Dentist

[cjsmith]

Went for my regular cleaning this morning. The substitute dentist says I have a cavity. It abuts my one and only filling, put in ages ago for a spot that "wasn't really a cavity but would probably become one some day and we could just do this now" sort of thing. Apparently that spot got worse. Blech.

According to my dentist I have deep crevasses in the mashing surfaces of those rear molars. It's probably amazing that I haven't had far worse cavities in there already. In fact, I know I've been very VERY lucky when it comes to teeth. (Except for size and placement, that is.) In my entire life I've only had that one proto-cavity. (And eight teeth pulled for lack of room, and some gum tissue dug out because I was chewing on it.)

I have an appointment to go have it drilled. They wanted to do it soon, I wanted to skip the time my guest is here. Hopefully January 30 will be fine.

I insisted on my regular dentist. He was willing to do the proto-cavity filling without any anaesthetic. I HATE NEEDLES! Now y'all know how much I hate them! The drilling was probably deeper than you'd think because it was in the bottom of one of those deep crevasses, but I'm still very glad the thing hadn't opened out into a real cavity before he caught it. A cavity that starts well inside the tooth to begin with wouldn't be any fun.

Maybe he'll let me go through this one with no needle, too. I hope I hope I hope. Everyone please beam some "let her do it!" energy at Dr. Frost of Palo Alto on January 30. :-)

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, to make sense of that you'd need to know that

a) things most people consider pain don't TOUCH the pain I've lived with since menarche (diagnosed at age 36, this turned out to be nerve compression, perhaps even a bit like tooth drilling now that I think of it)
b) I HATE NEEDLES! HATE HATE HATE AIIIIIEEEEEE.

Plus, I suspect that first cavity wasn't THAT deep. Oh, I felt it; no question about that. But it was pain with no capital letters. It wasn't PAIN in all caps. (I don't know if that makes any sense.) So it's quite possible that if this one is deeper, I won't get through this one without bailing out and submitting to the NEEDLE AIIIIEEEEEE.

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

Wow. What a completely awful way to get de-sensitized to pain. I'm so sorry!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's under control now, and has been for over a year. Maybe my super-studly anti-pain armor has faded away. That wouldn't be so bad, I guess! A good trade! :-)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Super-studly anti-pain armor never fades. It becomes less flexible, so each new pain is VERY different. But the pains you built it for? Hah! Take that!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Woohoo! PERMANENT super-studly anti-pain armor!

[ambar.livejournal.com]

If it's any comfort, my periodontist's anaesthesiologist (she used to teach at UCSF's dental school) insists that there is NO NEED for ANYTHING to hurt. So she swabs a numbing agent onto the gum while I hum "tra la la, no needles, tra la la" and I keep my eyes closed and nothing happens at all. I recommend it. Assuming, of course, it's necessary. :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

For me, it's the idea of the needle, or even (one physician type mentioned this once) the physical presence of the needle, causing basically shock. I don't care that the needle stings. It's that it's a NEEEEEEEDLE.

Oddly enough, pins are okay. I don't get woozy and fall down if someone offers to (or does, heck, I did this in grade school) stick me with a pin. But a NEEEEEEEDLE... yeah, I'll be on the floor over here *thud*.

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Maybe some reconditioning is in order. It's just a hollow pin, right?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I suspect something of the sort might work. It would have to be something more than just "thinking the problem away", 'cause I've tried that. Maybe hypnosis.

[airporter.livejournal.com]

You could carry around an empty needle, and poke yourself. I can see it now.

(FYI: very unusual energy today; read my post about my boss. *grin*)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that one. Did you actually say that reply of yours??

[airporter.livejournal.com]

I did.

The worst part of it is that I don't expect him to be at all considerate or respectful of others.

What's changed? I simply don't have the energy to put out explaining why he's an ass to him anymore, so I just let him know as politely as I can, and walk away.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Anything else would, as you imply, be a waste of your energy -- after all, he's not going to learn.

[oddhack.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily "just a hollow tube". There can be a physiological reaction to needles resulting in blood pressure drops. I fainted once while having blood drawn, have become nauseous and close to passing out a couple of other times, and caused a great deal of excitement and solicitousness among the lab techs by explaining this might happen so I'd like to lie down first, ThankYouVeryMuch, on most other occasions involving injections or bloodwork.

Interestingly this problem doesn't happen with dental needles though, just in the arm. For me.

I avoided dentists for many years after traumatic childhood experiences with Dr. Mengele^H^H^H^H^H^H^HYaros, so when I finally went back was relieved to learn that they use topical anaesthetics on the gum now, making the injection itself literally painless.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

There can be a physiological reaction to needles resulting in blood pressure drops.

This must be what that one doctor of mine mentioned. I, too, have the nausea and the close-to-passing-out and have on occasion fainted. Like you, I now ask to lie down first. Most lab techs are very happy to have me lie down BEFORE passing out. :-)

[oddhack.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I even get free apple juice afterwards!