I had all four out under local anesthetic. In retrospect, I kinda wish I hadn’t, as it is resulting in some spacing between my other teeth. I had no problems at all with my molars but I did have good (100%) insurance. At $600 (about $17,000 NT) Canadian EACH (and this is almost a couple decades ago), there was certainly some money to be made. That rather large dentists office turned out to be notorious for doing unnecessary work (they were later investigated due to several complaints- none from me, although a friend with perfect teeth was told she needed 11 fillings! The dentist she went to for a second opinion filed a complaint to the College of Dentists or whatever it is called. At the time , they were dealing with some guy who put patients under general and then had sex with them. Needless to say, the complaints from people like her took quite awhile for them to get to.)
I got diazepam beforehand to help relax me (take note, Sulavaca! might be an idea even if you are going for the general. Ask first, though.), nitrous oxide gas (I breathed in heavily and frequently), local anesthetic shots, and lots of codeine afterwards. The drug combination was awful (although it did get me through it). Certainly has given me a healthy fear of prescription med overuse.
Fast forward to Taiwan. My first dentist experience here, I was told I needed 3-4 crowns over the next couple years. One was quite urgent, though, and I should get it done as soon as possible. The others could wait a year or two or be monitored. So I made the appointment to come back for the urgent one. A bit anxious, but dealing with it. Sat in the chair, bibbed up. Waited (as usual here) for the dentist, who upon showing up asked me which tooth I wanted him to work on. I left.
(got a nice inlay done on it later at Boston dental near SunYatSen MRT station - his English is good, and he is trained at Harvard or some such place out East- more easterer than even Hualien)
[quote=“sulavaca”]I’m so envious of CastleBravo. I laid in bed last night recollecting the absolute torture I went under in the dentist’s chair yesterday and I couldn’t sleep for the longest time, tensing up and freaking out again. A slightly overlapped dose of painkillers got me off in the end though.
Next time I think I’ll trust my own instincts which I seem to ignore way too often and I’ll insist that I don’t have any more crappy local anaesthetics any more. I just knew it was going to be a problem yesterday but I told myself not to worry.[/quote]
You should have read my story first my friend. Can only say I can relate with your pain.
I thought it was the other end that was important that it was clean
And I can’t believe that Mr Sandman is afraid of the dentist, bah, humbug, that’s just not on, I thought you were a true Scot with hair on your arse and all that… [/quote]
I’ve got no problem with a dentist shaving my arse hair, or even plucking out – well, maybe not plucking – its when he’s working at the other end I get scared.
Last night was a bit of a nightmare. Jamming those wee screw thingys down inot the end of the root canal and pulling out the gunk and nerve and stuff. Horrible. Horrible.
They did what??!!??
I’d be scared if they did that as well. When I had my root canal done (caused by another dentist drilling too deep in a tooth), the dentist just drilled it out, got some tweezers and picked all the bits out, it was quicker than I expected. What freaked me out was when he filled it up, as he put some stuff in there and then burnt it and I had smoke coming out of my mouth!
So can someone give me a rundown on things to prepare for and things to avoid before this general and four teeth extraction I will have on the 22nd?
What was that anti bruising agent someone mentioned? Are there any specific foods I should avoid or should eat more of before hand? I imagine I’ll suffer some sort of weight loss after the episode due to non solids for a few days. Should I bulk up ahead of time perhaps? What’s a good liquid dinner, breakfast and lunch I can find around here, or prepare for myself.
And although this pain is somewhat subsiding now (I’m off the painkillers already, although they were fun), is there more or less pain to be expected from actually having the tooth successfully extracted and the gum stitched up?
I’m also interested seeing as I obviously have a resistance to local anaesthesia being effective, would this mean I’ll wake up during a general or something silly like that? Should I be wary of the staff’s ability to anaesthetise me properly being a whitey? I know these may seem like dumb questions, but I am truly scared after the last encounter. I’m already off the booze until after everything has been done, but will my abstinence have an affect on the success or effect of the anaesthetic?
In the meantime, consider meditating or listening to your most relaxing/favourite music/book/massage/whatever helps you mellow out as much as possible.
For liquid diet, I recommend the banana milkshakes at KGB. They are damn good! (maybe throw some protein powder in). Or make your own. Frozen blueberries at Costco are great in milkshakes (bananas, milk, protein powder or egg, if you can stomach it). Also, um, a dark coloured towel on your pillow (if it is a nice one) in case you have some post op bleeding, as I did. (Not a big deal really, but the drugs made it a bit of a bad trip.)
Take it easy and be kind to yourself. I so relate to your trepidation.
Oh yes, the pillow trick is a good idea, as you’ll bleed pretty bad for the first 12-24h depending on how deep they have to dig…
I was eating pain killers like sweets for the first couple of days, but they, I guess that’s the upside
I had three wisdom teeth out at once a while back (in the US) with no problem - just went it, got the novocaine, and the dentist pulled them out. It took like 20 minutes. Then I got to drink milkshakes. They’d been fully grown in for years though, which I imagine makes a big difference. The only reason I got them pulled was because they’re really hard to clean properly and were developing rather large holes in them.
I’ve been pretty impressed with my Taiwan dentist so far. I’ve had two root canals, a crown, and some fillings and they’ve been pain-free and very efficient. My only complaint is with the cleaning - they used some drill-like scraper thing to clean my teeth and it really seems like they took some enamel off along with the plaque. I swear my teeth are now a difference color, and they just feel thinner. Plus my gums were bleeding for hours - bled all over my pillow that night, which was very annoying…
I left.
