on my brush to 'sensitive' made it better. Alternated between Sensodyne and nHAP toothpaste. about 2 weeks later, sensitivity was gone.
6 months later, dentist kept cancelling my appointments and I had gotten a new job which changed my availability. It ended up getting pushed to a year later, but at that point, I changed practices due to location and better scheduling.
With no pain I was expecting at worse one of those filling needed to be replaced, but nope. Radiographs showed an old infection on tooth 29 and the dentist she she might have to do a root canal on it, maybe not, since I'm asymptomatic, but wouldn't know until she opened it to replace the filling. tooth 30 had decay under the old filling, needed a crown. 31 had a broken filling which cracked, and 32 had a small class 5 on the buccal side.
"Root canal?" PANIC MODE
Luckily I had taken some Clonozepam prior to the appointment so while I was freaking out inside, outside I was like "Ah. well, crap."
Doc said she'd make sure she'd get me super numb and get them all knocked out in one go so I wouldn't have to be traumatized in having to keep coming back.
She gave me Triazolam to take the night before and an hour before my appointment, and they added Nitrous which in the past didn't really help (apparently my prior times I was too anxious that I was overcoming the gas)
Gave me a lido nerve block, which shockingly was the least painful block I've ever had (The doc is actually an adjunct professor dental students, so she knows her stuff), so that immediately made me feel more relaxed. then 2 more shots locally with septo.
She opted to do the rct first which was good because 31 and 32 were starting to get sensitive during drilling (I guess I metabolize the lido quickly?), wasn't enough for me to bother speaking up- which I have done in the past when it got bad, plus the gas and drugs were leaving me pretty chill.
But apparently 29 was dead, or at least circling the drain.
Whew. Load off my mind for sure. The most painful part... the bill.
Yeah, the anxiety leading up to the procedure is the absolute worst part of it all.
