Thursday, February 21, 2008

A Gentler Dental Experience

On Tuesday, I finally went in to see the dentist about one of the two cavities that they discovered during my cleaning back in December, when I had an awful experience with the Dental Hygienist From Hell. I wrote about her here.

I'd made a point of talking to the dentist by phone after I procrastinated for a month on making an appointment for the fillings because I was traumatized and in such jaw pain. Apparently there had been other complaints about this dental hygienist, and the dentist assured me that she would accommodate my needs so I could get my dental work done. And she also promised that she would put in my file and in the computer system a note that I should never be scheduled with that hygienist ever again. (Why they haven't fired her if they keep getting complaints about her, I sure don't know.)

And the dentist did just as she promised when I went in on Tuesday, and her assistant was sympathetic and very accommodating as well. Both cavities are in the left side of my mouth, and I had planned to have the larger one done first. But that one was in the farthest back upper molar. Since my ear infections continue to linger, the dentist was hesitant to work on that one since I'd need to be fully reclined and possibly even with my head lower than my feet. My ears are pretty painful when I recline, so I was happy when she suggested doing the smaller cavity in the bottom molar that's second from the last.

Not only was the work done faster than the other one would have been, but she drilled primarily from the outer edge of the tooth, so I didn't have to open my mouth as wide as I'll need to for the top molar.

Anyway, I had been really worried about this for awhile, and it was quite a relief that it went better than I feared.

I don't know that it had anything to do with it, but my acupuncturist had put a teensy bandaid with a radish seed in it on the pressure point on my ear lobe that she says corresponds with jaw pain. She told me to press on it periodically that day. She was very happy when I reported back to her during today's appointment that I had no jaw pain after the dental work. It may have been a placebo effect, but I'm perfectly happy with placebo effects if they make me feel better. :)




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