(no subject)
Sep. 11th, 2007 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
commotiocordisDentist appointment number two.
I think there's only one word to really describe that affair.
OWFUCK.
Yeah. This was a different dentist (evidently the one before was only a sub, I guess). Both this one and the one before were equally pissed off by my asking questions (though again, the hygienist/tech/whoever, though also a different one than last time, was very okay with answering whatever). My dad says that I've earned a notation on my record of "high maintenance", lol. That actually angers me more than not--can you really blame me for wanting to know what exactly the latest pointy thing going into my mouth is for? This dentist was all "oh, it's just dentist stuff. Listen to your music and let us do our job." Sorry, but that's not how I work. It makes me more anxious to not know what's going on than to know.
So basically, the shots. Dentist 2 was better than dentist 1 at the actual giving of the shots. Though little did I know that between her only giving me two vials of whatever-caine and juggling 4 different patients (resulting in my having been there for more than an hour and a half before any drilling ever started), numb I was not. And I specifically asked her, "If it turns out I'm not numb enough, can I stop you and get another shot?" Her: "Yeah, of course." *later* Me: "OW OW OW OW!" Her: "Just relax. You're just too tense." Me (though internally, as she already had her hands back in my mouth): 'No, I'm pretty sure this is fucking pain.' I finally just started ignoring it, because it was obvious she wasn't going to do anything about it (prolly because she wanted to try and get through me as fast as possible) if she even believed me (which I doubt).
And I'm very perceptive of pain. I know it well. I'm excellent at ignoring it, but when coupled with an unusual situation, I'd rather bring it to someone's attention to make sure that it's not a sign of something being wrong, you know? I mean, if my joints hurt, it's just a whatever thing now because it's so common. Tooth pain is different because it's new. And I told her that I felt like the pain I felt while she was drilling was coming from the outside frontish bit of the tooth, and she was all "You've got no idea. There's no way you could know that, you're just stressing out" which pissed me off. No, I'm pretty confident that if I think I can identify where the pain is coming from on my own body, I'm probably right. Methinks that's when she decided that it was totally because I was nervous and not due to any actual pain.
So then she keeps drilling (we're on the cavity that was drilled before, and thus had a killer head start when the filling broke/fell out/whatever), and I keep just ignoring the fact that every time she moves the drill over to the one side, quite large amounts of pain shoot through my entire head, and then I hear her go "Oh, looks like we're way in the pulp." Well, fuck. I know what that means. The most dreaded words in dentistry and what I was specifically told wouldn't have to happen (though, of course, this was in July, so the fact that dentist 1 thought that the other side was worse and so did that one in August and the fact that I can't get appointments less than a month apart prolly helped it along): Root Canal.
So she left right after saying (to the tech, not to me) that she had been drilling in the pulp and went to talk to my father. Admittedly, I'm freaking out by now. I was, if not copasetic with, tolerating the drilling, but then to tell me that because of this stupid fucking ex-filling deep one, I'm going to have to get a procedure done that's usually not performed on those under 40 or so, after being told that I wouldn't need it, I was more than a little pissed/petrified. I actually have large reservations about both the necessity for it in my case--when she wasn't drilling, I had no pain there (unless I have a fever like I had the night before, but the other side's the same in that regard and didn't need one), which would seem to be necessary to indicate an infection of the nerve--and about the procedure's viability in itself, especially as a first-run treatment option. And it's not like the dentist was letting me know what's going on; I was having to get all my information from the tech and only when there's nothing in my mouth and I can talk.
So I knew that that meant root canal, and I began fishing for what exactly that meant in my particular case. And then the tech told me that it was going to be now, and as I had assumed that they'd temp-fill it and I'd have to come back, I literally sat all the way up and spun around so quickly that I nearly fell off of the chair. In retrospect, it was nearly entertaining. I was too busy being freaked out to the point of tears at the time to realize this, however. More questions ensued, and she basically affirmed what I already knew the whole root canal bit entailed.
And then the dentist had decided (I guess in collusion with my father) to try to keep it from me that she's going to have to root canal it, but hears me interrogating the tech when she comes back, and gets all "Name of tech-type person, we decided that we weren't going to tell her about that." Erm, I'm not a fucking moron. I know at least a little bit about what we're talking about here--before I walked in to dentist #1 back in August, I did all the research I could about this kind of thing. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't patronize me by pretending that I wouldn't know what you were doing. So I was all (and not a little bit peeved that she'd immediately assume that the nice tech lady told me) "No, I knew what you were going to do."
And, as nobody but the tech's really done anything to reassure me at all (and no matter how nice she was, she's not the one controlling the sharp things in my mouth), and the dentist just keeps telling me to ignore it because it's "dentistry stuff", I'm definitely v. v. v. freaked out/terrified by this point. I'm one of those people who can't stand not being in control of a situation, which was really most of the problem--not only was I not in control, nobody was telling me what was going on or why I was in pain, even going so far as to deny said pain. So I was frustrated and fed up and in pain and feeling completely helpless, which was horrible. And the dentist was like "You know, you would probably do better on the laughing gas." I wanted to say "No, I'd probably do better with a dentist that would let me know what the hell was going on, thanks," but ended up going "Yeah, prolly, but it's too expensive, so just go." And I think she was so fed up with me by that point (I'd been there for 2 hours already, mostly waiting for her, so I think I'd be the one with the reason to be fed up) that she wanted me on it so I'd shut up with the questions (and was possibly also impressed that I recognized that it would help but would give it up because the insurance didn't cover it), so she ended up telling me that she'd give it to me for free, LOL. My amazing thriftiness strikes again.
The nitrous helped, then. I didn't know what to expect, and I was still in the same amounts of pain as before, but it was easier to ignore, I guess. I think I sort of expected to be impaired mentally, as people describe it as being high and I always associate that with lapses in cognizance, but that was not the case (though I was a bit woozy at the beginning, until I got used to it). Actually, rather oddly enough, at the beginning I felt it working, and then it sort of stopped for a long time, and then all of a sudden again, within maybe 30 seconds I realize both that it is indeed still working (I had thought they had turned it down or something) and that I was (or at least felt like I was--and I'm quite familiar with the feeling) about to pass out. So I was all "Ahh! Breathe through mouth, breathe through mouth, avoid the tooth dust, breathe through mouth!"
And eventually that ended. Not unpainfully, but it ended. The dentist didn't want to give my dad any pain medicine for me either at first, but he was all "I'd really rather you wrote a script for it now just in case rather than have her end up in pain all night and us not able to get to you," and she did. But because both of my parents don't do well with codeine (nausea stuff), I cut the one I took in half, just for at first, taking half a bit after I got home when the shots were about halfway worn off (which should prolly indicate how they weren't exactly at full strength when she was drilling), and half again about 3 hours later. Which means that I'm really needing some more right now, but I don't want to wake up my dad (as idk why, but he's still got it).
I'm starting to think that it's just a general dentist trait that they must refuse to explain anything to the patients until it's over. So here's my letter to dentistry schools everywhere:
***
Dear dentistry schools,
Some of us patient-types actually need to know what's going on to prevent freaking out. You're not saving us any stress by acting like it doesn't involve us. If we're asking, it generally indicates that we want to know. Teach your dentists this.
Encouraging thoughtful consideration,
Alexandria
***
I think there's only one word to really describe that affair.
OWFUCK.
Yeah. This was a different dentist (evidently the one before was only a sub, I guess). Both this one and the one before were equally pissed off by my asking questions (though again, the hygienist/tech/whoever, though also a different one than last time, was very okay with answering whatever). My dad says that I've earned a notation on my record of "high maintenance", lol. That actually angers me more than not--can you really blame me for wanting to know what exactly the latest pointy thing going into my mouth is for? This dentist was all "oh, it's just dentist stuff. Listen to your music and let us do our job." Sorry, but that's not how I work. It makes me more anxious to not know what's going on than to know.
So basically, the shots. Dentist 2 was better than dentist 1 at the actual giving of the shots. Though little did I know that between her only giving me two vials of whatever-caine and juggling 4 different patients (resulting in my having been there for more than an hour and a half before any drilling ever started), numb I was not. And I specifically asked her, "If it turns out I'm not numb enough, can I stop you and get another shot?" Her: "Yeah, of course." *later* Me: "OW OW OW OW!" Her: "Just relax. You're just too tense." Me (though internally, as she already had her hands back in my mouth): 'No, I'm pretty sure this is fucking pain.' I finally just started ignoring it, because it was obvious she wasn't going to do anything about it (prolly because she wanted to try and get through me as fast as possible) if she even believed me (which I doubt).
And I'm very perceptive of pain. I know it well. I'm excellent at ignoring it, but when coupled with an unusual situation, I'd rather bring it to someone's attention to make sure that it's not a sign of something being wrong, you know? I mean, if my joints hurt, it's just a whatever thing now because it's so common. Tooth pain is different because it's new. And I told her that I felt like the pain I felt while she was drilling was coming from the outside frontish bit of the tooth, and she was all "You've got no idea. There's no way you could know that, you're just stressing out" which pissed me off. No, I'm pretty confident that if I think I can identify where the pain is coming from on my own body, I'm probably right. Methinks that's when she decided that it was totally because I was nervous and not due to any actual pain.
So then she keeps drilling (we're on the cavity that was drilled before, and thus had a killer head start when the filling broke/fell out/whatever), and I keep just ignoring the fact that every time she moves the drill over to the one side, quite large amounts of pain shoot through my entire head, and then I hear her go "Oh, looks like we're way in the pulp." Well, fuck. I know what that means. The most dreaded words in dentistry and what I was specifically told wouldn't have to happen (though, of course, this was in July, so the fact that dentist 1 thought that the other side was worse and so did that one in August and the fact that I can't get appointments less than a month apart prolly helped it along): Root Canal.
So she left right after saying (to the tech, not to me) that she had been drilling in the pulp and went to talk to my father. Admittedly, I'm freaking out by now. I was, if not copasetic with, tolerating the drilling, but then to tell me that because of this stupid fucking ex-filling deep one, I'm going to have to get a procedure done that's usually not performed on those under 40 or so, after being told that I wouldn't need it, I was more than a little pissed/petrified. I actually have large reservations about both the necessity for it in my case--when she wasn't drilling, I had no pain there (unless I have a fever like I had the night before, but the other side's the same in that regard and didn't need one), which would seem to be necessary to indicate an infection of the nerve--and about the procedure's viability in itself, especially as a first-run treatment option. And it's not like the dentist was letting me know what's going on; I was having to get all my information from the tech and only when there's nothing in my mouth and I can talk.
So I knew that that meant root canal, and I began fishing for what exactly that meant in my particular case. And then the tech told me that it was going to be now, and as I had assumed that they'd temp-fill it and I'd have to come back, I literally sat all the way up and spun around so quickly that I nearly fell off of the chair. In retrospect, it was nearly entertaining. I was too busy being freaked out to the point of tears at the time to realize this, however. More questions ensued, and she basically affirmed what I already knew the whole root canal bit entailed.
And then the dentist had decided (I guess in collusion with my father) to try to keep it from me that she's going to have to root canal it, but hears me interrogating the tech when she comes back, and gets all "Name of tech-type person, we decided that we weren't going to tell her about that." Erm, I'm not a fucking moron. I know at least a little bit about what we're talking about here--before I walked in to dentist #1 back in August, I did all the research I could about this kind of thing. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't patronize me by pretending that I wouldn't know what you were doing. So I was all (and not a little bit peeved that she'd immediately assume that the nice tech lady told me) "No, I knew what you were going to do."
And, as nobody but the tech's really done anything to reassure me at all (and no matter how nice she was, she's not the one controlling the sharp things in my mouth), and the dentist just keeps telling me to ignore it because it's "dentistry stuff", I'm definitely v. v. v. freaked out/terrified by this point. I'm one of those people who can't stand not being in control of a situation, which was really most of the problem--not only was I not in control, nobody was telling me what was going on or why I was in pain, even going so far as to deny said pain. So I was frustrated and fed up and in pain and feeling completely helpless, which was horrible. And the dentist was like "You know, you would probably do better on the laughing gas." I wanted to say "No, I'd probably do better with a dentist that would let me know what the hell was going on, thanks," but ended up going "Yeah, prolly, but it's too expensive, so just go." And I think she was so fed up with me by that point (I'd been there for 2 hours already, mostly waiting for her, so I think I'd be the one with the reason to be fed up) that she wanted me on it so I'd shut up with the questions (and was possibly also impressed that I recognized that it would help but would give it up because the insurance didn't cover it), so she ended up telling me that she'd give it to me for free, LOL. My amazing thriftiness strikes again.
The nitrous helped, then. I didn't know what to expect, and I was still in the same amounts of pain as before, but it was easier to ignore, I guess. I think I sort of expected to be impaired mentally, as people describe it as being high and I always associate that with lapses in cognizance, but that was not the case (though I was a bit woozy at the beginning, until I got used to it). Actually, rather oddly enough, at the beginning I felt it working, and then it sort of stopped for a long time, and then all of a sudden again, within maybe 30 seconds I realize both that it is indeed still working (I had thought they had turned it down or something) and that I was (or at least felt like I was--and I'm quite familiar with the feeling) about to pass out. So I was all "Ahh! Breathe through mouth, breathe through mouth, avoid the tooth dust, breathe through mouth!"
And eventually that ended. Not unpainfully, but it ended. The dentist didn't want to give my dad any pain medicine for me either at first, but he was all "I'd really rather you wrote a script for it now just in case rather than have her end up in pain all night and us not able to get to you," and she did. But because both of my parents don't do well with codeine (nausea stuff), I cut the one I took in half, just for at first, taking half a bit after I got home when the shots were about halfway worn off (which should prolly indicate how they weren't exactly at full strength when she was drilling), and half again about 3 hours later. Which means that I'm really needing some more right now, but I don't want to wake up my dad (as idk why, but he's still got it).
I'm starting to think that it's just a general dentist trait that they must refuse to explain anything to the patients until it's over. So here's my letter to dentistry schools everywhere:
***
Dear dentistry schools,
Some of us patient-types actually need to know what's going on to prevent freaking out. You're not saving us any stress by acting like it doesn't involve us. If we're asking, it generally indicates that we want to know. Teach your dentists this.
Encouraging thoughtful consideration,
Alexandria
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-12 12:57 pm (UTC)I'm sorry it caused you so much stress and anxiety. Is it totally over or do you need to go back? Are you doing OK now with the pain and all of that?
Too bad you can't call the dentist office and say you felt the care you had received was inadequate. She'd probably inject you with saline next time just to be spiteful.
:P
no subject
Date: 2007-09-14 01:58 am (UTC)OK, some people stress out and everything
And yeah, I was freaked a little. Mostly pissed off that I had to get a root canal. But it started way before that, when she was just drilling the cavity, which makes me wonder if the last dentist I had at that place marked me as "candidate for nitrous" or something (and even with the first lady, I was only nervous before it started, and once she started drilling and I wasn't in pain, I was fine), and she just took that at face value from the start. Because I was totally okay (though in pain) during the drilling, so it really made no sense that she would think that I was just being histrionic.
Is it totally over or do you need to go back?
Not nearly, actually. I don't even have a temp crown on now, so I've got to go back for that (and I assume they'll take the impressions for a real one then), and then get the real one on at some point. Plus, this was part of a whole treatment plan thing because evidently both my mouth and previous dentist suck. So beyond/at the same time as/in addition to (idk, as nobody there really tells me anything), I think I've got a couple of little ones on the top or something (most likely one on each side, just so they have to be done separately).
She'd probably inject you with saline next time just to be spiteful.
You know, I'd really wonder. When I was there last night and she came in just to see who was getting worked on, she seemed less than enthused. She asked how I was doing, I waggled my hand (as there were instruments in my mouth) in a so-so manner, she says "Can't you say anything positive?" Erm, yes. I can, thanks. The tech clarified for me, that I meant that I'd had some pain but it wasn't horrible, and the dentist let off then, but jeez.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-14 12:35 pm (UTC)Plus, this was part of a whole treatment plan thing because evidently both my mouth and previous dentist suck.
Oooo, that sucks! This just seems to getting worse and worse. I hate having anything wrong with my mouth because it's just one of those pains/aches that doesn't go away. I'm sorry you've got to deal with this!!
no subject
Date: 2007-09-14 03:40 pm (UTC)Ahh, I'm familiar with that breed as well.
(one cavity and braces back when I was 11)
Oh, lucky. I inherited my father's teeth, which means they get cavities at the drop of a hat. The biggest problem is that they weren't being caught by my old dentist, though, so they were allowed to get this bad. I haven't had braces yet either, because my brother's teeth were so much worse and mine are only slightly in need of them (and only on the bottom), and by now, it feels like it'd be weird because everybody else's had theirs off for years now.
I hate having anything wrong with my mouth because it's just one of those pains/aches that doesn't go away.
Oh yes. And you don't realize how much you use your mouth/jaw until it hurts to move/touch them. Every time I've had work done there, I've come away with terrible jaw pain (the last time, it actually locked closed and it killed me to open it at all) probably just from having my mouth open for so long. That plus the actual tooth pain and I'm wishing that I could just give myself another anesthetic shot.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-14 05:35 pm (UTC)The next one I went to ignored me and wrote me prescriptions for a medication I didn't want to take because of the side effect. He spent 5 minutes with me and then told me I needed the pills to make the lives of others easier.
Sorry, ranting.
I'm glad that the mouth pain is starting to lessen. It is too bad she couldn't just say, "Here's the needle, do it like this and it will all go away." Of course, you don't need her to be your enabler. La!