Category: the Rant Board
I hate cavities. I hate when you are numb for hours afterwards. I wish you
could ask the dentist not to numb you. I heard you can, but it would be
uncomfortable.
Uncomfortable is not exactly accurate. It could be and probably would be extremely painful. Try it just one time and you'll most likely never try it without being numbed again.
It depends on the depth and size of the cavity, as well as its location. It should also be noted that cavities on teeth in the lower jaw are more problematic, in the sense that the nerve trees in the lower jaw are different from those in the upper part. It's possible to numb only a small patch of the upper jaw, but usually when you anesthetize a tooth in the lower jaw, a lot of surrounding tissue, including the lip and side of the tongue, is involved.
Point is: I dislike it as well, and it's annoying as hell, but trust me on this. You want that freezing in there when they start chipping pieces of dead tooth away and making sure it's clean. You do not want the tip of a spinning drill to shear through or even tweak at a nerve or at the pulp of a tooth. This is the sort of pain that can get you from zero to a cold sweat in less than a second. Take it from me.
Stop eating all the easter cupcakes and such you create on these boards.
Laughing.
Yeah, it is annoying when you are numb for a few hours after it is over. You
can't eat, and so I make sure I eat before going. Well, pain is uncomfortable
too, but it probably would hurt like hell. Yes, I do realize that numbing the
bottom part of the jaw is different. It does involve numbing part of the
tongue and part of your bottom lip. I once had an experience where I had a
cavity on the bottom, and when the dentist was doing the novacain shot, it
felt like a shock, it felt like I was getting electrocuted in the jaw. I was also
able to feel it a little bit too. For very small cavities, numbing might not be
necissary. My brother 2 cavities, I think one was on the bottom, and the
dentist didn't numb him. It was probably a small one.
Very small ones, no, it's not always necessary. As long as you can stay still, pain is minimal. The reason that your novacaine shot hurt when it went in is probably because the dentist brushed a nerve when they injected. This is pretty common, and it's painful for a couple of seconds, but generally harmless otherwise.
It seems to last an eternity.
I'm quite odd in that I really don't mind dental treatments. I know most people hate them but I'm very indifferent to it all. And yet normally with pain I'm terrible. It's strange.
I'm the same actually, Holly. The only dental treatment I hated was a root canal, and that's because I knew it was going to be quite painful, and it was. Generally though, I don't hate going to the dentist. I have sensitive gums, so it's always uncomfortable, but beyond that, I have no fear of the procedure. It does help that when I was younger and a bit more nervous about it, I got my dentist to explain what he was doing, particularly if he was using something that whirred or made noise. I also got him to warn me if whatever he was doing was apt to cause pain I wouldn't otherwise expect. Beyond that, it just doesn't bug me. I try and take care of my teeth, but I've had a few cavities over the years and I've never been scared. I'll go a step further and say that the utter terror some people have of the dentist is completely alien to me. I just...don't get it.
Yeah, I have 4 cavities. I went to the dentist on Friday and she only fixed
2. They were all on top. I had 3 on the left and one on the right; she
wanted to fix the more difficult ones on Friday. She said for the other 2
since they are small I might not need to be numb. Yeah, I don't like having
dental work done. Some people just don't have strong teeth. I am always
buying anti-cavity stuff. When it comes to toothpaste and mouthwash, I
buy the Act mouthwash with floride and cavity protection toothpaste.
Once, I was going to a dentist for about 3 years. When my brother and I
would go to this dentist for our routine cleanings, they would take X-rays,
and the dentist would do the check of the teeth, and for all those years he
kept telling us we had no cavities. Then, when we switched dentists, the
dentist found like 11 cavities in my mouth as you can have more than one
cavity on just one tooth. The first thing he asked me is if I drink a lot of
soda, and I said no. He then went on to say that there was no way I
could develop 11 cavities in 6 months, and he showed my mom the X-ray
and all the little specks that were cavities. That other dentist I went to
was terrible. I did have a few fillings from him, and he gave me like 4 shots
of novacain, and the entire left side of my face was numb, my cheek and
everything. I was like that for 5 hours, and I couldn't eat. He also gave
my brother a shot of novacain in the roof of his mouth.