More Adventures in Dental . . . Care?AHAHAHA!!!

[lavendertook]

OK, the fun just continues--yesterday I was supposed to be fitted with the frame for the bridge, so they can go ahead and make the replacement tooth and the crowns for the two adjacent teeth that anchor it. Shouldn't be painful, right? So I went into the dentist yesterday, and after waiting an hour she comes in with pliers to pull my temporary caps off, which then feels like she's pulling out my good teeth. "Don't worry, it just feels like I'm pulling out your tooth, but I'm really not." O_O!! shfksfksfhskdf!!!!

I say, "no there's got to be another way. A solvent?" She gets out the novocaine needle and starts going for me again. "No more needles! Find another way, dammit! You must have a topical, laughing gas something!" So she does have a topical cream, and it works--thank goodness.

She gets the caps off, but there's still permanent glue caking one of the teeth that the dental assistant mistakenly used to put on the temporary cap. "He shouldn't have done that. I don't know why he did," she says. So what does she have to do? You guessed it! Drill to get it off! Whoohoo!! @_@!!!

And of course it involves the painful hitting of nerves. sdhsdjgf!!!! After being there 3 hours, I just couldn't take a needle at that point. So I get to go back on Saturday for more pain for their fucking mistake. This is following the first visit when she stuck me a few times with a needle that was not injecting, and then the next visit when she drilled my tongue.

Yes, I would go to a new dentist if I could at this point, but the bridge frame has already been made, and, even if my HMO thingie would let me, it would still cost like a thousand to get that done again. So I have to finish this with her, but I'm switching to a new one when this procedure is through, lemme tell ya. But I don't wanna go on Saturday, Mommy!!! Sigh. At least I know now to make her use the topical cream before I let her inject the novocaine--that should help some. Oy!

Well, it also depends on Isabel whether the area will even have power on Saturday. We shall see how that goes. I got to go through a tornado 2 years ago and it was terrifying, so I'm not looking forward to this. I hope it downgrades before reaching here. Could this week be any more fun, I ask you?

Comments

[anneheart.livejournal.com]

My visit went less traumatically, but will, when all is finished, just as expensive.

((Carole))

Move to CT - my dentist is really cool and uber-competent and taking new patients. *nods* And, when you're done seeing him, I could take you to the Seaport and show you all the boats Isengar wants to walk around on, even though I get seasick. *nods*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Good for less trauma! Sorry on the expense. What are you having done?

TY for the hug. Hugs!

Will have to get up there one of these days for the seaport tour with Anneheart Native Guide.(-: Last I passed through your neck of the woods was about 2 years ago.

[isengar-took.livejournal.com]

She needs a to get a cap on a tooth, but she also needs to see someone about the inflamed gum above that tooth and, because of a mitral valve problem, she has to buy meds to take before she even drives by the dentist; and seeing as how today's visit, which was nothing more than an x-ray and quick look about, ran $90 (not counting meds), I fear what the final cost of the cap and the specialist will come to.

She has a feeling none of this would have happened if she'd been able to use the really expensive doctor reccommended toothpaste and mouth rinse her dentist's partner suggested, but, alas, the toothpaste is made with seaweed and we're not taking chances with the mouth rinse (made by the same people).

I'll take you on the ships - she can stay at the dock. *nods*

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yeesh! Bad stuff too! Give her hugs for me!

[sibyllae.livejournal.com]

Gah. >.< Hearing about your experiences is finally giving me a real appreciation for the whole dentist-as-medieval-torturer comparison. o.O Even so, I still can't get over how incompetent that office is. After your last experience with the needles, did it ever once occur to her to at least inform you about other options for pain relief?! >.< And just her breezy attitude about all of this.. gah! I'm so sorry hon. I can't even imagine how you can bring yourself to walk back through those doors each time. How many more visits are there supposed to be ('supposed to' being the operative word here -rolls eyes-) to finish this procedure?

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

She doesn't inform me of any options, so I'm starting to catch on that I need to be forceful about what I'll accept. I know as the HMO doctor she's low perosn on the totem pole, but, you know, she doesn't have to stack her patients like she does, and even if she's getting the bum pay of the office, it's still better than what many of us get for hard work. And at this point, I don't see these things as just mistakes, as I was giving her room for the first two times, but as shoddy work because she's trying to fit in as many patients as possible to make money.

And when I talked about laughing gas, she didn't give an answer, but I know years ago I was given nitrous oxide by a dentist. There are other options and frankly, those caps could be wiggled off with less pain over time, if I was told to start working them a day or two before the visit. She just is too busy to give a damn, so I'm going to be sure to really direct things more on Saturday. And for starters, no needles without a shitload of topical cream. And yeah, its quite negligent that this hasn't been the practice throughout.

Saturday is supposed to be the fitting, once the drilling is done. So supposedly there is only one more after that when the finished bridge comes back and they put it in--most likely with more pain, even though there really shouldn't be, and most likely it will have to go back to the lab to have something done to it. /-:

[abandonada.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I think you just about maxed out the fun for this week. And it's only Tuesday!

You take charge of your mouth, ok? Don't let them poke any needles in before giving you at least that topical cream.

Best of luck on Saturday, if the entire town doesn't get blown away by gale-force winds first.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I scored big, this time, didn't I? (-;

Agreed. I'm going on the offensive for this one. She'll never know what hit her. (-;

Ahaha! So the bright side of all this is, if the hurricane does blow us all away, I won't have to go to the dentist on Saturday. Sometimes you just have to concentrate, and there's that silver lining right in front of ya.(_;

[timberwolfoz.livejournal.com]

Eeeew. Makes my misadventures look tame.

She drilled your tongue?!? Fer Chrissakes.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I think of your dental mishaps as I go through this--little did I know I'd be joining you.

Yup, she did. /-: A shame I didn't want a piercing, huh? (-;

[monkey5s.livejournal.com]

Wow. I think I'd be finding out how to report her to whatever state commission tracks bad medical practitioners.

And I am feeling VERY fortunate about the dentists I have had- the most incompetence I have ever been subjected to was merely the dentist when I was a teenager, wanting to have me wait until summer break to get my wisdom teeth out. I preferred to take care of it over spring break, and when the tech was removing my stitches the next week, she asked why on Earth I waited so long to get them out- since my records showed that I had had braces for FIVE YEARS to correct overbite and crowding, and the x-rays had clearly shown that all 4 wisdom teeth were coming in horizontally impacted, meaning they were pushing on the roots of my molars and undoing the 5 years' worth of orthodontia. Compared to drilling of TONGUES and NON-FUNCTIONING NEEDLES, this is like, cake, or something!

And may I just conclude with a hearty OWWWWWW?

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we'll see if I want to take the time to do that by the end of it.

Yuck! /-:

You may. (-:

[barbary-coast.livejournal.com]

I had a similar experience once (dentist using permanent glue instead of temp glue). I also had a dentist use temp glue instead of permanent clue. I also had a dentist drive a post into a live nerve, and then prescribe a painkiller that I was allergic to. When I was a little kid, I had a dentist once drill in a cavity without any novacaine just "to teach me a lesson".

He sure did teach me a lesson. I loathe dentists.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Geez, that last one was a classic sadist! That's awful! I do wonder what proportion of these types though you get among dentists, and chiropractors, too. I didn't sense any malice or sadism from my dentist, so I'd wager I'm just dealing with the incompetence of someone who is packing too much in, and perhaps doesn't really give a damn.

But the other examples tell me that this kind of incompetence is just par for the course with dentists then and if you get a competent one, hold on to them, right? You'd think though things like properly marking which glue is which, wouldn't be so difficult though, and would be kind of basic--you'd think dentistry would attract more organized types. So what is it about the field that promotes this degree of incompetence, I wonder?

BTW, good luck getting thru the storm tomorrow. If they make you go into work, I hope they let you out early at least.

[barbary-coast.livejournal.com]

Not to slam all dentists (because I have, at last, found a competent pratice), but I think that dentistry tends to attract people who can't handle internal medicine. A lot of people view dentistry as a quick and steady way to make lots of cash. By the way, each of the examples that I cited were different dentists, and they were not the only bad dentists that I've had.

The latest that I hear about Isabel is that it won't really do anything serious in our area until later in the evening. I'll probably go to work and then leave early. Now that the Feds have shut down, I expect that traffic will be lighter than usual, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle (I hope).

Same goes for you, too! I hope that the weather doesn't cause you any troubles.