Dental Hell

[Laurel]

Well, it's been a real exciting day for me. A week or so ago, I went in to have a crown (one of many) prepped. ( For those of you not in the dental know, here's an explanation of a crown http://www.carabelli.com/dental/crown.htm ). I have nice looking but brittle teeth, and my back molars are now falling apart despite all of my brushing/flossing/rinsing/stressing. I'd been having pain in my right back molar, but my dentist tells me afte drilling in that it doesn't LOOK like there's been any decay near the root. He cements in a temp crown and tells me to call back if the pain persists. So I'm happy...I figure the pain's on its way to being gone.

I spend the last four days or so with some pain, but chalk it up to the installation of the temp crown. I woke up at 10am this morning (early for me) in AGONY. Pain like I'd never felt. Aspirin helped, I little. Manu (patient, kind Manu) drives me to the dentist, where I literally spend the day...waiting for an emergency appointment, squirming in the chair while the good doctor picks and pulls and prods and my tooth throbs. He then decides I need a root canal. However, he can't do it because it's a back molar, and they're complicated or something. Anyhow...I spend another few hours in the waiting room while my dentist calls around looking for an endodontist (the ones who take my money for this sort of thing) covered by my insurance that can take me today. No luck...finally find one that can take me tomorrow at 11am.

We leave the office (finally!) at 3:30 pm, then get halfway home before we realize that we left the x-rays and referral form at the office. We drive back. At this point, my whole mouth is throbbing and I'm near-nauseas from the pain. I can taste blood in the back, and the area around the temp feel swollen and sore and gushy. Manu gets me home and tucks me in bed and I crash out. I just woke up. Everything I'd hope to get done...not done. What a waste.

I tell ya, this really sucks. This has to be the worst dental pain I've ever felt. However, I know there's someone out there who can top me. I mean, it's only a root canal. Some of you out there have probably had teeth knocked out, broke your jaw...C'mon, make me feel better. Share your most gruesome dental experience...

I'll go pop aspirin and catch up on the rest of the board while you all tell me your stories...

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Guest]

Wah wah wah wah. Like you're the only person ever had a toothache. Fucking grow up. Guess you won't be kissing much ass til your mouth heals tho will you?

 

[Laurel]

Wah wah wah wah. Like you're the only person ever had a toothache. Fucking grow up. Guess you won't be kissing much ass til your mouth heals tho will you?

Oh, just watch me! Bend over, lil trollie...

** MMMMWWWAAHHHH!!!!! **

Did you like that? I bet you did...

 

[Guest]

Yes, Laurel, I did like that very much. As a troll, I don't usually get much positive attention. Therefore, I'm very jealous of those who do. May I have another?

 

[Guest]

Dude there can only be one of us and that wasn't positive either that was just Laurel being a cutesy bitch again like usual.

 

[Laurel]

Dude there can only be one of us and that wasn't positive either that was just Laurel being a cutesy bitch again like usual.

'Us'? You got a mouse in your pocket?

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Cheri]

Try Ibuprofin instead of asprin, my dentist said it helps reduce the inflamation and should work better at stopping the pain.

My recent dental experience was getting my leaky root canal taken out (how do those things leak, I say?) and get it preped for a crown then they dug around my mouth and gave me 4 new fillings while they were at it. Thank my lucky stars that my doctor is the end all be all of dentist studs, he does the two handed hand shake while gazing deep in your eyes, (oh yeah baby!) so I'll put up with what ever pain he dishes out. Besides that, he dries my teeth with gauze instead of using that nasty blower thing that makes me flinch.
And as if that's not enough, next month I get all four wisdom teeth cut out! Aren't I the lucky girl! Not only do I get tons of pain, I get to pay them all my fun money, so no shopping for me! The only light I can possibly imagine coming at the end of this tunnel is I am so sick the mere though of food grosses me out for a solid month, and I end up losing 20 lbs! Hey, a girl need her dreams!

 

[Juliangel]

Laurel a while back I had a massive tooth ache it hurt so bad I thought my ear was going to explode. The only thing that helped until I got my percoset was to take 3 Tylenol PM and pass out.

 

[April]

*groan, shudder, and flinch!*

I've got to get my wisdom teeth pulled, but I don't wanna! I dread it, so I keep putting it off. I really should not read threads like this.

 

[Laurel]

Besides that, he dries my teeth with gauze instead of using that nasty blower thing that makes me flinch.

Oh how I HATE the air thing! Drill a hole into the nerve-filled pulp of a tooth and blow air in it...who's brilliant idea was that, exactly?

And as if that's not enough, next month I get all four wisdom teeth cut out! Aren't I the lucky girl! Not only do I get tons of pain, I get to pay them all my fun money, so no shopping for me! The only light I can possibly imagine coming at the end of this tunnel is I am so sick the mere though of food grosses me out for a solid month, and I end up losing 20 lbs! Hey, a girl need her dreams!

LOL! Dentists are expensive...I have to ration out my dental work over a year to afford to fix everything. Getting your wisdom teeth out doesn't have to be the pits. Mine came out easily, and so did my sisters.

Aprtil - my dentist still has his wisdom teeth...when he was young, he couldn't afford to have them removed. They grew in straight, so he just gets his cleaned twice a year instead of yearly to keep them from getting cavities and he's fine.

Juliangel - I hear ya!

CB - that's what it is, an infected root canal.

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Laurel]

Ouch, I'm sorry.
It hurts, but once they put you under local anasthesia you'll be ok. At the time of mine, my dentist was a family friend. He faxed the Rx at about 10PM see if you can get a hold of your Doctor, I found that drinking really cold milk eased some of the pain. Never figured out why milk and not anything else.

Milk - I'll remember that! You know, I'm really looking forward to the anasthesia...lol

C'mon folks...more dental horror stories! Bring em on!

 

[April]

Sweet Laurel, mine are crooked. I can feel them with my tongue. They are angled out, and when they came in, they cut my mouth open, and I could not eat without huge applications of Orajel! Trust me, Orajel and Hard Rock food don't mix! LOL

P.S. You spelled my name wrong. LMAO

 

[CRaZy]

I spend my life at the dentist

Like Laurel I have pretty teeth but they are brittle, useless, high maintenance things. When I was 18 I had my wisdom teeth removed by a butcher WITHOUT anaesthetic. Anyway, one of them became infected a week later, of course. By now I was in Taiwan. Medical facilities there today are excellent but at the time it was a developing country.
Taking large swigs of their opium based cough medicine (don't know if it's still sold but lots of old grannies were addicted) helped the pain but didn't allow me to concentrate on studies.
Landlady drags me off to her dentist in a non too sterile cramped room in a back street. I am in such agony that I just agree. Dentist starts to stick non too sterile looking pins into odd parts of my body (hands, hips, feet, neck). Then he starts to attack mouth with vicious, definitely been used earlier that day implements. I just prayed that he hadn't used the implements on the mangy dog that was sitting beside the chair. I braced myself. He seemed to be pulling and prodding in there but I felt nothing. Then, with a shout, he triumphantly produced a broken piece of tooth the other butcher had missed. He removed the pins. The pain was gone. Acupuncture at its most primitive and finest.
Over the year I lived in Taiwan I actually went back there again. That time however, I took bleach.

 

[CreamyLady]

I am such a coward about dentists, I will bear incredible amounts of pain before actually going to a dentist. I'm certainly no role model.

I had to have gum surgery, and it had to be done under general anesthesia; the dentist told me that he didn't keep enough Valium in his office to keep me calm.

I needed a root canal, put it off, and ended up losing the tooth.

Honestly, I really feel for you. At the worst part of my pain, I was swallowing three extra-strength Tylenol with a double neat Scotch, which helped. I hope yours stops soon.

 

[CRaZy]

be glad it isn't you..

In Morocco, if you are too poor to go to the dentist, they have professional tooth-pullers in the market-places. They pile every tooth they've ever pulled up on their table so potential customers can be reassured as to how experienced they are. They also have a fine selection of false teeth from dead people which you can try for size.

Look here.

http://members.tripod.com/crazygsix/entertain/index.htm

 

[Cheyenne]

I'm still on the "crown one or two teeth a year" plan. I think I'm up to 14 crowns and will get another two done this year. Two root canals, too. One done 25 years ago and one last summer. Root canals are very easy now compared to 25 years ago, and it wasn't that bad then. All four wisdom teeth pulled about 12 years ago- also a piece of cake. I was back working on my computer at home about an hour after they were pulled- just had a mouth full of gauze for a little while.

The only real horror story I have is from after I had one of my molars crowned. I went back to work afterward and the crowned tooth started to throb. It got worse over about an hour so I called the dentist and went back. I was in tears by the time I got there. Turns out the silver in the filling was reacting with the acid in my saliva and turning my mouth into a battery (that's the way the dentist explained it, anyway.) He neutralized the acid with a solution of some kind and the pain went away immediately. He claims a baking soda and water paste would have taken away the pain, too. I hope never to find out.

 

[SpecialK]

I am completely phobic of dentists, doctors, nurses, needles, blood, hospitals... heck, anything remotely like that.

I have a small mouth and my teeth are squished into it. I have had braces twice, bottom teeth are still crooked. <sigh>

Not only is my mouth too small, my teeth are very soft, which means prone to cavities and stains, etc.

Worst experience I've had thus far in the dentist is when I had to get braces on the second time. Because my teeth were so tight together, in order to get the bracket thingy around my back molars, he had to stick what he called 'splints' between my teeth at the back. They were like toothpicks shoved between my teeth. Man they hurt. I was ready to kill the sadistic bastard!

Obviously, I have had my wisdom teeth removed. Without a hitch. Due to my paranoia about dentists, etc, I insisted they knock me out. As far as I know everything went fine. Went home later that day and contemplated going to the high school dance that was happening that night. Didn't end up going since the anesthetic, etc did wear off and I was a bit sore.

My cheeks (which are chubby enough as it is!) did not swell. I was told to take zinc beforehand to prevent the swelling and bruising. It must have worked. You couldn't even tell by looking at me that I'd had my wisdom teeth taken out.

K

 

[Guest]

Whine! Bitch! Bitch! Whine!

Lemme tell ya. When I wasah boy da didn' have no 'anna-tesh-ia'.. They pride ya mouth open wit a crowbah, stuck it inna vice an ripped ya teeth out. One a' by one a'!

Den day invented da drill. Back then no one knew how ta use a drill so they'd just drill 'n drill intal blood squirt upa and all ovah da place then they -----

I'm sorry, this is too ridiculous, even for me. I only have had one root canal and it was painless even though it took three and a half hours and I busted my tires on the way there.

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Ksss]

Laurel, my goodness girl...your dentist should have told you to put an ice pack to the jaw to help take some of the swelling and pain away along with tylenol or advil.

My worst dental nightmare...Two teeth on the bottom right side of my jaw had become infected. My dentist took me in at 8 am, started doing shots of novacaine. The novacaine wouldn't take, so he kept injecting every hour, thinking it would eventually kick in. By 2 in the afternoon and 5 shots of novacaine, he finally called a specialist. The specialist got me right in, shot me with who knows what, but it worked and ended up pulling the two teeth. About 8 pm that night, all the novacaine decided to start working...

 

[Ambrosious]

I once bit my tongue. Boy! That smarted.

 

[R Nitelight]

This is a wonderful thread to read while you're waiting to call the dentist.
Thanks, everybody.