There is a young man and gal who both work at this office and I believe D said they're brother and sister. She sees the brother and loves him. The sister took a look at my teeth and I'm a bit skeptical. She said I had 7 cavities. Is it possible to know this without doing an xray? And why wouldn't my dentist back home say anything?
Neither of the dentists speak much English so D had to translate. What I was told is that the fillings I have are very old (true) and that there are cavities beneath them. I still don't know how they can determine this without any xrays. What they want to do is remove all the fillings, deal with the cavities and refill. Umm...no thanks.
According to my dentist at home, I'm a dental anomaly. Because of this, I ALWAYS require 2 freezings when I have work done on my lower jaw and, even then, I may not completely freeze. Sometimes I need 3 or 4 doses. I never know how many I'll need so it's always a guessing game. A trip to the dentist often involves pain due to insufficient freezing. Needless to say, I have an almost phobic fear of dental visits, even for something as simple as the nothing-more-than-a-look-see that I got today. So when they said I needed all my fillings re-done? Yeaaahhhh...not gonna happen.
So D and I have appointments for next week. D will be my translator and explain my freezing issues. The dentist gave me a prescription for a relaxant to take one hour before hand. Excellent! I've never had this before but I had planned on asking for something. Honestly, the older I get, the more worked up I get. It's embarrassing to be so high maintenance.
After leaving their office, the hunt was on for the relaxant. The first pharmacy I went to didn't have the 1mg that had been ordered. The gal told me that they had .25mg and .50mg. I asked if I could use 2 of the .50mgs. She said she couldn't give that to me because that wasn't what was on the prescription. Umm...ok. (All this done in Spanish. Yay me!)
So off to another pharmacy. They also didn't have the 1mgs but they did have the .50s. and they could sell that to me. The catch? I had to purchase an entire box of 30 tablets. I only need 2. When I inquired if I could only purchase 2, I was told that it was impossible. Really? In the land of being able to buy only one egg or one cigarette, I have to buy a whole box of pills? Still, they were probably cheaper than one pill would be back home, and I'm not prepared to see the dentist without them, so I paid.
Review of my
I hate dental issues...so I am sending good karma your way! I did go to the dentist and have my teeth cleaned while in Merida... not painful at all! Dentist spoke English and he trained in Iowa and Texas..CQ had had a crown done by him the previous year.
ReplyDeleteAre you a redhead.... Dr told me that they are notorious for having numbing and anesthesia prblems!
Pat, I *am* a redhead. I've read that we have numbing and anesthesia problems, as well as a lower pain tolerance. Thanks for the karma. I'll need it!
ReplyDeleteSome dentists are able to use conscious sedation, where the patient is essentially asleep, but can respond to verbal commands. It produces a sort of amnesia and you don't remember most of what goes on. You might have to look around to find someone who does this, but it could really ease your anxiety.
ReplyDeleteThanks, J&A. I didn't know that. I'll see how the relaxant works. If it's still too stressful, I'll look into the conscious sedation.
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