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A friend of mine (orin2) was discussing dentistry in his journal. Had a theory about how they must be sadists. Someone said she liked going to the dentist. Wow, I don't get it. Why don't I like 'em?
My anti-dentist-ness started at age 16. I needed a wisdom tooth removed (just one; it was coming in wrong). The dentist wouldn't believe me that the novacaine wasn't working (I'm pretty much immune to it), and turned off the gas because I was inhaling too much... in my panic and pain! Things got worse: my tooth broke as he was removing it (I've since learned that my molars have curved roots, so they're tough to remove without damaging jawbone and breaking off root bits), so he had to basically hammer it out using this medieval torture device with a weight and spring-loaded chisel end. He knelt on my chest and held my head down with one hand while bashing away at my jaw with the other. The nurse kept my hands down. The pain meds didn't work. At least an hour went by. FUCKING NIGHTMARE. I still get all tense and sweaty thinking about it. That was, what, two decades ago? Remember that scene in "Alias" where Sidney gets her teeth yanked by the evil dentist-guy? Yeah. Like that. Blood everywhere for hours afterward.
I wouldn't go to a dentist for something like a decade after that. When I did, I found a nice doctor, but he gave me a pain pill that had the side-effect of inducing panic... this in a guy who wasn't real comfortable already. So there I was all alone (waiting for the pill to kick in) in the torture chamber -- I mean dentist's chair -- and suddenly my heart is racing, tunnel-ish vision ensues, and so on. GAWD.
Another experience: "Oh, you won't need pain medication for this. I only need to cut a small groove down the center of the tooth. You won't feel more than a little pressure." Later: "Oops, looks like we'll have to drill a bit deeper. But it'll be quick, no need for meds."
Yes, I do believe dentists choose their profession for wont of torturing people.
Chris
My anti-dentist-ness started at age 16. I needed a wisdom tooth removed (just one; it was coming in wrong). The dentist wouldn't believe me that the novacaine wasn't working (I'm pretty much immune to it), and turned off the gas because I was inhaling too much... in my panic and pain! Things got worse: my tooth broke as he was removing it (I've since learned that my molars have curved roots, so they're tough to remove without damaging jawbone and breaking off root bits), so he had to basically hammer it out using this medieval torture device with a weight and spring-loaded chisel end. He knelt on my chest and held my head down with one hand while bashing away at my jaw with the other. The nurse kept my hands down. The pain meds didn't work. At least an hour went by. FUCKING NIGHTMARE. I still get all tense and sweaty thinking about it. That was, what, two decades ago? Remember that scene in "Alias" where Sidney gets her teeth yanked by the evil dentist-guy? Yeah. Like that. Blood everywhere for hours afterward.
I wouldn't go to a dentist for something like a decade after that. When I did, I found a nice doctor, but he gave me a pain pill that had the side-effect of inducing panic... this in a guy who wasn't real comfortable already. So there I was all alone (waiting for the pill to kick in) in the torture chamber -- I mean dentist's chair -- and suddenly my heart is racing, tunnel-ish vision ensues, and so on. GAWD.
Another experience: "Oh, you won't need pain medication for this. I only need to cut a small groove down the center of the tooth. You won't feel more than a little pressure." Later: "Oops, looks like we'll have to drill a bit deeper. But it'll be quick, no need for meds."
Yes, I do believe dentists choose their profession for wont of torturing people.
Chris
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From:
no subject
From:
"The Marathon Man"
Chris
From:
no subject
Seriously, who picks a job where your whole profession is causing other people pain? Under the guise of "helping" them of course.
From:
sadists
Right -- if you're a sadist but also want to use your powers for good, dentistry seems the right way to go. I wouldn't be surprised if the nicest doctors -- those who offer an abundance of pain-killers -- are the most serious sadists, because they can do terrible things without the patient even noticing.
>chills<
Chris
From:
Re: sadists
*grin*
From:
no subject
I did have oral surgery and orthodontics, and I think that more than makes up for it. Personally, I avoid dentists, because I don't like the dental hygienists. That's torture for me - small pointy metal things scraping on my gums and making them bleed.
From:
pointy things
Chris
From:
no subject
I now have another good dentist that takes my fear seriously, numbs my mouth topically before even giving me "the shot" and works fast.
From:
good dentists
Of course, I haven't gone since getting to Lawrence. The Kung-Fu Dentist Master isn't here.
Chris
From:
no subject
Unless you've found someone you already like locally.
I never had a bad experience like yours, but I had two incompetent dentists in a row (for a total of 15 years or so), which has resulted in irreversible tooth and gum damage, necessitating that I will need orthodontics as an adult, or lose some of my teeth. Also resulted in a root canal on a tooth that could have been crowned years beforehand, if my previous dentist hadn't failed to listen to me say "My tooth hurts under this old filling" for two and a half years.
My new dentist is sweet and gentle, and trusts me when I call up and say "I've got a cavity forming, because my tooth hurts." I've never been wrong. I'm one of those people who feel a cavity as it is forming, before it's done massive damage. My current dentist *also* works with me with my numerous chemical sensitivities, and is exclusively mercury free in his practice. I now have a mercury-free mouth, and the good news about that is that not only have my sinus problems and migraines improved, but I'm getting fewer cavities since then, because the pH in my mouth has changed.
Yay.
From:
no subject
Sigh.
Chris
From:
no subject
From:
no subject