I need a miracle - off to the dentist

Well, I did it! I'm off to the dentist this afternoon for the preliminary look-see. I then have an appointment at Winz on Friday morning and another trip to the dentist to get whatever needs doing, done. I KNOW I have at least one hole, only because it hurts when I eat and drink. I have a fairly strong suspicion I have more that haven't got to the point of hurting yet.

Due to chronic anxiety I clench my teeth so by the end of the day my back teeth and gums hurt so I'm hoping something can be sorted in that area as well. I did have a bite plate but when you have your wisdom teeth out, everything sort of shifts slightly so it didn't fit after a while.

It's amazing how if you have a problem in one area, another, totally unrelated part can kick up a fuss. You get pain in your lower back, your neck hurts or you get headaches or something. I guess that's where those points on your hands and feet come in. If your having kidney or liver trouble, some part on your foot will hurt when it's pressed. I've seen those little credit card sized maps of feet and the points on them that relate to other parts of your body. Quite incredible.

The later in the day it gets today, the more I find I'm 'dragging the chain' I have a few things to get done between now and the dentist and I'm phutzing about not getting anything done. []

Wish me a miracle.

Yakut

Oooh good luck [] I also know I need a dentist visit, but am dreading it (and the cost [xx(]) as I am sure there are at least three fillings that are playing up.

I too used to grind my teeth and hated the bite plate I had with a vengeance, thank goodness whatever stress was causing that has now gone, as I used to wake hubby up with the graunching noise I made, not to mention damage to jaw [V].

If all else fails, intravenous sedative is one of life's little joys [}]. Will they pay for that too?

I would have thought you would need the miracle for the WINZ appointment not the dentist[}]

Good Luck Yakut, I will be thinking of you. i too have to go and see the dentist who i also have had a fear of since the days of the "Murder House" I have 2 wisdom teeth giving me some grief and also a hole and another back tooth playing up so its getting closer to the time something has to be done. My Dentist told me that I should go more regular and not wait 7/10 years like normal and then things would not be major by the time I get there. sounds good in theory but hey who willingly goes straight away.

I am serious about the IV sedation, by the way. Thanks to the Murder House at school and overuse of gum injections, I have a pathological fear of dental work. I stopped having the numbing injections into my gums a few years back when I involuntarily bit the dentist and he suggested better drugs []. It adds from memory about $130 to the bill, but you remember nothing about the work being done or the pain, you have no bruising from clenched jaws and lack of cooperation with instructions (fear on your part about the pain) and no dentists get injured in the course of their work [}]. Oh and did I mention the pretty kaleidescope of colours as you drift off?

Downside is that you need someone to pick you up from the dentist's as you are in lala-land for a while, during which time you tend to repeat yourself several dozen times, get stroppy with the receptionist as you think she hasn't given you the bill (she has but you have no memory retention ) and giggle a lot . So now I just apologise in advance for anything I might do under the influence.

Now that sounds the way to go lol

Yakut, for your clenching ( which you're right can cause all sorts of other problems) ask your dentist about the NTI splint. They are pretty uncommon in NZ at the moment - I use one and it is fantastic, its much smaller than a whole bite splint, it just fits over your 2 top front teeth. It's sorted out all sorts of problems for me.

One big hole, two small and the bite plate was going to cost in excess of $400 so I'm not getting one.

Next appointment, Friday, to get the work done.

Yakut

You did it! Well done! I should add that I am my dentist's worst nightmare because I will NOT have injections. He quietly (used) to say "it might be sensitive without it" and I just say "No it won't"... and it isn't. The power of the mind is a wonderful tool. For the miniscule seconds they get anywhere near a "tender" bit, I just concentrate on something else and it works.

After an injection, I can't bear drooling my drink ... water MM... and smiling while not sure whether my lips are sneering or grimacing. Any smart comments about no pain - no brain will get a smacking from me! Oops - not allowed. My youngest daughter is a No to injections as well but my oldest is more like a junkie...yelling as she goes in the door... I need a needle. Are you sure you heard? I want a needle NOW. Dentist "Would you mind if I have a look first?" Grin.

Hey you'll be fine and you just need to concentrate on how good you will feel when he is finished.

DiDi I have to agree with you plus I found I would chew at the side of my mouth and then drool blood ;( Then hurt more when injection wheres off.

Nah, I want total sensory deprivation! I'm going off on a wee trip[)] with Princess Valium before I go in, Kim is driving.
The receptionist said they would give me a couple of pills and I told her I had valium so she suggested I take a couple of them. They use numbing gel, then a needle. I won't eat afterwards, well not for a while anyway and if I dribble, I'll use a towel. I don't do pain at all and just the sound of that bloody dremel drill zizzing away sends my nerve endings into code red. Nah, EVERYONE involved will be much happier if I'm numbed mentally and physically.

I don't think the dentist wants fingernail marks in her dentist chair either []

I booked todays appointment last week, they made one for the quote and one for the 'job' and then I phoned Winz and made an appointment for any time between the two appointments.

It seems the amount has increased since I last had to go to Winz for this sort of thing. I'm allowed up to $500 and $250 has to be paid back... or somewhere close to that amount. I didn't ask, but I think it's something they only allow once a year, which is fine. I just hope I don't need anything else seeing to before the year is up.

I was asked if I wanted white fillings or silver. I wrote white on the form but then found out the white ones cost another $30 each so I changed it to silver (amalgum?) I've got a gob full already so three more won't make any difference. So much for walking in Julie Andrews footsteps on that score. She has no fillings at all and I was hoping to follow her example but got lost very early on at 'The Murder House'

Trouble was with that place was they went through the class using the roll. You knew who came before you on the roll because it was read out every morning. When that person tottered off to see the dental nurse, you knew their return meant you were next so you had all that time to dwell on the fact. No pain killers, nothing, just the whizz of the drill on your teeth as your entire body clenched into a knot in the seat, you tried to keep your tongue out of the way and you hoped like hell they didn't slip.

Ugh!

Yakut

I go to a dental hygenist twice a year, and haven't had a filling for years... the dentist pops in for a check up before I get the fluoride polish, and its cheaper too... although I am going to have to get some of my old amalgams taken out before moving permanently across the ditch, I am sure one of them must be leaking because I always seem to be able to taste metal.

God I hear you on the Murder House Yakut. They were WITCHES those women! I have never forgiven them!!!!!! Proper grown-up dentists can actually be quite nice people - they must go to a different training school.

Good on you for getting your teeth sorted.

Thanks everyone for your support.

My teeth were actually quite good, no snaggle teeth or anything and not chalky. If I had bothered to look after them (Pam Ayers poem comes to mind) ......

I put it down to sheer laziness. That and when I went through a really bad patch I was lucky to be able to get up and actually function on any level let alone brush my teeth. I mean, I did, but not as often as I should have.

I watched that '10 years younger' programme on TV last week and saw that poor womans teeth!!! They looked like thick matchsticks. She only had four in the front and one was grey and had to be removed.
Well.... it kind of wakes you up a bit when you see things like that.
By the time they'd finished with her, she was a completely different looking woman! Plastic surgery etc aside, they gave her a mouthfull of teeth which stopped her face caving in. The transformation was incredible! I think she was 54 and her average age was 59. When they took her back out after the work, she was averaged at 44.
She looked quite witch like to begin with and came out as quite a beautiful woman. Her friends and family were gobsmacked!

Yakut

Thanks everyone for your support.

My teeth were actually quite good, no snaggle teeth or anything and not chalky. If I had bothered to look after them (Pam Ayers poem comes to mind) ......

I put it down to sheer laziness. That and when I went through a really bad patch I was lucky to be able to get up and actually function on any level let alone brush my teeth. I mean, I did, but not as often as I should have.

I watched that '10 years younger' programme on TV last week and saw that poor womans teeth!!! They looked like thick matchsticks. She only had four in the front and one was grey and had to be removed.
Well.... it kind of wakes you up a bit when you see things like that.
By the time they'd finished with her, she was a completely different looking woman! Plastic surgery etc aside, they gave her a mouthfull of teeth which stopped her face caving in. The transformation was incredible! I think she was 54 and her average age was 59. When they took her back out after the work, she was averaged at 44.
She looked quite witch like to begin with and came out as quite a beautiful woman. Her friends and family were gobsmacked!

Yakut