Dentists...

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Ugh, dentists. Hate visiting them with a burning passion.

 

Dentists... you've struck a chord there.

I hate them with a burning passion. I hate them so bad I've banned them - I actually haven't been at the dentist for four years. The only thought of being stuck visiting one motivates me to take as good care of my teeth as possible.

Gah, I hate those fetchers...

 

My dentist is schizo, I swear...

"You're teeth are bad, come back in a month."
"You're teeth are really good! Nothing needs doing."

Alongside that she poked me in the jaw
"Does that hurt?"
"Yech"
*pokes harder*
*CRACK*

She dislocated my jaw, I thought it was frightfully rude

 

Aw - that's terrible Barmy. At uni if we let our patient see anything, be it an explorer (hook like thing) or a scaler (used to scrape calculus off of teeth) its like an instant fail. We've also been told that letting anyone see the local anesthetic needle is about 100 times worse, so I can only imagine what effect that would have on marks.
If it makes anyone feel better the needle is very thin, a good 2/3 of the length is the handle/syringe mechanism (this allows a higher level of precision for the dentist) and the amount of training involved is horrendous - we're talking intimate knowledge of every artery, vein, nerve, gland, lymph node, muscle, bone and duct in the head and neck as well as a tonne of obscure stuff such as the genito-urinary tract, the entire gastrointestinal tract, the workings of the heart etc.

@T2Bruno and Aldazar - when only part of the tooth comes out during an extraction, the bit left in is said to be "separated"....which I reckon has to be the euphamism of the century

@Blog - yeah dentists tend to get commissions for ortho referals, though unless its something pretty major (ie impacting on eating, swallowing etc) the only real issues are aesthetics and having to brush a bit more carefully (as crooked teeth may make it hard to access some areas with the ol brush).

a few kind of on-topic videos:
The dentist song from the Little shop of horrors - A very sadistic and muscialy inclined dentist
Oral B Ad road test - A clip from the Australian show The Chasers War on Everything testing the claims of Oral B
Mr Bean Visits the Dentist Part 1 and Part 2

[Edit] I reckon I'm gonna have to adopt a new psuedonymn before I graduate, because it looks like 1/2 the board is gonna hate me

 

Don't like them at all. Period.
Last 3 times I've had an appointment at the free(city supplied I think) dentist they've refused to give me painkillers on grounds that "we don't think it hurts so much that it warrants them"...

The last time I went, and never will go again, there, I phoned them days in advance about the painkillers and they agreed to give them to me.

When I arrived they claimed that I had to have talked to someone else as no painkillers were available. Pissed me off...

 

I had to get braces when I was around 10-11. Had to get 3-4 milk teeth extracted, to let the permanent ones grow out first before the braces could be fitted. I've had my share of needles in my mouth, big pliers going in, clamping around the tooth, the whole rock rock rock SNAP feeling..

But thankfully, I've never met a bad dentist. The one who did my braces was patient and professional throughout, and my current one (I just chose a dental clinic near my place and just walked in) is pretty good too.

I seriously recommend everyone to visit your dentist at least twice a year, even if you're afraid/think it costs too much/insert reason here. You can always find another dentist that's better, money can be earned, but your teeth can't be replaced. Well okay there's false teeth but they're just not as good as the real thing now, are they?

I really regret a period of my youth now where I stopped brushing my teeth at night (only in the morning), and I ended up with 7 cavities. I haven't had one for over 10 years now, and when I think that I could have had a set of perfect teeth..

So.. don't hate your dentist! They're there to help you! (Well, most of them anyway )

 

Implant supported dentures are theoretically supposed to be associated with no loss of masticatory (chewing) potential, but in practice those people still tend to have deficiencies in dietary fibre (which is generally hard to chew). So yeah, look after your own teeth because getting fillings is expensive, and fillings tend to need replacement every so-often (~70% of all fillings are done over previous ones).

 

Implants are a time and money consuming process as well. I made sure to go to good doctors, which made the cost of mine around th $4500 mark, and that was only for one tooth!
Dentures would require extensive surgery on the underlying bone due to the formation of my pallette, so implants are the way I'm going to go.

Due to a birth defect, good tooth hygeine will still only delay the inevitable loss. I am the only person my dentist has known that has gotten cavities, but not had plaque deposits at the time of the exam.

 

Stu: I've had my fillings replaced a few times because they got worn out.. When you say they were done over the previous ones, did your dentist at least drill out the worn-out filling first before putting in new ones? If not, perhaps it's time for a switch of dentist!

 

Yeah, thats what I meant - the previous filling always needs to be removed. Note that this will result in further loss of tooth structure each time it occurs; the best option is not to require a filling in the first place.
And Strife, This year I've switched dentists on quite literally a weekly basis

 

Stu: How sure are you about the whole losing more tooth structure each time a filling has to be replaced? Damn.. maybe after 10-20 years I'll need to get those teeth extracted and get implants.

Care to share as to why you've been unlucky enough to have to keep switching dentists?

 

I'm studying it, and we change partners each weekly clinic session (nothing serious, just charting, fluoride treatments, rubber dam etc...we get to do local anaesthetics on each other next year though, which should be.....interesting)

Well typically dental materials are designed to stick only to crystaline structure of enamel, not other dental materials, hence all of the old dental material needs to be removed. Since your average dentist is only human some tooth structure is inevitably removed during this process. If there is some decay underlying the old material this will also need to be removed. Finally many dental materials are able to flow into pits that are smaller than the drill-bit or even between the enamel crystals (i.e. BIS-GMA products) - the full depth of the previous material must be excavated before the new material is placed to ensure optimum retention.

 

Interesting.. so in your opinion, what is the best, long-lasting filling I can ask my dentist for?

 

I'm really not qualified to say (I've just completed first year), but the general consensus seems to be that amalgams are pretty alright (they're generally one of the cheaper options, they're proven to be safe, relatively easy for the practitioner to place and can be placed in a single visit). Other types (eg porcelain crowns, composite resins etc) are more aesthetically pleasing, but this is usually only an issue for front teeth (usually people don't take photos of the back of people throats). It does of course come down to the individual - so people may not like the idea of having metalic stuff in their mouth, even if it isn't generally visable. So yeah, talk to your dentist about it and consider what you want for yourself.

 

I had an appointment this monday.

After a 20 minute wait in the most uncomfortable chair I ever sat in I was almost glad to get in the comfy dentist chair. Of course he checked my teeth for about 20 seconds and told me to get the hell out. He hasn't been making much money of me in the last 2 decades

 

Stu: Thanks, I do use a composite filling for even my molars, I'm just one of those people who hate having something metaliic in their teeth.

Apeman: Don't you get him to at least give you a cleanup and polish at least?

 

Unless you have a lot of calculus ('tartar') build up the whole cleaning thing isn't really required (of course that doesn't stop a lot of dentists recommending it).
Polishing removes extrinsic (on the outside) stains, which unless you notice them yourself, aren't really that much of an issue.

 

I suppose it's because I only floss semi-regularly, so I always ask my dentist for a clean as well.

And well.. polishing isn't that expensive, and who doesn't want a nice set of pearly whites?

 

@Strife

Nope, why would I need a clean-up when everything is A-ok. I brush twice a day, had fluor when I was a kid and now I get the same message everytime I got to the dentist; they look great, now get out of here. I don't need to be there longer then need be now.

 

Guess it's just me then, I always insist on a clean and a polish even if my dentist says everything is fine. Better safe than sorry I say.. you can always earn more money, but you can't grow more teeth