Hello,
I have always had a phobia of dentists, so never really went after I became an adult. I also never really took care of my teeth when I was younger, so I have plenty of problems. About 2 years ago, I lost a filling in a molar on the left side. I called a dentist immediately, but they wouldn't see me for two weeks, assuring me it would be fine. When I arrived, they did a cleaning, tried to tell me I had periodontal disease (I was 31 at the time) and wouldn't touch the void where the filling was, which had already started to get bigger. They wanted me to come back in a week or 2 later, so I did...and they said everything had improved, no reason to think I had PD anymore, but still wouldn't touch the filling. Offered to give me a temp filling for about $350, so I refused (and put a temp filling in myself for about $3). They also told me I had to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed before they would do anything at all for the lost filling. After my dental insurance, they were telling me the specialist they work with would cost me about $1k per tooth out of pocket. So fast forward two years, I still have a gaping hole in a molar, and have only been able to chew on the right side of my mouth for a little over a year because if I hit that tooth by accident, I come close to blacking out from the pain. Needless to say, this dentist didn't exactly instill confidence in me about this industry...but I know I really need this taken care of soon before it either gets really bad consistently or leads to other problems that could shorten my life. I guess the biggest fear is judgment about the state of my grill since I know how I think about some of my customers when they neglect things...I guess the real question is, can it be bad enough it's not salvageable?
TIA
I have always had a phobia of dentists, so never really went after I became an adult. I also never really took care of my teeth when I was younger, so I have plenty of problems. About 2 years ago, I lost a filling in a molar on the left side. I called a dentist immediately, but they wouldn't see me for two weeks, assuring me it would be fine. When I arrived, they did a cleaning, tried to tell me I had periodontal disease (I was 31 at the time) and wouldn't touch the void where the filling was, which had already started to get bigger. They wanted me to come back in a week or 2 later, so I did...and they said everything had improved, no reason to think I had PD anymore, but still wouldn't touch the filling. Offered to give me a temp filling for about $350, so I refused (and put a temp filling in myself for about $3). They also told me I had to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed before they would do anything at all for the lost filling. After my dental insurance, they were telling me the specialist they work with would cost me about $1k per tooth out of pocket. So fast forward two years, I still have a gaping hole in a molar, and have only been able to chew on the right side of my mouth for a little over a year because if I hit that tooth by accident, I come close to blacking out from the pain. Needless to say, this dentist didn't exactly instill confidence in me about this industry...but I know I really need this taken care of soon before it either gets really bad consistently or leads to other problems that could shorten my life. I guess the biggest fear is judgment about the state of my grill since I know how I think about some of my customers when they neglect things...I guess the real question is, can it be bad enough it's not salvageable?
TIA