A trip to the dentist...

Brian8bit · 16 Mar 2011, 20:19

So, I have a pretty big fear of the dentist. So much so that I avoided visiting one for more than five years. Last year though I started to really suffer with pains in my wisdom teeth and a diet of ibuprofen wasn't very healthy. So I got myself a good dentist who made going less stressful.

So today, I go into the dentist and start making small talk. He has an iPhone, so I ask him has he put his pre-order in for the new iPad. We get to discussing the iPad and he says the only useful app he has seen is on his friends device that maps the stars using the GPS. So you hold it up towards the sky and it'll name constellations and things it's pointed at. He then gets on to talking about how it would be useful for doctors and dentists to have one you could point at the body and it would show organs and arteries and things, augmented reality like. He was joking about how learning about the body is boring and shows things like major arteries as blue and red. He said the first time he had to cut open a body, everything was grey.

He then starts talking about an artery in your mouth and how it winds it's way through the gums and there's branches off it. I joke that if I hear him say "is this supposed to be blue or red, I'm leaving". At this point I'm pretty well gassed and he starts into the operation. Everything is OK until he really starts poking around with the tool to really open up the root canal and then suddenly the sedative effect of the gas is gone and I'm consumed by panic as I have an incredibly vivd hallucination. I think is my mouth filling with blood (it was actually saliva) and he's severed the artery we we talking about earlier. I think the tooth he has been working on he has tried to pull out and it's shattered. So I now think I'm bleeding to death with this shattered tooth in my mouth that is causing the bleeding which can't be stopped. I think I can see blood spurting out of my mouth (which was actually the red nose thing that covers your nose for the gas) and I'm screaming "OH GOD I'M BLEEDING!" while him and a nurse hold me down in the chair telling me there's no blood, I turned and scream "DON'T LIE TO ME, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!". By this point they were pumping oxygen back into me instead of the gas and I started to calm down and found myself crying because of the sheer panic and how vivid the hallucination was.

It was fucking horrible at the time and I probably scared the shit out of the dentist. But looking back now, it's pretty hilarious.

webwit · 16 Mar 2011, 20:22

I'm scared about the the fact your dentist is cutting open bodies.

Brian8bit · 16 Mar 2011, 20:28

Dentists can go through cadaver training, dependent on whichever University they go to I think. Also they sometimes use sections instead of the whole body.

ripster · 16 Mar 2011, 20:31

My dentist got a letter from the orthodontic surgeon complimenting the challenge of getting my "elephantine" wisdom teeth out. I woke up once, surprising the surgeon in mid-hammer/chisel.

Save them. Like "Jurassic Park" I plan on being resurrected from these. Assuming my kid doesn't throw them away and just keep the Legos.

Brian8bit · 16 Mar 2011, 20:32

If only it was as easy removing wisdom teeth as it is Cherry key caps.

sixty · 16 Mar 2011, 21:08

Brian8bit wrote:If only it was as easy removing wisdom teeth as it is Cherry key caps.

lol.

At the above story, yeah some stuff can cause funny hallucinations. I had a similar experience on a gastroscopy a few years ago, where I was certain I could feel my pipes fill up with blood or vomit, when in reality it was just that hose touching them. Still, not a very nice experience.

In further news, I freaking hate dentists. I am stereotypically absolutely scared of them and their devil tools.

CephalicCarnage · 16 Mar 2011, 23:32

Oh shit man... scary experience, but thanks for sharing with us to laugh about.

I think the secret to being comfortable at a dentist is to find a nice young female dentist who has that gentle, loving touch that those old scary dudes that probably also work as butchers seem to lack.... completely.

nathanscribe · 17 Mar 2011, 01:34

Ugh. I totally sympathise. I haven't been to the dentist in a very long time, but then I'm British and avoiding dental work is a national sport here.

I think things would be better if we re-grew teeth like children or sharks, which amounts to the same thing I suppose.

Crazy9000 · 17 Mar 2011, 02:02

I got my wisdom teeth out recently, but I didn't get any gas. Probably not the best idea since painkillers don't work very well on me. I almost passed out from the pain when one of my teeth took an hour to get out.

Anyways there's a dentist around here that advertises they'll put you under for stuff like that. Maybe something you would want to look into.

keyboardlover · 17 Mar 2011, 02:17

I had a difficult time when I got my wisdom teeth taken out too. I also stupidly chose not to get gassed, and it was HORRIBLE. Afterwards I was in an incredible amount of pain and just miserable.

sixty · 17 Mar 2011, 09:13

keyboardlover wrote:I had a difficult time when I got my wisdom teeth taken out too. I also stupidly chose not to get gassed, and it was HORRIBLE. Afterwards I was in an incredible amount of pain and just miserable.

The pain afterwards hits you anyway. Gassed or not.

002 · 17 Mar 2011, 11:44

I'll share two dentist stories of mine for comparison here.

Dentist visit in Australia (rotten tooth):
Facility is spotless, reception friendly, Dentist was young but recommended by many of my friends and made me feel comfortable. They took X-rays and said that one tooth had to be pulled and the same tooth on the opposite was on its way out but they can fix it later. So they drug me up and begin the tooth pulling much to my delight. The Dentist soon realised that it was "in there pretty good" and that I "must eat a lot of cheese" (I do) so the nurse is at my head holding my jaw while the Dentist tries to rock the tooth out..now this was painful my jaw honestly felt like it was going to snap and he had to stop because I couldn't take the pain anymore. So the next step, bring in the angle grinder and cut the tooth in half. They did that, and nursey held my jaw in place once again and they finally got it out in two bits - yay:
Total cost for one visit - $300.

Dentist visit in Japan (4 years later - tooth that was 'on the way out' as noted previously):
So while I was on my Holiday, the other tooth mentioned above decides after 4 years to swell my head and cause me IMMENSE amounts of pain. I'm not joking when I say that this was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I go to a Dentist in Sendai where the old guy informs me that it is infected and there's no way he's going to pull it out - he gives me some painkillers that seem to have the same effect as tic-tacs and sends me on my way. I later find out that Japanese Dentists are notorious for not providing enough painkillers. I endure the weekend and cry myself to sleep with my cheek acting as a pillow for both me and my wife. Back to Yamagata, and here's where it gets good! My wife takes me to the dentist where I plan on paying someone any amount of money I'd saved for my trip to just pull my tooth out. I tell her to relay this to the Dentist. The Dentist comes in and looks at my tooth. After some wincing and chatting to his colleagues he declares that he will not pull the tooth, instead he will repair it. I plead with my wife to tell them to pull it but I guess something got lost in translation. So the first visit I walk into the room and am basically mortified by the utensils - I can see water spots on all of the 'cutlery', the chair is dirty and, the coup de grâce: a blood soaked cotton ball sitting on the table which is quickly discarded as I walk in! First visit...goes well; they clear out the rot and I dont feel any pain and after 15 minutes of admiring the exotic eastern nasal hair, they plug my tooth up with putty and Im sent home. The first feeling of relief since I got the toothache in the first place. I go back every day for 4 days for 15 minutes as they remove the putty, do a cleanup and re-seal. I'm told that they're waiting for the pus to go away before they seal it up for good. The final visit comes around and Mr Dentist crafts me an awesome new tooth, folded a thousand times and heat treated and cuts through bullets (ok, maybe not). My tooth is fixed and it's been a year and it's still going strong.
Total cost: $240

Minskleip · 17 Mar 2011, 15:04

sixty wrote:
keyboardlover wrote:I had a difficult time when I got my wisdom teeth taken out too. I also stupidly chose not to get gassed, and it was HORRIBLE. Afterwards I was in an incredible amount of pain and just miserable.
The pain afterwards hits you anyway. Gassed or not.

Depends on the teeth. It's either the upper or lower teeth which doesn't hurt that much afterwards. Or else I'm superman, yeah.

sixty · 17 Mar 2011, 15:42

Must be all the alcohol!

ripster · 17 Mar 2011, 16:04

Can't have a dentist thread without this video.

if a video doesn't play because of stupid copyright issues let me know

Minskleip · 18 Mar 2011, 15:28

sixty wrote:Must be all the alcohol!

Haha you'd bleed to death if you drink with two holes in your mouth.

crowstar · 18 Mar 2011, 18:26

ripster wrote:My dentist got a letter from the orthodontic surgeon complimenting the challenge of getting my "elephantine" wisdom teeth out. I woke up once, surprising the surgeon in mid-hammer/chisel.

Save them. Like "Jurassic Park" I plan on being resurrected from these. Assuming my kid doesn't throw them away and just keep the Legos.

Epic win! Yeh, I don't like the dentist, but I rarely have to go so

Seriously · 18 Mar 2011, 21:14

Wow. I feel like I'm the only person who enjoys seeing the dentist. Love that guy, my teeth get cleaned without me having to do anything about it. Of course, that feeling goes away when you get home and bite into a cookie. ;/

ripster · 18 Mar 2011, 21:51

I had my dog's teeth cleaned last week using a new Non-Anesthesia procedure.

I'm SERIOUS! This stuff you can't make up.

CephalicCarnage · 18 Mar 2011, 22:06

Very good results. Ripster, your dog looks very happy.

hoggy · 26 Mar 2011, 07:24

In the UK, the NHS dentists aren't allowed to put you under unless you're in a hospital - I think they were getting fed up with around 3 deaths a year due to the anesthetic.

I guess I'm lucky. I'm 37 and the closest I've been to dental work is a scale and polish.

On a funny note. I used to work for the dental practice board - a quango in the UK for paying dentists. We used to get questionnaires back from patients complaining that the anesthetic made their mouth numb...

(OK, there's a very small sweet spot in the mouth that dentists aim for when injecting, but since they often miss it they inject more drugs, so when the hit it 'by accident', the mouth is left numb for several days)

ripster · 26 Mar 2011, 15:17

Dentists do Sandy's Nut/Bolt mod with style.

itlnstln · 28 Mar 2011, 14:35

ripster wrote:Dentists do Sandy's Nut/Bolt mod with style.

I wonder whatever happened to that guy. Maybe he was one of the few that found their perfect 'board and moved on with life.

webwit · 29 Mar 2011, 00:15

I doubt it was about the perfect board for him.

Half-Saint · 29 Mar 2011, 07:32

What was it about then? You still in touch?

webwit · 29 Mar 2011, 12:38

No, you'd have to ask him.
But I'm also betting a stamp collector isn't in it for a quest for the perfect stamp, nor is Jay Leno looking to collect the perfect car and then sell the rest.

itlnstln · 29 Mar 2011, 13:57

webwit wrote:No, you'd have to ask him.
But I'm also betting a stamp collector isn't in it for a quest for the perfect stamp, nor is Jay Leno looking to collect the perfect car and then sell the rest.

It would also depend on if he were a collector. I don't collect keyboards in the same way I don't collect power drills. I might try a lot of power drills to find one that works best for me, but I have no interest in keeping them. I find the one I like and move on. The difference is that I can go to the store and try a bunch of power drills before I buy them. I can't do that with keyboards.