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

[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.