My far back right tooth broke slightly after a punch to the face years ago, only a little fell out and it wasn't causing me any difficulty so I left it. This was about 6 years ago. A couple of times over the years it got a bit sore, I brushed it and the gums bled a little, but both times the next morning it was fine.
About 6 months ago I was eating a granary baguette and the tooth broke. Around this time I noticed that the tooth smelled pretty bad. Therefore I thought I'd better see the dentist. This was probably the first time I'd been in 7-8 years. She thought she might be able to put a filling in that one, and I needed another filling.
I had orthodontic treatment (I had them off around the same time I last went to the dentist) and the retaining wire on the inside of my bottom teeth is still there. There was quite a lot of build up on this, so I visited the hygenist who scraped off 7-8 years worth of the build up. It was uncomfortable and there was quite a bit of blood, but my teeth felt good.
Anyway, I went to have my fillings done. She gave me injections and started on my broken tooth, but soon saw that the decay went under the gum line and just put a temporary filling in there. She said I could either have it out or they could attempt root canal.
For the other filling, she started drilling, and it felt pretty sharp. Sometimes she'd be drilling and I wouldn't feel a thing, sometimes it would be sharp. So I relaxed as best I could and thought of other things, but she'd still sometimes hit a sharp bit and make me wince. I was trying hard to ignore it so sometimes I'd just blink or squint a little and she'd back off. She turned the water off which seemed to help at first, but then it'd hurt again.
She said the anaesthetic wouldn't prevent it being sensitive. I don't really understand what she meant by this. It wasn't really bad pain but it was a nasty feeling. She kept saying if I couldn't cope with the pain she'd have to refer me to someone for sedation. I said I was OK to continue. She said to raise my hand if it hurt, but I wanted her to just do it. In the end she said she could see I wasn't comfortable, and that made her uncomfortable, so she was going to refer me to a community dentist for the filling and extraction under sedation.
I'm not a great fan of dental treatment but I didn't go there feeling anxious. I've had two teeth out under local anaesthetic before and it was fine. I admit I was quite tense, but I did relax myself when it started causing me discomfort.
Although having my teeth crushed is probably my Room 101, I didn't think I had a problem with dental treatment, and I didn't think I had a low pain threshold either. Am I a bad patient, because that's how I felt? Are you supposed to be able to suppress the wince?
About 6 months ago I was eating a granary baguette and the tooth broke. Around this time I noticed that the tooth smelled pretty bad. Therefore I thought I'd better see the dentist. This was probably the first time I'd been in 7-8 years. She thought she might be able to put a filling in that one, and I needed another filling.
I had orthodontic treatment (I had them off around the same time I last went to the dentist) and the retaining wire on the inside of my bottom teeth is still there. There was quite a lot of build up on this, so I visited the hygenist who scraped off 7-8 years worth of the build up. It was uncomfortable and there was quite a bit of blood, but my teeth felt good.
Anyway, I went to have my fillings done. She gave me injections and started on my broken tooth, but soon saw that the decay went under the gum line and just put a temporary filling in there. She said I could either have it out or they could attempt root canal.
For the other filling, she started drilling, and it felt pretty sharp. Sometimes she'd be drilling and I wouldn't feel a thing, sometimes it would be sharp. So I relaxed as best I could and thought of other things, but she'd still sometimes hit a sharp bit and make me wince. I was trying hard to ignore it so sometimes I'd just blink or squint a little and she'd back off. She turned the water off which seemed to help at first, but then it'd hurt again.
She said the anaesthetic wouldn't prevent it being sensitive. I don't really understand what she meant by this. It wasn't really bad pain but it was a nasty feeling. She kept saying if I couldn't cope with the pain she'd have to refer me to someone for sedation. I said I was OK to continue. She said to raise my hand if it hurt, but I wanted her to just do it. In the end she said she could see I wasn't comfortable, and that made her uncomfortable, so she was going to refer me to a community dentist for the filling and extraction under sedation.
I'm not a great fan of dental treatment but I didn't go there feeling anxious. I've had two teeth out under local anaesthetic before and it was fine. I admit I was quite tense, but I did relax myself when it started causing me discomfort.
Although having my teeth crushed is probably my Room 101, I didn't think I had a problem with dental treatment, and I didn't think I had a low pain threshold either. Am I a bad patient, because that's how I felt? Are you supposed to be able to suppress the wince?