Tell me your dental stories

About six weeks ago I went to the dentist and got a lot of very bad news. I'm probably going to be going in regularly for months and months and getting a ridiculous amount of work done. We're talking several root canals, probably at minimum.

A little over a month ago I got six fillings.

A week ago I went in for a root canal, and had to go back this morning to finish it. Except it's not really finished, I need to get a permanent filling put in, and then after that a crown. And after all that it's just one done.

Anyway, what are everyone else's stories about teeth and dentists? Good or bad!

Only ever had one root canal done, about 25 years ago now. Didn't bother with a crown, just a permanent filling. That filling is probably just about coming to the end of it's natural life in the next couple of years and when it does I shall just get another one. Crowns are for kings, I'm just a common man

I had to have a tooth removed about 30-35 years ago, emergency dentist was a miserable scrote who delighted in telling me that I'd probably lose all my teeth over the next decade or so (this was during my heavy drinking period). Aside from my two left wisdom teeth that needed to be removed because one had shattered I still have all my other teeth - don't always believe what strange dentists tell ya

@Yoda

I've been to a lot of different dentist in the past. I've had several root canals and I forget how many crowns I've had, too many. I've had a root canal procedure become infected and had to have it redone. So I feel your pain!

I've found that one dentist can recommend a ton of dental work, then the next one will recommend far less work. Sometimes it's over prevention and sometimes it's about $$$, and sometimes a patient needs all that work.

What's the reasons you need several root canals? Are these broken molars or old fillings that have cracked and let bacteria into the nerve of the tooth? Are they hurting? There should be a solid reason for a dentist to do a root canal.

That explains your bad mood .

I'm there at 2pm tmrow so might have something to say, I've cancelled the last 2 trips because I literally hate the hygienist.

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Had a root canal when I was about 18, two crowns last year, and a few fillings over the years. Due to coffee and smoking, my teeth aren't as white as I want them to be. I go every 3 months to help out.

Never had you pegged as a voluntary dental nurse but good on ya

Best story I've got is getting a Gold coloured filling when I was like 8 years old, thought I was the absolute ****, used to go around showing literally everyone!

This was told to me by my hygienist, Maxine, while she was cleaning my teeth, back before the age of cell phones:

It was a story about how she was out shopping during one of the Jewish high holidays (she was not supposed to be out shopping at that time) and how one of her friends from temple saw her in the store and now she'd have to deal with all the gossip & judgement about how she was seen out breaking this rule.

I pulled the suction tube out of my mouth and said, "Wait a minute. The lady who saw you was also Jewish? So wasn't she also not supposed to be out shopping at that time? So how can she tell on you without admitting she was doing the same exact thing?"

Maxine said, "I realize you're not Jewish, so you don't understand how we are. Y'see... it doesn't matter that she was doing the same thing and breaking the same rule, it only matters that she saw me and went and told all the girls. It only matters who got to our other temple members first to tell them. Believe me, if I saw her and was able to get to a phone first, then I would've been the one to say I saw HER there, and she'd be the one dealing with all the gossip!"

There’s only one thing worse than a dental visit & that’s a dental visit without dental insurance.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

I have some horror stories - there's a reason why my old dentist's office has a 1.5 star rating on Yelp.

-The first was when I had two of my wisdom teeth pulled, ended up with dry socket, and ran out of Vicodin while still in excruciating pain. Went in to ask for a refill and got treated like a drug seeker and told "It shouldn't still hurt" and then was given a script for like 3 more pills.

Should've quit them right there and then, but stupidly stuck around for awhile....

-Went in and had a cavity filled. Apparently the dentist never cleaned up the excess filling material and it was sticking out all crazy. Had to go back to get it fixed and when they tried to smooth it out, the whole thing fell out of my tooth and exposed the nerve. I hadn't been given anything to numb the tooth and when the air hit the nerve it was some of the worst pain in my life.

-Went in because I'd broken a tooth. MASSIVE hole in one of my molars. Doc said it needed a root canal and because of abnormally shaped roots, I'd have to see a specialist for it. He also told me I needed several thousands of dollars worth of other work. I got the referral for the root canal and scheduled an appointment with the specialist - but the appointment wasn't for another week or so.

My tooth wasn't painful initially, but the dentist didn't prescribe me anything and while I waited to see the specialist the tooth became infected and extremely painful. I'd been taking copious amounts of ibuprofen in a desperate attempt to soothe the pain, but it didn't help at all. I called my dentist's office to ask for pain medication and antibiotics. I was told that because the dentist that saw me initially was not there that day, that I'd have to come see the dentist that was there in order for them to prescribe any narcotics. I agreed, scheduled the appointment, and went in to be seen. After the second dentist saw me, one of the assistants came and went over the treatment plan, which included an antibiotic and some Vicodin. But when I went to check out, I was handed a prescription for 800 mg Ibuprofen instead of the Vicodin. I explained that Ibuprofen was not going to do any good and that I'd been taking 1000 mg of it at that point without any relief and that I had been told I would be prescribed Vicodin and that the whole reason why I came in was because I was told the dentist that was available that day couldn't prescribe narcotics without seeing me. Some other assistant came out and insisted that the ibuprofen was just as good as the Vicodin and that prescription ibuprofen was not the same as the OTC ibuprofen. After making a bit of a scene about their lies and BS, I took the prescriptions, got them filled, then went home filed a Better Business Bureau complaint, wrote a nasty Yelp review, filed a complaint with my insurance company, and demanded to be assigned a new provider. Oh and that 800 mg prescription ibuprofen that's "just as good as Vicodin"? Didn't do a damn thing for the pain. Thankfully my mom took pity on me and gave me a few pills of her Percoset so I could actually function until I could get in to see the specialist - who then prescribed me Norco without question.

After the root canal, I ended up switching to a regular dentist at the practice I'd been referred to for the specialist. She took x-rays, examined my mouth, and said that almost none of the thousands of dollars worth of work the other dentist had recommended was actually needed.

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Very little pain, which is part of the problem. A lot of the nerves are just dead, so it's a weird case of paying them money to make something hurt more. As opposed to a situation where at least getting the procedure relieves pain.

Anyway, it looks like a mix of things. Cavities, then fillings, then fillings falling out, followed by me not having that taken care of for awhile and grinding my teeth way too much, yadda. From what I've heard, some people are just strongly genetically predisposed to get lots of cavities, and I just might be one of them.

The dentists referred me to a nearby dental school to get the actual root canals done, so that felt close enough to a "second opinion" that I think they're probably right, at least about the first couple we're likely to do.

It's pretty lame right now because, as I mentioned, none of this is really reducing pain, it's really uncomfortable, it's going to take takes of trips, and I can't get it all done that quickly, either. So it's just months and months of these visits without any light at the end of the tunnel. I guess it'll be really nice in, like, six months, when I can just chew and drink and not think about it, since I've kinda gotten used to eating a certain way to reduce sensitivity or avoid areas where stuff gets stuck a little easier, but it's such a long ways off. It's just gonna be very crappy and demoralizing in the near-future, I guess.

@Miss Vicky. Yikes. Yeah, glad you moved on. Horrific.

IF you go to a dental school, don’t let the students practice on you. Yes, it costs less & they need to practice on someone, but you have the option of letting the actual dentists there treat you rather than the kids (though they can be onlookers). Personally, I would never have had my root canal done in a dental school. I went to a guy who only does that.

I'd had a filling in a bottom right molar, and the filling came out a few years later and took half of the tooth with it.


Was fine for years after that, until I bit down on some chewing gum.
There was a loud "bang" sound in my right ear, and I went completely blind in my right eye, side of my head swelled up like a balloon.


My dentist wouldn't see me because apparently a cracked tooth and nerve damage causing blindness "isn't an emergency" NHS dentists really are garbage.


I contacted a private dentist, and he said he'd remove the tooth for free as a favour for my NHS dentist refusing to help.
I did however have to wait a week to see him.
A whole week, blind, unable to eat or speak and in constant pain.

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I was born with no canine teeth.

To fix this - every one of my front teeth (except the front incisors) were shifted forward 4cm over the course of 4 years and my premolars were chiselled in half then rebuilt with venirs to resemble a canine shape.

It hurt.

If there's very little pain and the nerves are already dead I would be questioning the need for root canal work as opposed to just remedial work on whatever cavities there might be. I'm no dentist and it may well all be necessary work but certainly if it were me I'd be getting a proper independent second opinion from a dentist of my choice and not regarding the local dental school (that has been referred by your dentist) as that 'second opinion'.

How come so many dental problems at age 34 only ? You still got more than half your life to live . You been eating too many chocolates or what? Not brushing teeth properly ?

I've had one root canal done like 15 years ago when a big filling got loose and me, being afraid of the dentists, didn't get it taken care of fast enough. Also have one tooth removed. It had cracked badly under the filling and got infected. Both of those were done in public health care and I have no complaints at all about the quality.

From my understanding, the pulp can still become necrotic, and that can spread.

I'm not sure age has much to do with it. Anyway, as I mentioned above apparently some people are very predisposed to cavities and the like. I didn't have great dental habits growing up, but at least once after going and having fillings I took very good care of my teeth for awhile and still found myself with problems.

Ok, sounds like you're happy enough with your feeling that they're "probably right" and it's certainly both your teeth and your money so I'll bow out and wish you well with the treatments.