Toothache

[Veronica]

Wow - my pain is nothing like that. So far Motrin has been good. It's only really intense when I eat something hot or cold. When my mouth gets back to it's regular temperature, it's just a dull ache. My morning run made it hurt, but otherwise the run was good.

I've got a sub for the afternoon - my kiddos better behave. The sub pool has gotten scary.

Veronica

[maillotpois]

Sounds like maybe you might not need a RC, but just a crown. Will keep fingers crossed.

The pain before the RCs I have had the pain was truly comparable to childbirth. Something about it being in your head also makes it harder to dissociate from it.

[SadieKate]

V - I keep straws in the house for really cold drinks. I don't know why but I also tend to hydrate better when I use straws. Maybe just unsciously slurp in more? Dunnoh.

Yeah, zirconia - great stuff for those with jaw muscles of steel. And it comes from Jared's so I know my dentist loves me.

[OakLeaf]

Now, let talk about a crown that breaks 3 times. Get zirconia for a bionic tooth!

That's why my dentist told me it wasn't even worth it for me to try porcelain. I've just got all the gold shining out the sides of my grin. Did you have your premolars removed when you were a kid? Many dentists I've seen as an adult have told me this was a big fad among dentists when people our age were kids. It totally ruined our bite and put the entire force of our jaws onto eight teeth. No wonder our molars crumble. Five crowns down, three more to go.

Plus, gold is supposed to be easier on your gums than porcelain.

I don't mind the feel of the temporary crown, but the offgassing makes me so sick I can't wait to get the stupid things out.

I'm going to have to get another one done pretty soon ... hope the tooth lasts until I get home or I'm going to have to find another dentist.

[maillotpois]

Oak - I have had to have a couple rear ones in gold because of low clearance. And how about the gold crown that had to be replaced?? I was so mad about that.

I didn't have any molars removed, but ended up getting cavities that spread so my rear teeth were all fillings.

And to think I never had any cavities til college. Sound like we've all had a lot of fun with dentists. And paid for their kids' college....

[bmccasland]

... Sound like we've all had a lot of fun with dentists. And paid for their kids' college....

I know I've made boat payments

[tealtreak]

I know I've made boat payments

beach houses too.......(:

[entrepreneurwee]

Have you ever suffered from root canal treatment. I am using the word suffer because although it is a treatment but it is so painful and horrible.

[missjean]

Speaking of dentist's boats & beach houses...I had to get an implant last year. As I'm sitting in the chair waiting for the novocaine to kick in, I'm looking at the x-ray of my mouth he has up on his computer. As I'm looking the x-ray goes away and a series of photos starts rotating - pictures of all his wonderful vacations! Pictures of the family skiing in the Alps, tropical beaches, white water rafting, hiking, and a big dinner on a patio.
Great. As I'm sitting there fretting on how I'm going to pay the $3000, I get to see what he does on vacation.

[Blueberry]

Speaking of dentist's boats & beach houses...I had to get an implant last year. As I'm sitting in the chair waiting for the novocaine to kick in, I'm looking at the x-ray of my mouth he has up on his computer. As I'm looking the x-ray goes away and a series of photos starts rotating - pictures of all his wonderful vacations! Pictures of the family skiing in the Alps, tropical beaches, white water rafting, hiking, and a big dinner on a patio.
Great. As I'm sitting there fretting on how I'm going to pay the $3000, I get to see what he does on vacation.

That's just in bad taste IMO. Pictures of the places I think are OK, but family vacations - not so much.

I had a dentist (who I dearly loved!) who did scuba photography as a hobby. There were amazing fish/reef photos all over his office. Pretty cool!

[bmccasland]

Speaking of dentist's boats & beach houses...I had to get an implant last year. As I'm sitting in the chair waiting for the novocaine to kick in, I'm looking at the x-ray of my mouth he has up on his computer. As I'm looking the x-ray goes away and a series of photos starts rotating - pictures of all his wonderful vacations! Pictures of the family skiing in the Alps, tropical beaches, white water rafting, hiking, and a big dinner on a patio.
Great. As I'm sitting there fretting on how I'm going to pay the $3000, I get to see what he does on vacation.

Oh that stinks!
Having had an implant that failed - I hope you have enough bone to support the screw. I had 11 mm of bone for 16 mm of screw (as measured on the digital x-ray). The dental surgeon that removed mine was one of those that publishes on the process, and his comment was: "don't they read my articles?!" I didn't have enough bone to support the screw, so of course it was going to fail, and in essence, I shouldn't have had an implant in the first place. He removed the failed implant, did a bone graft for the hole and then said if I wanted another implant I would need an additional bone graft - to build up the bone. Door #2 was to have a bridge, which is what I picked.
The details of the additional bone graft and healing time was more than I wanted, and I'd already spent enough on that one stinking tooth: root canal & crown, abscess, pull the tooth & bone graft, implant, remove the implant & bone graft #2, and finally a bridge. Insurance paid for treating the abscess (step #2) and pulling the tooth (step #3), everything else was out of pocket.
They got nice vacations, I didn't.

[jessmarimba]

Honestly, part of my fear of dentists comes from all of the unnecessary work they seem to do. Imaging has become very high tech, allowing them to find "blemishes" in your enamel, which in many cases, will never progress to a cavity. They convince you that it will become a cavity and they should fill it now, before it gets worse. One you drill, a cavity will ALWAYS become worse. They eventually leak around the edges of the filling and will rot out from the inside. So once they drill & fill, they provide themselves with years of work fixing something that was not broken to begin with (replacing fillings, then crowns, then root canals.) How else will they make money?

There have been a few recent studies published on the dramatic increase in dental work in the last few decades (exponential, almost). I don't have time to find one now but will try and search later. I'm sure it is partly tied to diet but also has to do with the monetary aspect.

[OakLeaf]

There was a piece in the NYT within the last month, although I never clicked through to the original studies.

Yeah, last crown I got, I let them fill a "pre" cavity sort of thing on another tooth as long as I was there. Probably shouldn't have.