I need some advice. I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time. Almost every experience I have had at the dentists has been excruciating. For some reason, my body just doesn’t use the Novocain well. At this point, I just want to get control of my oral health. I think I need five teeth extracted. I do not know how to go about getting this done without feeling like I would rather be dead so any advice would be helpful.
Paula
Dear Paula,
I am sorry you have had so many of these bad experiences. The good news is I have a solution. When patients are struggling to get or stay numb during dental care it is because their body is burning off the medication too quickly. Dentists are now realizing there is a connection between this and dental anxiety. The higher the patient’s anxiety in the dental chair the faster they burn off the numbing medication.
Most people have dental anxiety because of a bad experience at the dentist, often stemming from childhood. Then, compound that with all your bad experiences after that and it is even harder for you to get numb. The solution to this is to find a dentist who offers dental sedation options.
My suggestion is for you is to use oral conscious sedation. Though administered by a pill, it is strong enough for you to need someone to drive you to and from your dental appointment as well as stay with you for a few hours until you are lucid and steady on your feet again. Most patients are so relaxed they sleep completely through their dental appointment.
It has the additional benefit of allowing you to get more work done at each appointment than would otherwise be possible. This will allow you to catch up on your dental work faster.
If it does turn out that you have some teeth that cannot be saved, it will be important that you replace them. My suggestion is you get dental implants for any tooth you extract. This is the closest thing to having a healthy, natural tooth again.
This blog is brought to you by Grosse Pointe Woods Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Theodore Hadgis.