Why Is The Dentist Office So Scarey?

[OldTrucker]

I've been through back surgery, hip replacements and many other procedures but yet I am still scared of the dentists office!

I swear I didn't fear being shot at as much as going to the dentist!

Am I crazy or is this a natural thing???LOL

[stitchdup]

I think its due to someone you barely know putting sharp objects in your mouth. That and when we're growing up watching kids tv/comics the dentist is always to be feared. I was the same but then my dentist was the spitting image of dr giggles

[John1955]

It is scary because they charge so much. 

[Venom]

Its totally natural... because when they’re drilling into your tooth and you hear that sound and feel that pressure, you realize that at any given second the most horrendous, excruciating pain imaginable could occur as your tooth explodes and flies out of your mouth... That’s very wrong.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Venom

[slusher]

The drilling drives me crazy.

[peteski]

I wouldn't consider it scary - just unpleasant.  My dentist is a nice guy with good sense of humor, and other dental professionals that work on my mouth are all nice people, but the procedures are rather unpleasant.  The prices for the procedures are scary though!

I should get a discount or "frequent flyer miles" at my endodontist - about a third of my teeth have root canals, and I'll have another root canal on the next Thursday. Then of course I'll need a crown. Ka-ching!  Fun never ends!

[Mark]

Over the years, a lot of standup comedians have had in their act a routine about going to the dentist, so the dislike of it is a pretty universal thing.

[ranma]

Tim Conway had Harvey laughing through this skit.

[OldTrucker]

9 hours ago, John1955 said:

It is scary because they charge so much. 

That is the truth!

Mine pulled two lower front teeth and it was 456 dollars for less than 20 minutes of chair time!

Last year when the wife had her heart surgery heard two of the cardiac surgeons talking about one of their brothers new 650,000 dollar boat they had brought into Lake Michigan.

The one said "I should have become a dentist like my brother instead of a heart surgeon!"

Edited June 8, 2021 by OldTrucker

[OldTrucker]

5 hours ago, peteski said:

I wouldn't consider it scary - just unpleasant.  My dentist is a nice guy with good sense of humor, and other dental professionals that work on my mouth are all nice people, but the procedures are rather unpleasant.  The prices for the procedures are scary though!

I should get a discount or "frequent flyer miles" at my endodontist - about a third of my teeth have root canals, and I'll have another root canal on the next Thursday. Then of course I'll need a crown. Ka-ching!  Fun never ends!

Same here. Small town Dentist with a large practice.

Very friendly environment and he is one funny guy.

Has posters of fishing equipment, charts and such on the ceiling

From past experience there was pain it seemed from start to finish.

This guy there was no pain at all, even after the procedure it was minimal.

But I still fear going back which is in about 45 minutes!LOL

[iamsuperdan]

I have no hesitations or apprehensions about visiting the dentist. My dentist and her hygienists are great. It's just uncomfortable there. I'm 6'6" and those chairs just don't fit right. I find my right arm always falls asleep about 10 minutes in to anything I'm having done. 

Anything major (like having wisdom teeth removed) and I've been knocked out, so that's even better!

No apprehension with the wallet either. Work health plan covers just about everything. Except for braces. And of course, both kids needed them!

[Snake45]

My childhood dentist was very good, a very nice guy, and a personal friend of my parents (they'd gone to school together). But he had this way of going "mmmmm...mmmmmmm....tsk..tsk..mmmm" that made me feel like every cavity and every bit of plaque was my personal, deliberate fault. A real guilt-tripper. 

Apparently this sort of thing is VERY common because I have seen several TV commercials for dentists making a point of "no judgements" or "no blame" or "no shame" or some such thing. 

[NOBLNG]

I have a good dentist now, but I never went to a dentist for many years because of a childhood experience. I was getting a tooth pulled. The dentist froze it, a while later he poked it a bit and asked me if I could feel it. I said mmm...a little bit. He said “you mean no!” and proceeded to extract it. I let out a painful yelp, and he then gave it another shot of freezing before continuing.? 

[Ramfins59]

I remember that in my early teen years I had a wisdom tooth pulled and had excruciating pain...... I guess it was the days before "painless" dentistry.  I swore I'd never go back to a dentist...  Fast forward 50 years, and most of my teeth were beyond repair, broken and/or missing.  After having my strokes in 2000 I finally overcame my fears and went to a dentist who was a family friend.  It was embarrassing to tell him my story, but he totally understood and began work on my mouth.  He shot me with so much Novocain that I felt absolutely nothing, and he pulled whatever teeth and pieces of teeth that were left in my mouth, then fitted me for dentures.  Now I can eat and chew anything and everything I want.  I should have done it years ago.

[OldTrucker]

1 hour ago, Ramfins59 said:

I remember that in my early teen years I had a wisdom tooth pulled and had excruciating pain...... I guess it was the days before "painless" dentistry.  I swore I'd never go back to a dentist...  Fast forward 50 years, and most of my teeth were beyond repair, broken and/or missing.  After having my strokes in 2000 I finally overcame my fears and went to a dentist who was a family friend.  It was embarrassing to tell him my story, but he totally understood and began work on my mouth.  He shot me with so much Novocain that I felt absolutely nothing, and he pulled whatever teeth and pieces of teeth that were left in my mouth, then fitted me for dentures.  Now I can eat and chew anything and everything I want.  I should have done it years ago.

Thats what Im working towards but being medicare wont cover dental it will take time to get there.

My first dental experience was when I was about 7 years old and he actually smoked a cigar while working on you!

 

[OldTrucker]

Well, 1 hour and 622 dollars later what was left of my eye teeth are gone. Said they were pretty badly infected so back on antibiotics.

Ther were so boned in he is referring me to an oral surgeon for the last two extractions.

[Ramfins59]

Johnny, the wife & I have supplementary medical coverage thru AARP/United Healthcare and even with that we wound up paying almost $2K for the dentures, but overall it was so worth it just to be able to eat anything and to have a nice looking smile.

[Venom]

They should play this when you’re in the dentist chair.

Edited June 8, 2021 by Venom

[peteski]

3 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

I have no hesitations or apprehensions about visiting the dentist. My dentist and her hygienists are great. It's just uncomfortable there. I'm 6'6" and those chairs just don't fit right. I find my right arm always falls asleep about 10 minutes in to anything I'm having done. 

Anything major (like having wisdom teeth removed) and I've been knocked out, so that's even better!

No apprehension with the wallet either. Work health plan covers just about everything. Except for braces. And of course, both kids needed them!

In Canada you have pretty decent health plans.  In USA all dental insurance sucks, especially with the prices dentists charge for procedures (even when the dentist is in the "network").  I would say something more about it, but that would turn political.  And before anybody says something, I know that socialized health plans have their own set of problems. Or at least that's what the detractor say.  Say no more.

[NOBLNG]

1 hour ago, Venom said:

They should play this when you’re in the dentist chair.

That is a hilarious clip, and they could play it because my dentist has TVs mounted on the ceiling above every chair. But I puked when they tried that stuff on me.? Too bad, cause I think I would have liked it???

Edited June 8, 2021 by NOBLNG

[slusher]

13 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

That is the truth!

Mine pulled two lower front teeth and it was 456 dollars for less than 20 minutes of chair time!

Last year when the wife had her heart surgery heard two of the cardiac surgeons talking about one of their brothers new 650,000 dollar boat they had brought into Lake Michigan.

The one said "I should have become a dentist like my brother instead of a heart surgeon!"

That’s oral surgeon price …

[John1955]

On 6/8/2021 at 1:58 PM, peteski said:

In Canada you have pretty decent health plans.  In USA all dental insurance sucks, especially with the prices dentists charge for procedures (even when the dentist is in the "network").  I would say something more about it, but that would turn political.  And before anybody says something, I know that socialized health plans have their own set of problems. Or at least that's what the detractor say.  Say no more.

I hear you and AMEN, I agree. 

[Dave Ambrose]

got back from a cleaning this afternoon. I’m one of those lucky ones who can hear the ultrasonic cleaning tool. Doesn’t make for much fun in the chair.  They have a monitor running a soothing video over head. It actually helps me a lot.

I’ve had my hygienist for years and she’s great. Truth be told, I’m not a very good patient, but she puts up with me. This practice had one dentist for a very long time, unfortunately, he died of a stroke. There was a temporary dentist, who was very good, and now the practice is in the hands of a new owner. Don’t have a good read on his skills yet as I haven’t needed any work (knock on wood). 

[Pete J.]

11 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

got back from a cleaning this afternoon. I’m one of those lucky ones who can hear the ultrasonic cleaning tool. Doesn’t make for much fun in the chair.  They have a monitor running a soothing video over head. It actually helps me a lot.

I’ve had my hygienist for years and she’s great. Truth be told, I’m not a very good patient, but she puts up with me. This practice had one dentist for a very long time, unfortunately, he died of a stroke. There was a temporary dentist, who was very good, and now the practice is in the hands of a new owner. Don’t have a good read on his skills yet as I haven’t needed any work (knock on wood). 

Where do you go Dave?  I was in the chair for a cleaning yesterday as well.  I have been going to the same dental "organization" for over thirty years and am on the third dentist that has owned the practice.  I did realize that some people couldn't here the ultrasonic tool.  I have had issues with a tooth that was super sensitive to that piece of equipment. 

I think the main issue with dentistry is the anticipation on the part of the patient.  I have never felt as much inflicted pain anywhere as I have in the dentist chair.  Although it is infrequent I am still tense in anticipation of them hitting that one spot that brings me out of the chair.  That is why I am no fan of dentistry.  

[MrObsessive]

I never had a fear of the Dentist.......more of a RELIEF after I went to see one six years ago. Years before that, the Dentist had told me that I eventually would need to have my teeth pulled due to advancing gum disease. I kept putting it off as I tried to stave off the inevitable. Not because of fear, but what the cost of teeth pulling and dentures would ultimately be.

Well, things came to a head in early '15 when I had yet another tooth come out and I was fortunate to find out that there was a "free dental clinic" that was going to be operating for one day only in our local Farm Show Arena (Harrisburg, PA). It was to be at the end of May and I made sure that I got there as early as possible so I could get this over with and I found out that my dental insurance at work would cover at least half the cost of the dentures.

I had to sign a waiver that they could NOT put me under per the regulations of the clinic....each tooth would have to be pulled locally one by one with a local anesthetic.

So.........I waited for a few hours to be seen (the place was PACKED) and a nice young lady Dentist and her assistant pulled the remaining 16 teeth I had left and the whole time it took something like an hour and a half. Needless to say, my mouth was bleeding for at least six hours, but finally towards the evening it stopped, and I was able to eat something. Literally pudding, yogurt and ice cream for a few days.

About a week or so later, I went to another Dentist to get fitted for dentures as I had to wait a bit till the swelling went down and all I can say is that was one of the best medical moves I've done in a long time. No more loose teeth, nor more futzing with partials and whatnot.

I paid half the cost of the new dentures, the job paid the rest and I haven't looked back.

Now it's the cost of the next set of dentures I have to worry about down the road, but anything beats having to deal with constant teeth pulling/loss and dealing with that.