I Hate the Dentist

Going to the doctor is really not a problem for me- family practitioner, neurologist, the OB - but don't make me go to the dentist. I think in the category of doctors, dentists are my least favorite on the list. This probably stems from the fact that I don't have the "healthiest" set of teeth. Don't get my wrong - I don't have teeth falling out every other day and you don't see any visible decay - I'm just saying from a young age, I had two root canals (19 years old), two more a few years ago and some cavities here and there (that have been patched up). Fortunately, I was one of the lucky ones that didn't have to suffer through the pain of braces or else I'm sure orthodontists would be on my 'least favorite' list as well.

I have always hated going to the dentist and it is of no fault of the dentist himself. I have had really nice dentists through my life. I just don't make it a habit to see them two times a year, as suggested.

I currently have a nice dentist with some of the latest technologies in his office. He's offered to give me glasses that lets me watch a movie while he works on my teeth. He has good music on and he's very friendly. All that doesn't take away from the fact that I was pretty traumatized by the root canals I had done with him. Nothing was his fault - it just spanned multiple visits and a lot of pain....one night my husband had to call him to let him know that my whole head was in pain because of the work that was done. And since then, I have hated going to the dentist even MORE than I did before I started going to him.

For the first time in my dentistry history, I came out of the dentist's office with a "clean" bill yesterday - well not exactly clean - the reason I made the appointment was because I chipped my rear molar and I was hoping he could just shave it down and let me go without doing any other work. I also decided to get a cleaning while I was there since it had been a little over a year since my last cleaning. As the dental hygienist was working on cleaning my teeth, I became embarrassed by all the plaque build-up she was scraping at. I was hoping against all hope that this was the worst pain I would feel during the whole visit - and it was. After the dentist came to check on my chipped tooth and everything else, he didn't mention anything about new cavities so I took that as good news. The bad news is that I have to schedule another appointment with him to get the chipped tooth worked on. At first glance, he thought another root canal was in order - but because I have no pain on the tooth and didn't react to really cold water, he is hoping that he could get away with saving most of the tooth and creating an on-lay that would compliment the rest of my tooth.

If he's not concerned about my chipped tooth, then I won't be either. It will probably be another couple of weeks before I go back to get the tooth fixed - scheduling conflicts. But believe you me, I am NOT looking forward to that next visit. Fingers are crossed for no root canal.