This smiling lady escorted me to a chair. She pressed buttons, and it reclined.?ÿ
Soon the dentist came along. He was humming a nameless tune. He pulled out a 6 foot needle, jabbed it in 7 places in my jaw.
Then disappeared. The assistant unloaded a whole wheelbarrow of metal tools. I heard them resound as they crashed as she dumped them. Then she did it again.?ÿ
Then the dentist re appeared. He grabbed a spike shovel and inserted it beside my tooth, between the tooth and gums. He jumped on it several times. Said he was "cutting the hairs". Heavens! I did not know I had hairy teeth!
He pried around with his shovel, and then picked up a huge pair of vice grips.
Looked at me, dropped the vice grips, grabbed that 6 foot needle, and shot a load of clear liquid into my jaw.
He grabbed the vice grips, (they looked like t-rex face and mouth) and grabbed my tooth. He swung his leg up, and drove his knee into my chest, grabbed the vice grips with both hands. Chgggg chggg chggg back and forth, until BANG! The tooth broke.
He jumped down, and gave me another jab with that needle.
Then he grabbed the spike shovel, and drove it deep into my jaw. I howled like a cat, while standing on its tail.
He gave me another shot.
Hmmm he said. Grabbing a dewalt screw gun, with a 3/4" bit. He stuck this down the spot where my tooth was broken. He squeezed the trigger, and yelled, "bring me another battery".
He drilled and drilled. He stopped. I yelled owwwww!
He gave me another jab.?ÿ
Then, he grabbed the phone. I heard the words drill, tractor, over here, and fast.
Pretty soon this leather skinned farmer showed up with a shiney new Kubota. 6" auger on the back. He backed it in, and placed the tip, where my tooth was throbbing. I smelled diesel. I heard him gun the diesel motor, and engage the PTO. Suddenly, I felt a tremendous strain on my neck. As a hole opened up.
Then the dentist grabbed the spike shovel, and gave a last triumphant jab.?ÿ
He was sweating. The tooth was gone.?ÿ
I passed out.
I awoke in the dentists yard. They were pouring water on my face. I came too, with a splash. They said "take him home, he's coming round".
And that's how it happened.
I've been to the dentist.
Nate
That Novocain is good stuff, ain??t it.?ÿ
@eddycreek The endodontist told me it??s lidocaine, they don??t use novocaine anymore.
Had a root canal 4 weeks ago. He put nerve blockers in there, didn??t feel a thing. I??ve had fillings worse than that. I get the permanent crown tomorrow. The process is root canal at the endodontist with temporary plug, go to regular dentist, he takes impressions for permanent crown and puts in temporary crown, when permanent crown arrives I go back and get it put in, shouldn??t take any anesthetic.
I haven't used anesthetic or gas at the dentist in over 20 years. Did use it for two root canals though. Not for fillings or deep cleaning though. Gives me a horrible headache. I would rather have some temporary discomfort and be done with it.
that was awesome Nate. I felt like I was reading Shel Silverstein.
I did a cavity once with nothing. to test my will power.
l apparently have hypersensitivity in my teeth, so this was a neat experiment with pain tolerance and the respite would be me simply asking for the shot.
I didn't tell my dentist yet that he forgot to numb the upper tooth, as I was in for a two fer, one on the top, the 1st bicuspid with a small cavity and the bigger one on the opposite side and bottom of my mouth that was the big show for the day.
so as things are going forward, I slowed my breathing and the fun commenced...
the shrill whirring of the 40k rpm drill alerted me to the fact I was all in.
as the tip of the drill contacted the enamel, I smelled that ubiquitous unmistakable smell of burning tooth.
then the first lightning bolt like jolt of white hot pain, unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
Kinda like the same feeling when you're chewing on a piece of foil(I really did weird stuff as a teenager) to feel the electron flow between dissimilar metals between the fillings, except an order of magnitude in the intensity.
I didn't flinch, just breathed even slower.
then it stopped immediately as he retracted to view each campaign, 6 to be exact. each one like a light switch, ON....off.
as he's mixing the amalgam he asks pleasantly, "How are you doing?"
I responded "Honestly, I'm doing ok, it's amazing how interesting and intense that nerve pain is when you're working on the tooth..."
Mortified he asked me why I didn't say anything, and just said, I really wanted to see what my parents went through (and Dustin Hoffman for that matter) and see if I could hack it.
needless to say, he jammed me good for the lower molar and then I was numb for like 6 hours and couldn't eat without biting the inside of my mouth.
yeehaw, dentist stories...
thanks Nate, sorry for the adjacent hijack of your story.
I go without numbing for routine fillings, and feel little discomfort, but have it for any extra-deep ones. The worst pain is when he forces things against the gums to contain the soft filling.
Knowing I'm not numb puts the dentist on notice to avoid heat buildup while drilling. Overheating makes the nerves sensitive for weeks and that's worse than minor discomfort for a few minutes.
So with mental preparation and breathing control, perhaps similar to eastern mystics, you were able to transcend dental medication?
I've had a lot of dental work due to a combination of genetics and substandard dental hygiene as a child.?ÿ I don't think I have any "real" teeth above the gumline anymore, they're all crowns.?ÿ I also have 3 implants and a bridge, so my mouth is a museum of restorative dentistry.
When I was a kid the hack dentist we went to (he was a friend of the family) didn't use novocaine.?ÿ My memory of large fillings was gripping the chair arms tight and sweating a lot.?ÿ When I finally switched to a modern dentist as an adult, I was amazed at how comfortable dentistry could be.
The hardest part of getting the 3 implants -- all upper front teeth -- was the lidocaine injections.?ÿ It really did feel as though the needle is coming out through my nose.?ÿ But once that stuff is in there the rest is pretty easy.
I did have one broken-off tooth that was a bit challenging to remove.?ÿ After grunting for awhile with the pliers, the surgeon said to his assistant, "hand me the hammer."?ÿ The assistant then held my head firmly while the surgeon started in with hammer and chisel.?ÿ I didn't feel any pain, but my head sure got a good shaking.
I used to enjoy going till they started this reclining thing and use high pressure water instead of the picks.?ÿ Last time, I had to stop her so I could keep from choking and be able?ÿ to breathe.?ÿ Told her I couldn't take the water-boarding any longer.?ÿ She asked if I preferred the old metal picks instead.?ÿ
Fantastic writing! you should have this copyrighted or i will. ?????ÿ
Fantastic writing! you should have this copyrighted or i will.
?ÿ
Thanks, That's rather flattering, however, anybody who has been to the dentist, could write that. After some shots, that is!
Maybe you can print it out, and paste it on the wall of the waiting room, of your dentist, on your next visit!!
Something entertaining, for the patrons...
Don't let em catch you. Somehow, I am not sure that they will find it as funny as we do!
(But, I'll guarantee that some of them would share it with a fellow dentist!).
It's hard to "Dream of being a dentist, and inflicting that on anybody".
Dentistry. Yaaaaaaaa! (That's me screaming!)
N
@sergeant-schultz insurance pays most of it, my out of pocket is 1400. Somewhere in the neigh of 4000
