watervole | Going to the Dentist

Went to the dentist today and had three fillings.

My knees hurt more than my teeth, and I didn't bother with the dentist's injections either.

I never bother having pain-killers at the dentist unless it's for root canal work.

If you can get your brain round the fact that it isn't actually going to hurt unless the drill touches a root, then it's possible to use relaxation techniques to ignore the drilling and take the mind elsewhere.

I lay back and pondered the problem of how to work a narrowboat through a lock if you only have one person on board the boat. The sound of the drill became the boat engine and the problem of how to open the gates without losing control of the boat was enough to keep my mind occupied.

Dentists tend to be a bit freaked out by people who don't want painkillers, but I only had two seconds of actual pain and most of that was from the clamp around my tooth rather than the actual drilling.

The main benefit for me is that I hate the numb lips that the injections cause. You can't drink properly for ages afterwards.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I also only have pain killers for major work; I find the injections into the upper mouth (where I had all the tooth transplant operation as a kid) more painful than the drilling.
I don't have a problem with the fast drill, it's the slow one which really makes me cringe. It doesn't hurt, it's just the vibration and sound, I'm shuddering at the thought.

FF

Ah, well done! I share your attitude towards the injection at the dentist. I have been able to endure common drillingand yes, I also use that focusing on some things...
I am due to my dentist on 1st July...eeeeeeeee:-)

I'm keen on the injections. I'm pretty insensitive to them, so always ask for a double dose!

I can still remember the poor lady in the Galapagos trying to inject into the nerve for a root canal. I instinctively flinched and kept breaking her needle.

Well, it depends. I have/had sensitive teeth, and there was a time when if it had sufficient decay to need a filling, it could hurt like hell for even a small surface filling. Not even so much from the drilling, as from the aspiration/air. An intensive programme of fluoride gel a few years ago reduced the sensitivity enormously, and I have much less trouble now.

Of course, since my fillings these days tend to be deep ones, this doesn't actually help much as far as fillings are concerned... But it makes the scale and polish much less of a nightmare.

I find I need an injection for any kind of filling; my teeth must be sensitive, because I do feel pain from any kind of invasive dental work. Except the injections themselves, which don't hurt for some reason. And I speak as one with a mouthful of amalgam.

I had my first filling about 6 months ago (slow growing wisdom tooth got a cavity where I couldn't clean it properly) I found it slightly painful even with the anesthetic.
My brother found it hilarious when I tried to drink from a bottle when I got home.

I've only had an injection for one of my fillings, the other two fillings were "precautionary" as I have deep grooves in my teeth and were starting to decay a bit, but were nowhere near the root.

The one that did have an injection was in the upper jaw, but the dentist must have found the perfect spot or used the right numbing agent beforehand because I didn't feel a thing :-)

PS The narrow boat problem is possible, but you'd end up running around like a blue-arsed fly!!

You didn't ask the dentist to inject your knees?

I had a couple of horrendous experiences with dentists when a kid (including one of the THREE times a needle has broken when being injected) so I'm just terrified all round...

I usually don't get injections because I don't like the numbness, and once the dentist scraped bone and it was the single most unpleasant non-pain sensation I have ever felt. I will not willingly feel it again.

I had a filling the other day, though, and the dentist said "I'm just going to apply some topical gel to numb the area," and I thought, "Oh, okay, some topical gel, that will be nice." He left me alone to let it take effect, and I let my mind wander. I let it wander pretty far, because there was a soap opera on a tv set in front of me. Then he came back, briskly announced that he was going to give me an injection, laid hold of my lip, and wham.

I was very annoyed with myself for not EXPECTING it.

I'm like that with injections, even injections into nasty places like elbows.

However, my dentist has now taken to giving me injections even for deep cleans, because even scraping my teeth hurts like hell. (I have a very low pain threshold anyway.) I think my enamel must be very thin or something. (Actually, it is.)

You're lucky to have a dentist that will do that. I can understand dentists being freaked out by people who don't want painkillers because it means that they have to be a lot more careful with the drill - and able to respond very quickly if they do cause a pain-reaction - for their own sake, as much as the patient's.

Not that I've had the nerve to go to the dentist for years - painkillers just don't seem to work for me even when I am given them.

I was thrilled when a dentist pointed out to me that there was no need for a pain-killer. He said "Do you usually have pain-killers or not?" and I said "You mean you can do it without?" And he said "Yes, you can just keep still, and it's easier." So I thought "Cool!" and kept still.

It's interesting to see how many people would rather put up with the momentary pain than have injections. I'm the same. In my case, the injection takes so long to take effect that it's almost a waste of time to have one.

This was me. Why has LJ started to default to anonymous rather than picking up the LJ user name?

Going to the Dentist

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