Here's the promised update on my dental experience.
I took my relaxant about an hour before my appointment. It got rid of the massive tummy butterflies but I still had to do some deep breathing before the dentist started. I was expecting to be stoned and out of things, but I wasn't. A crazy buzz might have been fun but I'm actually glad I was still cognizant.
Neighbour D came with me to translate and told him that I always need at least 2 doses of freezing. I don't think he believed her/me because he only gave me one and then checked on me, asking if my lip was frozen. Things felt a bit prickly, but frozen? No. I still had about 80% sensation.
This is my biggest complaint with new dentists. They never seem to believe me. My dentist at home has it figured out and automatically gives me 2 doses right off the bat. He also understands that I may need one or two more.
So he gives me another shot and we wait. I'm more frozen but I'm not feeling confident that it's enough. He starts poking around and my feelings were confirmed. I gasp and he stops. In goes the third dose.
Finally I'm frozen enough for him to start drilling. A couple of times he hit a nerve that still had some feeling but the pain wasn't enough to warrant yet another shot.
Apparently the cavity is quite deep and requires more work. He put in a temporary filling and covered the top of my tooth with what looks like white tape. I don't think it's going to be possible to floss between that tooth and its neighbour at this point. And I can only eat soft food, though that didn't stop me from very carefully eating a couple of tortilla chips.
I have to go back for the permanent filling which will be ceramic. I'm not so sure of this. Google tells me this isn't always a good choice for a molar. We shall see.
I'm past due for a cleaning and he wants to do this at my next visit, as well. My total cost for all of this will be 2000 pesos. We have dental coverage through Sr B's work but it's not full coverage. I'm guessing two thousand pesos will be quite a bit less than the portion I would have to pay back home.
Next update in two weeks.
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Ouch, that must be too painful! Toothache is one pain we can't endure for long no matter how we hate being in the dentist's chair. It's scary and painful, but needs to be addressed. At least the pain's gone now. And thank you to your dental coverage; it made things a little lighter for you.
ReplyDeleteThanh Arnett
The idea of a dentist appointment alone is enough to give some people a panic attack, but knowing what kind of procedure is going to take place, and needing that many shots to not feel the pain is incredibly scary. I'm glad that it's over though. Here's to hoping that new filling will last you a good while to avoid going through this again.
ReplyDeleteGus, I don't mind so much the need for 3 or 4 freezings. It's the dentists who think they know my mouth better than I do that irritate me.
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