Is my dentist right not to inject me!?!
Question:
Is my dentist right not to inject me!?
I have never had a filling before in my tooth and neither have any of my mates so I am asking this question today to get some answers. I had a hole in my tooth that the dentist said was so bad the tooth may have to be extracted. He did a filling on my tooth and told me he was not going to numb it and to raise my hand if I felt any pain. Of course when he started drilling into my severely decayed tooth I screamed in agony that I can not describe. He gave an injection but didn't wait and continued drilling so I screamed again. He then muttered on that it was a bad indication that I was feeling pain and that outcome did not look good. Is this dentists procedure for a filling normal? Surely if a tooth was bad it should feel pain when being drilled into?
Answers:
You need a new dentist. There is absolutely no excuse for him to drill without numbing the area first.
A decent dentist:
1) Applies a topical anaesthetic gel to the area in which the anaesthetic will be injected. This helps lessen the sting of the needle.
2) If he is not sure about your reaction to novacaine (some people experience heart palpatations) he'll use 2% lidocaine. The effect wears off faster but there are less side effects.
3) He'll wait at least ten minutes before starting work. He will then probe the cavity and ask if you feel any pain. If you indicate that you do he will inject more anaesthetic. The anaesthetic must be injected into the nerve cluster and even the best dentists don't always get it on the first try, or they may underestimate the amount required.
4) Only when you are sufficiently numbed will the dentist proceed to work. If the anaesthetic begins to wear off he will repeat the procedure from Step 2.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES does a decent doctor perform any procedure where pain can be avoided. Fire his butt and get another dentist.
Note to Susan: I know EXACTLY how you feel. I had one of those dentists too. My parents finally took me to a dentist who specialized in children who were afraid of dentists (I was by then terrified of dentists) and never looked back. He was fantastic and totally eradicated my fear.