Dental work

Since I haven't had any recent car trouble, I may as well give all of you another reason to bust my balls.

I've been going to the same dentist since the mid-90s. He's an older guy, but he's been good. Works three days a week.

I've had a few cavities through the years but no serious problems since a few extractions that I had with my original dentist when I was in high school. I'll get back to that later.

In early May I went in for my semi-annual cleaning/checkup. The hygienist, who has been working there for six years or so, found no cavities.

About a month ago, I felt a lot of pain in the lower rightmost molar. I called my dentist and he was booked solid. I would have had to wait 2 1/2 weeks to see him. By the weekend, the pain was unbearable. It was the most pain I've experienced in my life. I called around to several dentists until I found one that could take me as an emergency that day. It was part of a chain and about a quarter mile from where I live.

They found that the molar had fractured and was infected. They prescribed an antibiotic and ibuprofen and referred me to an oral surgeon for a root canal. Because the pain was so bad, the oral surgeon also prescribed some opioids.

After the root canal, I went back to the dentist I saw for the infection and they put in a temporary crown. The oral surgeon said that because I don't have the two molars that are supposed to be to the right of that tooth, it was doing the work of three teeth and suggested implants. My original dentist, the one my parents saw when I was a kid extracted some teeth when I was in high school because there were other teeth that were coming in and they were in the way, as best I remember. It was so long ago. I had forgotten all about them and all these years I thought I always had all of my teeth. Funny how it came back to haunt me.

I went back for the permanent crown on Monday. They did some x-rays and found four other cavities, two medium-sized ones and two smaller ones. There's also a wisdom tooth that will have to come out.

My dental insurance is already maxed out for the year. Until it rolls over in January, everything is out of pocket. The costs are already about $1,300 or so that I've put on a credit card. There was just no other way.

I don't think I can afford to have these cavities filled. But if they really need to be filled, I could be looking at more root canals.

What I don't understand is how I can go from no cavities three months ago to four cavities and a root canal now. Could my regular dentist/hygienist have missed so much? How could they have missed all that? How could all of those things pop up so quickly? Or could the new dentist be trying to hustle me and get me to have them do $2,000 or so more work that I don't really need?

 

I would at least talk to your old dentist about it. It's worth asking the question, though I'm not sure how much difference it would have made if he found the cavities sooner. It does sound like he had a role in the problem that led to the fractured, infected tooth.

Maybe ask the new dentist if any of those things should have been caught sooner?

 

Be leery of the chain place and if you can, get another opinion. We went to one for awhile and the work was fine but I always felt like I was going to an oil change place and they were trying to up sell me or give me something I didn't need.

 

Early next month, I'm going back to my regular dentist to have him look at it and see what needs to be done.

I don't want a small problem to become a big problem, but I don't like being hustled.

 

About eight years ago, I was looking for a new dentist closer to where I live now. None of my friends seemed enthused about their dentists when I asked for recommendations. I was coming up on needing my six month cleaning/check-up and there was a Groupon for a cleaning and X-rays at a practice that had decent reviews on yelp or google reviews or some review site. And it was just a cleaning so I figured I'd give it a try.

The office was really nice, state of the art equipment, scrupulously clean, etc. The hygienist was nice and did a good job. Then I saw the dentist. Also a nice guy. He examined my teeth and said he found no cavities but I needed "a lot" of other work. He said when I stopped at the desk on the way out, they'd give me more info. I was handed a very nice folder with a sheet describing the more than $10K in dental work that I "urgently" needed - a crown or two, some kind of implant, Invisaligns and I forget what else. I have pretty straight teeth so I knew the Invisalign thing was total BS but was a little concerned about the crowns and the implant.

I saw my old dentist, showed him what the other dentist said I "needed" and he couldn't believe how blatantly the guy was trying to rip me off. He said I should report him to the state dental board. I never did but I guess the moral of my story is get a second opinion.

 

My wife and I went to a dentist we trusted, one who had taken care of other members of her families for years. Then he had a stroke. He was able to return to work on a limited basis, breaking in a new partner, who eventually took over all of the work.. The new dentist then proceeded to screw up fillings in my mouth. He either botched the filling or didn't get all of the cavity, leading to further problems. That dentist left and his replacement was a woman who actually knew what she was doing. It took a little arguing on our part, but the practice took responsibility and did the work fixing their screw ups for free.

Then we got the hell out of there and found a new dentist, a very nice guy who does an excellent job. Sadly, he's getting near retirement and we're going to have to search for a new one all over again.

 

Gotta brush with the good green stuff.

 

I have never heard of a dentist who didn't believe in novacaine, and I've encountered some terrible dentists. I did have one who was too stupid to wait for the shot to take effect while doing an extraction. Fucking moron.

 

You bunch of pussies.

Ye Olde Dr Chef's do it yourself tooth extraction formula.

Big bottle of Jack.
Pliers.

 

I have a lot of fillings. Most are from when I was a kid but I've had a few since adulthood. The only time I ever had novocaine was when I got a crown a few years ago. It really doesn't hurt that much to get a filling done with no novocaine.

 

Sounds like the last time I took my car to Firestone bc the muffler was whistling. Had been going to them for years. The guy told me the entire exhaust system needed to be replaced. When I asked him why he couldn't just replace this one mid-section area, he said that's not how it worked. They wanted $3,000 for the whole job. Well, he priced me out of the deal bc I didn't have that kind of cash available. So I went to Yankee Discount Muffler and turns out the Firestone guy was lying. They replaced that section in 20 minutes for $60. Said my exhaust system would be good for another decade. That was the last time I'll ever go to Firestone.

I hadn't realized they were franchises and locally owned, so they have a direct incentive to try to get you to do work. I learned that when a guy from a nearby convenience store came in while was waiting and asked where all the K cups were for the Keurig. Owner said they didn't have the budget for them right now. Guessing it's the same with the chain dentists. They have every incentive to tell you something's fucked up in your mouth.

And of course, always get a second or third opinion for a big outlay.