The dentist

[metalspinner]

Just got back from the dentist. :(
I have not had real dental work done since I was a kid.  Just cleanings and such.  That all ended today.  Still,  it was just a crown, but I don't like the feeling of being poked around on.  Things have certainly changed over the years at the dentist office.  My dentist has 32" flat screen TV's on the ceiling above each chair for you to watch during the procedure. :D  That makes the waiting times for castings and such pass pretty quickly.  The tools are the coolest things.  I think I could have been happy being a dentist... what with all the neat gadgets and such to work with each day.  Of course, the dental hygenist and assistants do most of the work.  They are nicer to look at than the dentist anyway. 
I had to decide which kind of tooth I wanted..gold or porcelain.  Seeing all those nut jobs on TV with their  custom "grills" made me think twice about anything but regular tooth color.  My lip feels like I've gone a couple of rounds in a bar fight.  No trumpet playing this morning. :D

[asy]

Aaaah dentists...  Another necessary evil...  (sorry to any dentists on the FF...)

Our dentist is like a 5* resort. They know who you are as you walk in the door, which I found a little freaky until I realised they have your photo on the screen attached to your file! They bring you coffee, have current magazines, etc...

BUT...

I had trouble with one of my molars a couple of years ago, so the dentist recommended I have Root Canal treatment. So I asked her for a quote. I said "Tell me what this is going to cost, from Go to Whoa, don't leave ANYTHING out as I have to make sure I can afford it, otherwise I'll have the tooth pulled.".

Of course she recommended against having the tooth pulled, but, I stood my ground, I wanted a quote first.

So, the quote came back at around $800 if the tooth had 3 roots, $1000 if it had four. You guessed it, there were 4. So...  After some soul (and bank) searching, I decided to have the job done to preserve my tooth.

Before starting, I asked again. Is the TOTAL cost of this whole thing going to be no more than $1000? She said No, not more than $1000. I said, "So, after that, I'll have a tooth that should last forever and never get another abscess, assuming the filling stays OK?" She said "yes, but today we're putting a temporary filling in until it settles down, then we'll put another, more permanent, filling in in a couple of weeks, but that's included in that cost".

OK, says I.

Well, the procedures done. Very comfortably, my choice of CD on the headphones, great photos on the ceiling to look at, etc.

After it's finished. I go home. Come back in a couple of weeks for the new filling. That's done, I get out of the chair, then the Dentist says "Now we'll need to organise some appointments for the crown".

Um WHAT crown?

she says, "Well, with a molar, after root canal treatment you'll need a crown otherwise the tooth may split.

How MUCH is THAT? I ask, terrified.

"About $1200" says the Dentist...

I said "Did you not know this before we started? Was there some surprise during the procedure that made it then necessary for the crown?"

She said "No, we always do a crown after a root canal".

I said "Um...  What was it about my asking you for the FULL Cost of the procedure you didn't understand?"

She said "Oh, I didn't realise you wanted this cost too".

NOT a happy asy.

Needless to say, I've still got the 'temporary' filling, now 2 years later. I'm so cross I don't want to see another dentist again.

<end rant>   :-\

I hope this is your last procedure for a long time, too, MS. Hey, you shoulda spun yourself a cool tooth! hehe

asy.

[metalspinner]

The shot is just about wearing off and HOLY HORSEHOCKEYPUCKS! this hurts.  

Sorry about the "Mixup" there Asy. That adds just another level of pain and frustration to the visit. From a business stand point, dentists have major obsticles to get over to lure in new patients.  Your sort of "service" does not help their overall cause. :-\ 
I know people that are scared to death of going to the dentist...so, they don't.  Like you said, it's a neccesary evil.  Some things are so much easier to take care of right away than to wait.  Luckily, I caught this issue before it came down to needing a root canal.

[pigman]

I went to my dentist last Thursday with a tooth ache. The tooth doesn't hurt anymore, but the hole left in my jaw bone sure is hurting today. I thinking I may be getting a "dry socket". :( My seventy year old dentist does not have any fancy TVs or headphones, but he still charges like the dollar is still worth something.

[Beweller]

Somewhere like 10-15 years ago I had a root canal done.  I calculated the cost as eleven dollars a minute, timed from when I left my car in the parking lot till I returned to the car.

It was not comfortable.

[thecfarm]

Growing up we never had money for a dentist.I had 3-4 teeth pulled when they was brothering me in my 20's.Now I'm in the save them mode.Had 3 root canals done so far.Had one done and than had 2 done the same time.I feel asleep on them the second time I had the root canals.Find a good dentist.Tell THEM what you expect from THEM.I almost walked out on one dentist that I will never go back to.I really have 2 dentists and like them both.One does only the easy stuff.No more root canals for him.I have to go to another for that.But I don't mind,they listen to me and realize I am a big wimp and we get along fine.  ;D   

[Ironwood]

Customer of mine is a dentist in Jersey,  tell about an aching tooth, look in and says "you'll need a root canal". Gives me all the details to ask my dentist 250 miles away back home. Finally he says "let me do it, I am really good" so, next trip east I shack up at the Hotel De Ford (my truck/ trailer in his parking lot) and 8 am I get my first root canal. No pain meds/ novacaine. Straight up goes at it and a little pinch is all I feel as he removes the nerves, says this way you know you have gotten all the dead nerve/ root out and it wont absess. All done in an hour and a half, then he throws in one of those movie star teeth whitenings, HOLY COW that is more painful than the root canal, now my teeth are great AND I look like a movie star. He was good! and the price was,.....not much (he gets lots of furniture at cost). Thank godness, I saw what it should have cost make my head roll!! Wifey and I have joke around these parts, we can barter for anything (had a guy offer burial plots for my ole dump truck once!!). Fun horse trading (I try not to smile though, my teeth look EXPENSIVE) but I don't smile until the deal is sealed.  :

          Ironwood

[Corley5]

I go for a cleaning every 4 months and haven't needed a filling in 5 or 6 years.  It helps to have dental coverage  ;)   I didn't go for 7 years and when I finally did it required two visits to get them scraped clean.  I'm all for preventive maintenance  ;D ;D

[asy]

I know people that are scared to death of going to the dentist...so, they don't.

I'm not scared of the dentist, or their drill, or their injections, just the bit of paper they give you at the end.

That scares me silly!

asy :D

[Dave Shepard]

I was brought up to be scared of the doctors and dentists, and am now paying the price. >:( >:( Really nothing to it, 'cept paying for it.


Dave

[SwampDonkey]

I go for a cleaning every 4 months and haven't needed a filling in 5 or 6 years.  It helps to have dental coverage  ;)   I didn't go for 7 years and when I finally did it required two visits to get them scraped clean.  I'm all for preventive maintenance  ;D ;D

Dental cleaning here is actually pretty cheap. It would cost more for the insurance than the $65 bill from the dentist every 6 months.  :D

[ely]

i never did go to a dentist when i was a kid, did take several beatings to brush my teeth though. i guess it payed off. all through school i laughed at kids that said they had a tooth ache. when i was 22 i had a few problems in my mouth. wound up being wisdom teeth the lower ones, abcessed. that was a bad deal for me. went to the dentist for the first time at 22, she just as well called me a liar. i convinced her that was true when she said i needed both teeth removed and i told her just pull them out and we will be on our way.

she thought i was funny, she made me take anti biot. for a week and come back to pull the first one. was in the chair about 2 minutes. the lady weighed about 93 pounds and i figured she would have some large guy come pull the tooth. she came in mashed around the tooth a couple times and reached in with a cool little set of pliers and slipped it right out. no fuss no muss.

i thought now that was very nice, the next week was a different story. i went in the chair and they gave me the shots and then grabbed the tooth and it hurt like whatever. they gave more shots and wound up breaking the tooth in 4 parts to get it out. took awhile but they were through.
fast forward 10 years to my next visit to a dentist. she, another she. tells me i was lying when i told her i had only been to one other dentist in my life. i confessed i told her i had been three visits to get the two teeth pulled. but now my top wisdom teeth had started to bother my lower jaw since they were getting longer with nothing to grind against. she told me all that. i told her that i knew that because i had to constantly file the teeth down so they would not hurt my jaw.

she looked and told me i had done a hack job. i informed her that i did not have all the cool little tools that she had at her disposal. i had used a double cut flat mill bastard, six inch. that got a few odd stares from the assistants in the office ;D. any how the top ones came out farily easy and i have went regular to the dentist until about 2 years ago when i quit going.  i realy need to find me another one that takes my insurance. i am like the other person who believes in preventative care. i have not always been that way.

[SwampDonkey]

I was told by dentists that I was not going to have any wisdom teeth. I forget how much time passed now, but I have all 4 and no troubles. I figure about all fillings I ever had were because of quack dentists wanting to pad their accounts. I never had a tooth ache in my life, I even had to have teeth removed because of crowding, then had braces for over bite. That was suppose to be a couple years and I think it ended up being over 3.  :  It all ended when my grand mother tossed my molded retainer type thingy into the stove. Most sensible woman that lived. :D :D

[Bibbyman]

The other day I told my dad I'd been to the dentist to get a filling replaced.   He asked how many teeth I still had.  He was a little amazed when I told him I'd only lost two (both molars on the left and right bottom).  He and mom had dentures by the time they were in their mid-thirties. 

When I was a kid, one of my aunts came with her car load of brats (er...cousins) to visit.  She'd been to the dentist a couple of days before and had all her remaining teeth pulled and dentures installed right out the chair.  I've never heard of such a thing before or after – of pulling a bunch of teeth and then slapping in dentures.  Anyway,  she looked something awful with her face all black and swollen.  And she was in obvious pain.  She was supposed to take them out after then next day or something but her face was swollen too bad and she couldn't.  But she got to yelling at the kids and they flew out!   

[WH_Conley]

When I went to my dentist there was  woman in the next room/ stile to me in great pain. She came to get her teeth out, doc wouldn't do it. Turns out she had some problems that he had sent her to a surgeon to pull the teeth. Instead she went to a pull'em an plant'm office. 

[RSteiner]

Metalspinner

I feel the pain of what you speak of, this morning I spent 45 minutes in the "chair".  That small period of time cost me $1,200.00 and four teeth.  Now that the kids are on their own I thought I could afford to get some dental work done which I sacrificed so I could have their teeth taken care of.

I must admit I took the cowardly route and had the oral surgeon put me fast asleep.  It was over before I knew it, however I know it now.   

I couldn't do that for a living knowing how much it hurts the patient.

Randy

[SwampDonkey]

They like causing pain.  ;D :D

[beenthere]

If ya wanna make 'em real nervous, just tell them you don't want any of that novacaine.... ;D ;D ;D

[logwalker]

My father had all his teeth pulled without 'caine. The dentist did not like doing it but
Dad convinced him to do it. He was a tough ol' codger. Joe

[Ron Scott]

Very Very tough, I'd say.

[sawdust]

I had a dentist that was/is a perfectionist. I greatly admire his skill. I quit going to him because of his prices and one little episode!
Lidocaine is an excellent local anesthetic and also a strong cardiac drug. Over a number of hours I was given 9 carpules... After the chair was righted I had so little blood pressure I could not get up, my heart rate was soooo slow.
He managed to give e a black eye from the inside once as well.

I read that dentists have the highest suicide rate of any profession! Apparently people don't like them.