1-800-DENTIST® Dentist Love Blog

Sibling Rivalry

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

When I was little I shared a room with my brother. In addition to an occasional stuffed animal sacrifice, thievery upon my Halloween candy and a game or two of “Say Uncle,” we also shared a difference in some basic oral hygiene.

Now, I hated brushing my teeth just like any other kid, but I always did for fear the cavity creeps would stage a war in my mouth.

My brother, on the other hand, made every effort to avoid brushing. His personal favorite was simply wetting his toothbrush.

Being the little sister (okay, “Tattletale”), I often tried to rat him out. He’d reply, “If you don’t believe me, go feel my toothbrush” and actually get away with it!

He was notorious for brushing his teeth on the way to our dental checkups. Without fail, the DDS gave him kudos for his regular brushing. Unfortunately, I often did the walk of shame after the DDS notified my mom of my new cavities. Even worse, I endured the ride home with him smirking at me and saying, “Ha ha!” Oh, the horror …

Bottom line is no matter how well we take care of our teeth, we may still encounter dental issues. Accept that as the truth and there will be no more walks of shame. The important thing is to go regularly to your dentist to maintain a healthy smile. Memories of my lucky brother will be with me forever and if I’m lucky, so will my teeth!

Night Guard? I Need a Day Guard Too!

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

When I think of protecting my teeth, my thoughts immediately jump to brushing, flossing and fluoride. I never think of night guards. At least, I never thought of them until now.

I’ve been gently informed that I grind my teeth at night.

That alarms me. Because bruxism (or teeth grinding) can cause temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), cracked teeth and just plain worn out teeth. Trust me, my teeth are too young to be worn out and so are my jaws! That’s the story I’m telling people, anyway.

But the truth is, no matter how old or young I am, I want to keep my teeth until I’m at least 95. And so that means I’ll have to ask my dentist about fitting me with a night guard.

Oh, I know I can get one at the store for a lot less money. But I’m afraid the plastic will irritate my gums. And since it won’t be custom-fitted to me, I’m also afraid the store brands will slip out of place and provide little protection in the long run. So off to the dentist I go …

Except that driving anywhere in Los Angeles causes me to grind my teeth. No matter - with my new night guard I’ll be able to keep my choppers for a while longer. And I’ll just have to remember to not let traffic set my teeth on edge during the day.

Oral Piercings: Thinking Ahead

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

It’s no secret that in your teenage to young adult years you make a lot of impulsive decisions that would make your parents cringe. I had a pretty conservative father, but still pushed the envelope when it came to my hair. It was all colors of the rainbow in my rebellious punk rock years.

Other young adults may get wild piercings or tattoos to express themselves. Oftentimes we don’t think about how we will feel down the line with that permanent scar from that piercing or that tattoo of that great guy or girl we just started dating. Now that oral piercings have been around for a while, dentists are starting to see how these metal ornaments - even worn for short periods of time - are seriously affecting people’s smiles.

My close friend, who has 13 piercings on her face and ears, called me one day to ask if I had a good dentist. She saw my dentist and he let her know that she had a lot of minor tooth fractures and her gums on the bottom were receding due to 3 piercings she had under her lower lip.

Dentists are finding that the gentle back and forth motion of the metal button is enough to cause receding gums or even worse. It can cause significant deformities to gingival tissue that might not respond to gum surgery. This could even lead to tooth loss. Also, people could experience nerve damage or inflammation at the piercing site, fractured or chipped teeth or periodontal disease.

If you do choose to express yourself with metal in your mouth, make sure to visit your dentist regularly to prevent dental problems before they start. No one should want metal to outlast their own teeth.

Nothing Good Lasts Forever

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I’ve got some sad news for all the hopeless romantics who are regular readers of the Dentist Love Blog. If you’re like me, you’re a big believer in lifetime commitments. It’s disheartening to learn that the average American marriage lasts only about half as long as the average ceramic dental filling.

Surprised? Me too! I always believed that a tooth filling was meant to last “forever.”

It turns out that the typical life span of a ceramic tooth filling is about 15 years. This isn’t bad when you consider most marriages throw in the towel within a mere seven years. Still, I hoped for more.

Growing up I assumed that once a dentist filled your cavities that was it. The tooth filling and I were going to live together happily ever after. What I didn’t realize was that the wear and tear of everyday life - eating, chewing gum, grinning and bearing it - takes its toll on dental fillings. It’s even worse if you have bruxism. Your dental filling is likely to wear out even faster.

Fortunately, good oral hygiene helps make your tooth fillings last. Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and daily flossing are important, as are regular dental checkups. If you have lots of fillings or particularly large ones ask your dentist about prescribing a fluoride gel to strengthen your teeth.

Don’t be surprised if one day during a checkup your dentist tells you that a tooth filling needs to be replaced because it’s worn, cracked or leaking. This is completely natural and happens to the best of us … even hopeless romantics in long-term relationships!

Dentist Reviews: Reading Between the Lines

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

When I read restaurant reviews, I read them with a grain of salt. Primarily it’s because I’m more worried about the quality of the food than the atmosphere or even the slow service. (Well ok, bad service does bug me too.)

I feel the same way about dentist reviews. The things that tick people off sometimes really tickle me, because basically I’m going to a particular dentist for good dental health and no other reason.

I don’t care if the receptionist talks too loud. I don’t care that the TV in the waiting room is always set to a news channel. I don’t care (very much) if the décor is still set in the 70s, so long as it’s clean.

Here’s what I do care about: That the tooth filling, dental crown or root canal I receive restores my dental health. Competence, skill and updated training and equipment are also important to me. I care about whether or not my dentist and the staff are ready to work on me when I get there, because my time is valuable. And I care that my dental insurance claims are fair and correct. All of the other stuff isn’t even secondary, it’s tertiary.

The other things I take into consideration are the number of reviewers there are for the dentist. If my dentist only has two reviews and one of them is bad, I wonder if that dentist just ticked off a complainer, or if the dentist really is a 50-50 kind of professional in terms of quality.

So good luck to those of you who are looking for a dentist online. Dentist reviews can be really helpful, but the best way to find a great dentist is from a trusted source. To find a dentist online, click here.

Invisalign: Innovation in Micrometers

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

The more I read about Invisalign®, the more I want this treatment.

I had dental braces as a kid, and they were sufficiently “old school” enough back then to make me want to get a restraining order against all orthodontists in the future. The pain. The ugliness. You might remember the old magnet jokes.

Well braces aren’t magnetic, so the jokes didn’t and don’t hold water. And today, you can get them in different colors, making them hip enough for the coolest kid of any age. If they weren’t so necessary for dental health, they’d be bling.

And as it turns out, I may need this not-quite-bling. But maybe I’ll skip the colors and go invisible. Because my bottom teeth are crowding back into their old positions, making some just a little more difficult to clean.

Which brings me back to the innovative Invisalign.

First, there’s the cool 3-D imaging of my mouth. Then there’s the virtual plan, a computerized map of where my teeth are now and how they will slowly nudge into the places they should be. I’ll put in a new set of aligners every two weeks or so, each set marking a “graduation” of sorts to my ultimate perfect smile goal.

I’m not sure my old orthodontist had a perfect smile goal for me. He had wire cutters and rolled up shirt sleeves and a professional vision that neither I nor my parents could foresee.

He did a good job considering the tools he had then. But Invisalign makes a trip back to an orthodontist seem a lot more civilized and even gentle now.

Calculate Your Gum Disease Treatment Options

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Ever since high school I strived to be calculus-free. That whole distance = speed x time thing was barely understandable, let alone necessary in my little world of reading, writing and abolished arithmetic.

I still aim for freedom from calculus. Because calculus isn’t just Newtonian scribbling, it’s also hardened dental plaque, or tartar. Calculus is the stuff that causes the different types of gum disease like Gingivitis and her bigger, badder sister Periodontitis. (And that big, bad sister can really damage your mouth in rather devious fashions.)

That’s why you shouldn’t be afraid of gum disease treatment the way I’m afraid of math.

First, if you catch Gingivitis lurking around your gums (you’ll know because she hangs out with that creepy Halitosis guy and makes your gums darken, swell and bleed to encourage Periodontitis), you may be able to evict her with a little help from your dentist. You can undo Gingivitis’s subversive work with a trip to a dental chair and improved eating and cleaning habits.

Periodontitis though, is much tougher. Your dentist may use scaling and root planing (scraping Perio from your dental furniture with specialized tools and then smoothing the roots of your teeth so Perio can’t get a grip again). Or you might receive antibiotics for chemical warfare.

If Periodontitis is really bent on living in your mouth, strong arm tactics like oral surgery may be needed. That means gum flap surgery, soft tissue or bone grafts or guided tissue regeneration. Some more intrepid victims of gum disease may even seek laser gum treatments or laser gum surgery.

It doesn’t matter how you evict Periodontitis, so long as you get rid of her (though it would be better not to invite her in the first place). And that means seeking gum disease treatment or dental checkups at the earliest stages. That part is as easy as 1+1.

Not Your Mama’s Root Canal

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

You would think that since the first root canal (probably around the second or third century B.C., where archaeologists found a wire sticking out of someone’s tooth at a site in Israel) that there would be improvements over the years.

There have been. In fact, root canals have even improved since your parents got theirs done and complained about it vociferously years ago. So fearing a visit to an endodontist makes little sense.

In fact, endodontists not only save your tooth so that you don’t walk around with a holey smile, but they can do so with very little pain these days. Numbing gels and anesthetic injections have come a long way. And if you’re really scared, there’s always nitrous oxide. But honestly, you probably won’t need the gas. And if your root pulp is so far gone that the nerve in your tooth has died, you won’t feel much there at all, will you? Not that we recommend you let the infection progress quite that far.

Not only can your endodontist hopefully save your tooth, he or she can save you from future pain. Your gums and teeth will feel a lot better once you get your canals cleaned.

So what’s the success rate of root canals? They range between 92 and 97 percent, depending on who you ask. Chances are really good that you’ll be relieved you went!

Beware of Home Toothache Remedies

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

The last thing I want when I have toothache pain is even more pain. So when I did an online search for toothache remedies, I was a little scared of what I found in the search results.

For example, who in their right mind would sprinkle ground aspirin or ground cloves on a toothache? Everyone knows the first rule of dealing with tooth pain is to clean the tooth. Get rid of aggravating food particles clinging to the cavity and rocking your house of pain.

I can understand the faulty logic though.

Aspirin is great for general relief. Clove oil has been used for centuries. But neither item in solid forms should be mashed up and rubbed directly on your tooth because the abrasiveness might just damage your gums or exposed nerve endings - and add grit to your source of grimace.

Your best toothache remedy is a trip to the dentist. But to lessen the pain before you can get there, swallow the aspirin or baste the tooth with oil of cloves. Keep your mouth clean, swish gently with warm salt water (make sure the salt is dissolved) or buy a bottle of toothache reliever with benzocaine.

There is one experimental remedy I’ll try if I ever have a toothache again though. It’s an ice massage on my hand – on the web right between the thumb and forefinger. If that doesn’t work, I’m heading to the bathroom cabinet or the clove oil for relief!

Nicking Oral Cancer Before It Starts

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

A friend of mine smoked heavily, over a pack a day. I say “smoked” using the past tense because he got a rather painful scare a while ago.

It started when he noticed a white patch spreading on the top left side of his tongue, the side where he normally parked his burning butts to inhale. Then he noticed it getting a little larger.

Being a rather resourceful and self-sufficient kind of guy, he did an internet search and found that this little carpet of white could be leukoplakia, one of the precursors to, or symptoms of, oral cancer. So off to the dentist he went, thinking less about the actual tongue biopsy and more about whether or not he had oral cancer. Who could blame him?

To make a long story short, the dentist used a scalpel to scrape the spot off the tongue. My friend described it as a quick flick of the wrist he barely saw coming - and a pain so intense it brought tears to his eyes. He came out of the doctor’s office still in pain and barely able to speak because it hurt so bad.

As it turned out, he’s glad he had the test done because he found out he did have leukoplakia and that it was not cancerous. Yet.

But ever since then he’s been doing everything he can to prevent any more leukoplakia and tongue biopsies. That means no tobacco of any kind. I hope this all works out for him. He’s not the kind of person who deserves to get his tongue sliced ever again, much less oral cancer.

He’s been smoke-free, leukoplakia-free and oral cancer-free for over a year now.

Washing Away Cold Sores

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I’m not a germ-a-phobe; not really, anyway. I don’t make my guests decontaminate with antibacterial wipes on my doorstep and I don’t wash off my milk jugs in hot soapy water when I return from the grocery store.

No need to be freakish about this and promote the generation of super bugs, is there?

I do have some quirks though - and some may label them eccentric, but I think most of you will just call it common sense: WASH YOUR HANDS.

After using the restroom, it’s obvious. What’s not quite as obvious is the fact that you should wash more often when there’s an infection going around. And now I’ve come to discover that you should do it especially when you have a cold sore.

I never knew that, though the logic stands up in retrospect.

Here’s why: Cold sores are an outbreak of the Herpes Simplex Type 1 virus. (Type 2 is the genital variety.) When you get a cold sore outbreak, you tend to spread the stuff around when you touch your mouth.

That means it can get onto other body parts, your towels, your eating utensils and anywhere else your mouth may touch. Hopefully you won’t forget and rub your eyes, because then you can get ocular herpes, which may lead to blindness. It’s very contagious stuff.

So here’s what you do if you’re not taking antiviral medications: Ride it out. They’re going to be around for a week or two and there’s not much you can do about it aside from applying some ointments to curb the outbreak. But while riding it out, keep everything clean, don’t share your toys and wash your hands!

Dental Problems: History Repeats Itself

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Dental problems pained the masses for ages – Written accounts first come from the creators of the written language, the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia. They wrote of “tooth worms” plaguing teeth back in 5000 B.C.

Today we call these “tooth worms” bacteria - and they cause gingivitis and periodontitis, an advanced form of gum disease. They build filmy plaque that hardens into tartar and calculus.

The bacteria worms their way into our gums, our roots, the soft places inside our teeth.

And how did we deal with them?

The Egyptians drilled, the Etruscans created bridgework and crowns, and Paul Revere cleaned teeth and wired in bridges before his rebel ride warning of Red Coats. It seems the worms required stomping throughout history.

We’re still waging war today. A German scientist discovered X-rays, a man in New Orleans applied the technology to assess dental damage, we bought the first electric toothbrush and lasers in the 60s and we fight worms with all of these devices and antibiotics.

But you can do your part too, even before you resort to chemical warfare or laser technology.

Avoiding dental problems, thanks to all of the good work done by our ancestors, has become much simpler: Brush twice daily and floss before going to bed. Avoid snacking between meals, though if you must partake, clean your mouth afterwards to rebuild tooth enamel. And see your dentist regularly.

Our forefathers didn’t have access to rocket science until the last century. But when it comes to wormy dental problems, we still don’t need it. Just a little common sense to stop bacteria before it causes too much damage will do.

The Time is Right for Green Dentistry

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

My family was “green” before it was cool. We recycle everything: paper, plastic, you name it. Food scraps and yard waste go into composters without fail. Solar panels on the roof and a hybrid in the driveway have cut our carbon footprint nearly in half. Now, thanks to a great family dentist and green dentistry, we’re doing even more to protect the environment.

Not familiar with green dentistry? Everyone will be talking about it soon. Green dentistry is an international movement of dental professionals who are committed to making dental practices eco-friendly. Everything green dentists do - from the way dental treatment is provided to how paperwork is handled - is done with the environment in mind.

During a recent appointment, our dentist took time to explain how she practices green dentistry. For example, her office uses digital radiography which produces less radiation than standard X-rays and eliminates toxic fixer solutions and lead foils. Old silver fillings are disposed off using an amalgam separator so that our local water supply is protected from mercury.

Paper waste has been cut down dramatically. Disposable paper cups, lab coats, patient bibs and chair barriers have been replaced with reusable ones. Her office has a paperless billing and patient charting system which she says saves 50,000 sheets of paper a year.

I used to think my family was on the cutting edge of being green. It turns out we’ve got nothing on dentists. Speaking of which, I got a great green tip from ours: She told me that my family can save hundreds of gallons of water a year simply by turning off the tap while we’re brushing our teeth!

The Insurance Dilemma: Which Plan to Choose?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

There’s insurance for everything these days: the house, the car, the phone, your health and of course your teeth!

All insurances can sometimes be a pain and a bit confusing for me: the lingo, the fine print, etc. But it really pays off to do your homework.

Like medical insurance, dental insurance has HMO and PPO networks. The HMO requires you to choose a dentist from the provider list in order for the dental insurance to cover you, whereas the PPO allows you to go on or off the list (although there may be a higher co-pay for an out-of-network dentist. That's where the fine print and terms should be read). After years of not having dental coverage, I chose an HMO plan when I finally got it.

I figured it didn't matter much. I chose my dentist from the list and to be honest, I was not happy with how the office worked, the work that was done or my co-payment. So I chose another office ... which was somewhat the same. The second office was a bit better but not by a whole lot. I was starting to feel that the in-network offices for this insurance plan were not very good.

I made the decision to switch to a PPO to allow myself more options, something that was important for me and I was willing to pay more money if need be. I have been really happy with my choice - my dentist turned out to be in my PPO network and my co-payment is not very much at all.

What I realized is that it isn't so much that one is good or the other is bad - it really boils down to which is better for you and what you want out of your dental insurance.

Lasers: A Cool Tool for Detecting Tooth Decay

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Tooth decay is sneaky. I hate that in a dental health condition. Crooked teeth and a diastema I can respect because at least they’re up front. One look and you know what you’re dealing with. Bleeding gums are pretty clear cut, too. You see them and you know it’s time to see your dentist. End of story. Tooth decay is totally underhanded.

Working in secret, tooth decay eats away at your tooth enamel while you’re busy doing supposedly more important things than keeping up with your oral hygiene. What especially bothers me about tooth decay is that there’s no warning.

At first tooth decay is painless and invisible to the naked eye … including a dentist’s. Often it doesn’t even show up in X-rays. How fair is that? By the time the symptoms of tooth decay become obvious, it’s too late - you have cavities!

Dentists have cool new tools to uncover tooth decay before it has a chance to do serious damage. Thanks to laser cavity detection technology like DIAGNOdent® dentists are now finding tooth decay earlier than ever before.

I know what you’re thinking: “A laser? Won’t that burn?” Not a bit! Like I said, lasers are “cool.”

How do laser cavity detectors work? It’s hard to explain without unleashing my inner science/dentistry geek. Let’s just say that by shining a pen-sized laser wand on your teeth dentists can measure a tooth’s density. Healthy teeth have different readings than those with tooth decay. One remarkable thing about laser cavity detectors (it was hard for me to pick just one) is that they are nearly twice as successful as conventional methods at pinpointing trouble areas.

There’s no denying it: Fighting tooth decay with lasers is pretty cool!

Dental Braces: Going Waaaay Back

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Did you know that dental braces serve a practical, as well as aesthetic goal? (One of the great things about working for a company like 1-800-DENTIST is that I find out information like this all of the time.)

I wore braces for seven (read ‘em: SEVEN) years as a kid, with retainers, headgear and probably a bunch of other devices I’ve suppressed from my subconscious for another three years after that. I mean, my teeth were really messed up. And I hated my braces and the need to wear them the whole time.

Anyway, back to the initial question. I just found out that: a.) The ancient Greeks were the first to start clapping braces on teeth (they used cat gut instead of wire) and b.) People with crooked teeth tend to suffer more dental problems.

Why? Because crooked teeth are harder to clean, and letting plaque build where the toothbrush can’t uproot it leads to gum disease and cavities. Which may lead to no teeth. And that’s even worse than having crooked teeth, practically and aesthetically speaking.

So to my parents, the victims of my whining through most of my braces-wearing phase: Thank you for doing what was best and I apologize for my bad attitude.

To the orthodontist of my childhood: Thank you for not using cat gut.

To the parents of today: The new technologies in dental braces make some options practically invisible and a lot more comfortable. May you hear less whining about braces from your own children.

Temporary Crowns: A Shifty Situation

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

I’ve never had luck with temporary crowns. They tend to not fit well, look terrible and sometimes cut into my tongue when I’m trying to eat or speak. Once I had one fall out during a fancy dinner date (she never called again).

But I’m starting to understand the reason for them. Actually, I learned the importance of a temporary dental crown the hard way. After a recent root canal procedure, my dentist placed one over my tooth and said, “See you in two weeks.”

Like all of the temporary crowns in my life, this one lasted about three days before it fell off. I knew from experience that unless there was pain, I could live without a temporary crown for a short time. So I let myself walk around with a huge gap between my molars for not two, not three, but over four weeks. Big mistake!

How was I to know that one month without a temporary crown was enough time for my teeth to shift? They shifted all right – so much so that my dentist had to shave off a good part of my permanent crown to make it fit. This was followed by a few days of jaw pain as my surrounding teeth finally settled into their new positions – which are pretty crooked if you ask me.

I know better now. Perhaps next time, I’ll skip the temporary crown altogether and go for CEREC®. But if you want my advice, be sure to call your dentist if your temporary falls out. It could get you out of a real shifty situation.

Turning that Frown Upside-Down … to the Extreme!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Makeover is a buzzword that has really hit its stride in recent years. Put that word behind the word “extreme” and people’s ears perk right up because, obviously, a normal makeover just isn’t good enough anymore.

But when talking about something like a smile makeover, it’s the simplest procedures, like dental braces and teeth whitening, that can really create some of the most extreme results.

Bracing for a Positive Impact

Don’t get me started on braces. Okay, fine, you’ve convinced me. It’s a topic I talk about often on here because it’s something I know quite a lot about - after all, I had five years of personal experience with the things.

Honestly, I don’t even want to think about what my teeth would look like today without them. Years of thumb-sucking as a child put them in a really bad place and I believe they would have only gotten worse if left untreated.

But five years of braces equals a lifetime of confidence and compliments. I salute people who get them on as adults. It might not happen overnight, but it’s never too late get the smile you deserve.

Instant Gratification

Of course there are less time-consuming methods to enhance your smile. Take, for instance, teeth whitening. They’ve got procedures that only take an hour of your time. The results are noticeable and they give you - and signal to those around you - an overall feeling of clean.

Veneers are also very popular. They might take longer than an hour to put on, but your smile is forever transformed. I would just make sure you take the time to research a cosmetic dentist who’s going to put the right care and attention to detail into them. You wouldn’t get new tires at a car wash, would you?

Extreme Smiling Faces

It might not be as extreme as getting a brand new house, but smile makeovers are just as life-changing. Just ask anyone who’s ever gotten one. Guaranteed they will say it is one of the best things they’ve ever done.

Dental Tourism Dangers

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

So there we were in India … me with a bad case of “Delhi Belly” and my friend wondering if she should explore dental tourism. She was sure she needed a root canal. I was sure she should go home for that. Her leanings toward taking a risk only inflamed my digestive issues.

Granted, not all overseas dentists are unhygienic or incompetent, but I worried. She got a “good” referral from the hotel concierge. And she was sure the procedure would cost less in Delhi.

My practical side reminded her that “you get what you pay for.” But my drama queen side had some questions which I had to ask, her being a GOOD friend and all.

What if something went wrong and she needed emergency attention? What if that problem happened on the flight home, somewhere over the Atlantic?

Where would we go if she needed prescription painkillers? Can we be sure that the quality of those painkillers is as good as, or better than, those used in the States? What if they substitute one little ingredient that doesn’t pass FDA regulations in the U.S.?

Then there’s the whole issue of disease control. Medical and dental pros in America get vaccinated – they’re protected from things like Hepatitis B and other nasty bugs. It would stink if my friend caught hepatitis just because she wanted to save a few bucks on a root canal.

My indigestion went away after I adjusted to the food. But to this day, I’m not sure if I actually backed her off or if she opted out of dental tourism just to shut me up.

Succumbing to Sedation Dentistry

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Sedation dentistry is one of the saving graces of extreme tooth pain, as far as I’m concerned. Here’s why:

When I was a kid, trips to the dentist weren’t frequent. We just didn’t know about oral health the way we didn’t know about seatbelts back then. The dentists of my childhood weren’t defenders of teeth, they were sadists!

So a sudden need for an orthodontist brought quite a bit of anxiety - and a lot of pain with each procedure. I would happily have gone through life with crooked teeth, if I had my way. (Thankfully, orthodontics and other dental procedures have improved over time.)

Anyway, after years of digging my nails into the orthodontist’s chair, repeated warnings to “just relax” and finally, tears of pain, I entered my oral surgeon’s office as a teenager with more than my fair share of fear. I would still have impacted wisdom teeth, if I had my way. But I was still a minor and my parents knew what was best, or so they said.

Luckily, they chose a good oral surgeon with a soothing chairside manner. When he explained the wonders of nitrous oxide, I relaxed enough to let him put a mask on me.

And “going under” seemed almost as good as world peace.

The next time I need major dental work, I’m going to ask my dentist for nitrous oxide, or maybe oral sedation. I’ll see what he has to say about both options. Finally, I can get dental work done and still have my way. Peace.