I Hate the Dentist!

[PhotoChick]

So after years of not going to the dentist, I got a hole in back tooth. I went to see the dentist my dad uses. They were great, the assistant tried to help when my gag reflex acted up (read: she did the best she, and anyone else, could) and the dentist did a great job even though it took forever (not his fault).

So I set up a cleaning, 1:30 Christmas eve. Though it would be a great time, everyone's home so someone can watch the babies and its after lunch so I can feed them then leave.

Christmas eve comes, at about noon I get a phone call asking where I was. That the appointment was at 11:30. They ask the soonest I can be there, I tell them 1:30, my appointment time. They said that was too late and I'd have to make a new appointment. Appointment is set for Feb 5 (more than a month later).

So a few weeks later I'm cleaning up and I find the original appointment card it says 1:30. So they just wanted to go home early. I get that it's christmas eve but then don't make appointments if you don't wanna be there.

So today is my new appointment. At 3:30. A little after noon they called and said their hygienist was out sick and can we reschedule? For March something or other. Honestly I don't believe them. Why didn't they call this morning? Do they just wanna go home early again? I've found a new dentist.

[Kogarashi]

That sounds rather unprofessional. I doubt my mother-in-law would let that fly at my father-in-law's office.

To give the benefit of the doubt for the Christmas Eve one, perhaps the receptionist/scheduler person wrote down 11:30 when setting your appointment? I would show them the appointment card the next time you're in (if you still have it) to prove that you had the right time originally.

[Catwoman2965]

That would have pissed me off too! That's exactly why I stopped going to my dentist. I went to the same one for years, from the time I was about 4 until he retired when I was in my early 30's. I then continued with the guy who bought his practice, who was nice enough, and while it was 45 mins from my house, it was close to my parents.

Since it was a bit of a hike, I would try and schedule Sat appts for my cleanings and check ups. Then, at my appt, I'd make the next one, but either he was busy, or everyone and their brother wanted saturdays, so it was sometimes close to 7 months before I could make my next appt.

TWICE, about 2-3 months before my appt, I'd get a call saying "oh sorry, Dr. X won't be there that weekend, so we need to reschedule" Problem was, if I wanted a Sat, I'd have to wait ANOTHER 6-7 months from that time. Um no, if you cancel due to something on your end, then you should make the effort to get me in ON a Sat as close to my original appt, not say, sorry, we don't have any.

I then went to someone else, who I really didn't like, but fortunately found someone through a co-worker who I adore! He's SO accomodating, as well as really good with chickens like me!

My advice to you would be ask around and see who really likes their dentist...

[Trayol]

My first dentist used to be a good person, until on one occasion he claimed that I had 5 cavities starting and my sister had 6. My mom wanted a second opinion and took us to see another dentist.

He was very professional in not calling the first dentist a scamming liar, but did say that he couldn't find the cavity depressions in our teeth that our first dentist "found". We never went back to the first dentist and continued to see the second dentist.

[scruff]

My old dentist stuck a filling in one of my teeth.
It fell out in the car on the way home. I kept quiet, to see what would happen next check-up.

Next check-up, the following year, he didn't spot I needed a filling in the tooth he tried to fill the previous visit.
I've not been back to him.

[blas]

I still have to set an appointment to get my gap in my bottom teeth fixed.

I am more scared of the dentist than the gyno, if that makes any sense?!

[PepperElf]

actually it does.

*that* part of the body is designed to take a lot of pressure.

the mouth however... the nerves in your teeth do NOT like pressure, especially if anything has been going wrong.


Or as I figure... I've never sat in the stirrups while shaking in pain.
But I have been to the emergency dental clinic with a toothache from hell, and yes I was shaking.

[iradney]

I've never had a bad dentist...I guess I'm lucky like that The only time I REALLY didn't enjoy getting my teeth looked at was when I had braces. Getting them tightened (OWIE!!) and then getting them removed - I nearly chomped through the poor assistant's fingers Sorry Assistant, but it HURT!!!

[PCGameGuy]

Speaking of dentists, just got my second crown yesterday and now I've got a big gold pirate molar in back! Arrr! They are great though, painless and good at the job. The dentist is a big Beach Boys fan and a surfer, so there are surf boards on the wall and he wears hawaiian shirts all the time. They just got the new digital x-ray thing, so no more little carboard films cutting into the roof of your mouth for x-rays!

Mostly posted to brag about my pirate tooth though.

[Primer]

My dentist refuses to admit it, but I swear I've been going to him for over 30 years. I know he worked with my previous, childhood, dentist and I'm creeping up on 49 now...

I don't know where I'll go when he finally decides to retire.

[PepperElf]

so no more little carboard films cutting into the roof of your mouth for x-rays!

oooooo that sounds lovely.
i have a bad gag reflex, though the dentist tried telling me it was all a mental thing... but still, not having that damn thing in my mouth would be nice...

[Ben_Who]

I've had a couple of really great dentists, and a couple of complete butchers. One of my teeth grew impacted enough to swell up the whole side of my face. Interesting fun-fact: novocaine doesn't work in an infected area. Not that the dentist didn't try, of course, pumping me so full of the stuff that I nearly swatted the needle out of her hands. Of course it didn't work at all, and when I rang the welkins as she removed the tooth, she said to me, "Oh, stop being such a baby." (I was 25 at the time.)

This is why you start the antibiotics before you remove the tooth. Not that she mentioned that little detail...

Another dentist just wouldn't listen. Just wouldn't. He frequently refused to believe me when I said I was in actual physical pain. If the pain was the result of work he'd done (he botched a crown), he would literally just stare at you, blankly, comatose with cognitive dissonance. He had trouble accepting that I was in ANY pain, but suggest that the pain was caused by something he'd done and his dismissal bordered on the violent. When he said I needed a root canal (no way was this club-fisted troglodyte going anywhere near me with those kinds of tools), I immediately asked for a referral. He was so insulted he almost threw me out of his office. I got my root canal from someone who had lighter hands and a clue.

[NightWatch]

I haven't been to the dentist in a while. I used to go religiously, but it's a 45min to 1hr drive. Now that I'm old enough to have to use my own gas money, I hate trying to get up there. I really did like the dentists (father and son team), but some of their hygienists can DIAF. There was one who was flossing my teeth so friggin hard she was jerking my head all over the seat. It hurt really, really bad and I started to cry. I asked her to stop and if I could just finish flossing the rest of my teeth and she wouldn't give me the damn floss. When I got up I went straight to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and there was a huge cut on my gums between every single tooth I could see in the mirror. And that's also why I've never made a solid attempt at finding a closer dentist either.

[TOLady]

I really, really, really dislike going to the dentist. I have a small mouth and the braces to move the teeth when I was younger were extremely painful. I also grew up with an older european dentist who didn't believe in using numbers, so yes - I really hate dentists.

I also had an eating disorder when I was younger which seriously deteriorated my tooth enamal and eventually I had to have more than 5 root canals done Very long, painful and costly to have repairs done when I was finally covered by my work for some of it. As well, I have had 3 impacted wisdom teeth due to my small mouth.

I finally found one that went to school to specialize in treating children. He was amazing and rewarded me so nicely when I didn't freak out on him in the chair (thank goodness my local was right beside the office so I could have a shot or two before my shot or three!). He was great!

I usually have a very gentle hygenist and have 4 sessions to do my mouth in quarters since I can't handle it all in one shot (I have to have the numbing stuff to have them cleaned), but she had called in sick, so "The Other One" said she take me.

The "Other One" was a different story. She KNEW how much I hate the dentist office. She KNEW that I had had bad experiences in the past with dentists. She KNEW I was paranoid about my teeth (I frequently dream about all my teeth falling out). I'd had her before and had changed to the other hygenist because of her treatment of me in the past (she seems to think that people with eating disorders deserve the pain that comes with the tooth decay that happens).

I was no sooner sat in the chair than she starts in. Scraping and gouging. After 5 minutes, she announces to me that some of my teeth are loose and that I'm definitely going to lose them. WTF???

I have never run out of an office so fast in my life - balling my eyes out. I just looked at the receptionist on my way out and said I'd come back after I'd composed myself but that I was not letting "her" finish.

I came back after the "Other One" had left for the day and had the dentist take a look at my "loose teeth". No - there were no loose teeth. Everything was fine and I wasn't the first one that day to have encountered her "mood". She has tried to apologize to me and I treat her with courtesy, but it took me more than another year to come back to get a cleaning done again with my regular hygenist. (thank goodness I floss regularly!).

I dislike going to the dentist (but I have a small cavity right now and have to make an appointment before it gets bigger )

[DesignFox]

I don't like the dentist, either. I'm a tough little girl- I ride horsies- I fall off horsies- I get back on. I don't mind pain. I rarely cry if I get hurt, and normally brush myself off and just get right on with what I was doing. I've got a cartiledge piercing and two holes in my lobes, and I had zero problem with the pain (oddly I got a bit of a rush from it- if I can figure out where to put another earring I might have another one done).

But the dentist? Oh no no no. Getting a cavity filled (even a little one and AFTER being numbed) I sit there and shake like a leaf. It's pathetic.

That said, I found a great dentist. The office has all new state of the art equipment. He keeps up to speed on all the latest technologies. He and the hygenist know how sensitive my teeth are and they are very gentle with me. For awhile I was living over an hour away from his office and I still drove down every six months for my check-ups there rather than try and find another dentist closer to home.

Yea, I hate going. For now, I won't let anyone else come near my teeth.