Taking painkillers before appointment - why is this not a regular practice?

[ilostmysoul]

Hey everyone!

Quick question.

I recently switched dentists and on my first appointment with my new dentist we reviewed everything I have to do.

For now the most urgent treatments are, in order of priority: 2 extractions (two upper molars which are broken beyond repair, one of them has had RCT, the other one hasn't), 1 big filling (upper front tooth, which has to be treated before it requires RCT), 1 RCT (upper molar) and redoing an older RCT. After this, I have to do tons of other treatments due to decay in several teeth but they are not as urgent.

I shared with this new dentist that I am traumatized of dentists. I can usually handle normal fillings, with my heart racing at 100km/s, but anything other than that has me extremely nervous. I'm especially nervous to do all the urgent treatments:
a) I'm afraid to feel immense pressure and/or pain when performing the extractions, and I'm afraid something might go wrong (e.g. teeth breaking). Dentist reassured me that she will be performing pain tests and will not perform the extractions if I'm in pain, and also that the roots are so damaged the extractions are bound to be easy, but I'm still scared because I've never done an extraction.
b) Afraid of the filling on my front tooth only because I know the initial jab/pinch hurts a bit more on those.
c) Afraid of doing the two RCTs because last time I did one I had to take an intra-pulpal injection. I've shared this concern in this forum already and I was told that it won't be needed this time, and my dentist said the same thing so that put me a bit more at ease.

After sharing these concerns with her she said I could also take some painkillers before our appointment. It would reduce the sensation of the needle and some, if not most, of the pressure from the extractions, which in turn would help me be more comfortable, which also reduces the sensation of pain according to her.

Since I've never heard this was possible, I asked if it impacted her work in any way since I know these pills have an effect on blood flow, and she said "Nope, not at all". So my question is, do these really help? And if so, why aren't they used more often? My previous dentist has always known I has very nervous and sensitive to pain (I have a little squishy anti-stress toy I take to squeeze ) and she never gave me this option.

 

[Gordon]

So my question is, do these really help? And if so, why aren't they used more often?

They work better for preventing pain after treatment, as with most things, prevention is better than cure. The theory is that there is a decent amount of painkiller already in your bloodstream before the local has worn off, so there's less chance of post treatment pain kicking in to start with.