Learn me sedation dentistry.

I had a dentist appointment today and decided that I never want to be awake for that torture again. Learn me up.

The dentist that will do it usually advertise that they do it. Mine doesn't. He does have nitrous, but the seems to only give it to women, which triggers a Seinfeld episode. I don't know what sedation they use. My old urologist gave me a script for Atavan to take before a prostate biopsy. That is some good stuff.

Sounds like you need a new dentist, it shouldn't be that painful.

Was it painful, or did you just hate and fear it? Most dental work doesn't hurt these days...It sucks having it done, but to me its not a lot worse than being stuck in the middle seat in an airliner.

I've tried a multitude of dentists over the course of my life and I've come to the conclusion that sedation is the likely to be the only answer for me. General anesthesia scares me a bit, I would have my wife present to prevent any horrible bosses type scenarios. Anyone have any personal experience?

Streetwiseguy wrote: Was it painful, or did you just hate and fear it? Most dental work doesn't hurt these days...It sucks having it done, but to me its not a lot worse than being stuck in the middle seat in an airliner.

It's always very painful for me, and I consider myself to have a fairly high threshold for pain. Whatever anesthetic they use (apparently Novocain is no longer commonly in use) seems to have little effect on me for some reason.

When I was having 3 of my wisdom teeth pulled I got nitrous. The dentist got out a SS hammer and chisel and stuck it into my mouth and up against a wisdom tooth that was coming in crooked and interfering with the molar in front of it. He hit the chisel once and I remember raising up in the chair. He hit it again a glancing blow. The hammer hit me in the mouth whereupon I passed out. I woke up with a very swelled lip that was split inside my mouth. His explanation was that I bit my lip even though he had my mouth propped open.

The last tooth I had pulled was with just Novocain. The tooth was cracked and the pain was one of the worst I've ever experienced. The roots were very deep and spread out in opposite directions. He had to cut the tooth into two parts and then tried to wiggle the long root for each half loose. He ended up having to drill into the jaw bone around the root to get them out. This was a nightmare for him as well as me, of course. We were both exhausted.

I found out Monday I have another cracked molar.

That sucks.

for cavities and the like.. I do Nitrous.. but for serious stuff, I get knocked out. With Crohnes disease, I do not need to get upset and have to run off to the toilet in the middle of the work being done

I have been lucky. In the building of my million dollar mouth my dentist has gotten away with just using a bit of Novocain. I just had one bad on where he couldn't get the root numb to pull it out during a root canal. It was the worst pain I had ever felt when he stuck the needle directly into the nerve after grinding away the top of the tooth.

Sedation is fantastic. I was just aware enough when I had my wisdom teeth pulled to know which tooth they were working on. Didn't feel a thing, and it only seemed to take about 5 minutes.

I was scared of dentists and didn't go for eight years. After a year and a half of seeing this dentist and having most my teeth filled, some yanked, along with a root canal, I'm finally comfortable enough.

I can stand the noise. I can handle the vibrations. He has made it as painless as possible.

Hopefully its the noise or the vibration that you can't handle. If its painful, there is something wrong.

I've had severe dentist phobia since...well forever. I think this sedation is my only hope. Probably trace it back to work done in the Navy, around age 18 or 19. Pulled two wisdom teeth under the gums, wide awake, bite blocks to keep me from taking his fingers off.

1/2 way through the drilling, prying, snapping (gee wonder why I fear dentists now?) I hear "huh, never seen a nerve there before". I looked like a chipmunk for weeks, bruised face, swollen...I was not a happy kid.

I actually still have all my wisdom teeth. One grew into where a tooth was pulled and I have another coming in up top. Just a matter of time before the others come in.

Our last Lamaze coach said that she uses meditation at the dentist, and uses no painkillers even for extractions and such. THAT is a tough woman! I took her advice though, and routine cleanings are much easier now. You just need to be focused on something else. Ask if you can wear headphones or watch a movie.

For the bigger stuff like extractions, I too have a high tolerance for sedation and painkillers (damn you Slippery Rock!). I just ask for more until I can't feel anything. I have been told "an elephant should be numb by now" but hey, I can still feel it.