Surprise! You're getting a filling today!

[Dave1982]

Last week I had my teeth cleaned, and when the dentist came in to look at my bite wing x-rays she saw a spot on #15 (last molar on the top left) that she didn't like. She poked at it with one of those scraping tools and blew air across it but I felt no discomfort. She said it could be a cavity or it could be a weak spot, but that I'd need to come back in so they could examine it more closely.

So I came back in this morning (and they were already 20 minutes behind, so I had to wait). When I got into the exam room and the dentist came in, she said I was getting a filling!

Hold on, I objected. I thought you said that the x-rays were inconclusive and this appointment was just to take a closer look at that area?

Well, as it turns out, there was definitely a cavity on #15 on the surface between teeth (floss floss floss!) and that she had been uncertain whether or not the decay was starting to spread to #14 where the two teeth touch.

Um.....ok, but that was definitely NOT what I had been told last week.

Anyway, she drilled out the cavity on 15, which let her see that the damage to #14 was only in the enamel layer, so it technically wasn't a cavity, and that it could go without any work, but I'd ned to use a fluoride rinse and religiously floss that area daily to see if it would reverse itself and heal up.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a masochist, I asked her if it would be more worthwhile to just fill the damaged area. After all, I was already there, I was already numbed up, and everything was ready to go. After a brief discussion, I opted to just fix it so I wouldn't have to do this all over again in six months should the area NOT heal up. So I ended up with two fillings instead of one.

Getting fillings doesn't bother me too much. Obviously I'd rather avoid them, but between the dentist and orthodontist I'd had a lifetime worth of visits by the time I was 12 (my mouth used to be AFU; teeth were too large for my mouth. Had to have a bunch pulled and then get braces to marshall the rest into position), so I overcame my fear of the dentist a LONG time ago. Honestly, a filling is a walk in the park compared to some of the other stuff I've had done. But it really would have been nice to know that I was going in for a filling today, rather than having it be a surprise.

[sarasquirrel]

ugh i havent been to the dentist in like a year and a half (didnt have insurance the first half of last year)

i dont wanna go :/

gotta make an appointment first though haha

[Sableonblonde]

I've never heard of them doing that, everytime I've had to have a filing put in (of which there were many) it's always been a separate appointment.

I'm very annoyed at my dentist office though. I went for my first cleaning in three years back around last July, since I finally had dental insurance. The dentist happened to be out sick that day, but the hygenist did my cleaning and took my x-rays and said she would show them to the dentist when he came back into the office, and if I needed any work done, they'd call me.

Weeks go by and I don't hear anything, and I was overjoyed not to have had any cavities, especially after several years. Hooray! Then I go back in January for my next sixth month check-up, and the dentist, FOR THE FIRST TIME, looks at the x-rays that were taken back in July. And lo and behold, I have two cavities, pretty bad ones actually. Why do six months go by before he looked at my x-rays? I was steamed about that.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I went in for a crown a while back and ended up with another filling as well. Luckily it was on the same side, and small, or I would have had to come back a different day (and the crown already requires two visits). He won't numb your whole mouth at once so if you need work on both sides he'll make you come back.

[Exaspera]

I have never really minded the fillings or the crowns, it's the numbness that takes all day to go away.

[Andara Bledin]

I have never really minded the fillings or the crowns, it's the numbness that takes all day to go away.

Hey, be thankful you don't have the opposite problem.

In my case, if they can't finish up in half an hour, I start feeling what they're doing.

I've had several fillings, and they've always resulted in the tooth proceeding to pretty much fall apart.

^-.-^

[Magpie]

I find that it doesn't take that long for feeling to come back where they gave me the shot (ow ow ow), but I still don't get proper control of my mouth for a couple of hours. Worst of both.

[Dave1982]

I've never heard of them doing that, everytime I've had to have a filing put in (of which there were many) it's always been a separate appointment.

It was. I had the cleaning last week, and the appointment yesterday was for the filling, though I didnt' know it until I got there.

And speaking of dentists who can't communicate properly, the first cavity I ever had (in a baby tooth when I was about 6), the hygienist told me about it but assured me that it was small and not a big deal and it wouldn't be a big deal. Then the dentist came in (this was a different dentist, of course) and goes "WA-HO!!! Look at the size of that one!" Then he says it's a very big cavity and that I needed a crown on that tooth. They had to have my mother come in from the waiting room after that because I was.........not a happy camper. This guy obviously didn't know how to deal with kids properly.

[Summerfly413]

I hate the dentist so much. I went to the orthodontist once so he could check my teeth to determine which ones I needed pulled as they didn't actually pull out teeth there. But one of my teeth was quite loose, and he just yanked it out without any warning! Didn't hurt, but I wasn't happy.

Another time at an actual dentist I went to for a tooth cleaning, they found a baby cavity and had me get a filling right then. It was really shallow though, so I didn't need to be numbed or anything, but I wasn't happy about it.