Quote:
Originally posted by scansinboy
This is for my girlfriends father:
He hasn't been to a dentinst in YEARS, (we're talking at least 10 here, probably many more) and as a result, his teeth are in pretty bad shape. The reason he won't go,(we feel) is that he has some deep seeded fear of pain, or maybe dentists in general.
We've been hearing about (ads on the radio and such) sedation dentistry, where they knock you out and do the work, just as if you were having your wisdom teeth pulled, and reccomended that he go and do that, but here's the thing...
He claims that he cant have novacaine and that he can't be sedated because he has a heart arythmia. Doesn't novacaine work by all the sodium (or is it potassium) ions blocking the transmision of nerve signals? If so, how would a heart arythmia be affected by it.
I also don't know if this is a legitimate reason for not being sedated. Is it? And if it is, are there any altenatives? Dental science has come a long way even in the last 20 years, and there has to be something that can put him at ease about going to see a dentist.
By the way, if and when he does go, he'll probably need major and extensive work, that is if he doesn't need to have most of his teeth pulled and get dentures. He's 45.
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Wow. I'm always amazed that there are people who have such a fear of dentists but yet have no fear of losing all their teeth and the chronic pain & discomfort and inability to eat that takes them there.
As for your qusetion... were you a biochem major?
Good call on novocaine (we haven't actually used novocaine for many many years-we use lidocaine/xylocaine most often) blocking the Na channels in neurons.
He is onto something when he says that he can't take anesthetic because of his arrhythmia since lidocaine is typically used with epinephrine which could affect his heart. But because of the many many instances where we don't want epinephrine, there are numerous choices among anesthetics without epinephrine. So, he may have the wrong idea about anesthetics or may be trying to get out of going to the dentist. Either way, he can get whatever treatment he needs and not have fear wrt the arrhythmia.
Sedation is absolutely a great idea for someone like him. How insurance will handle payment is dependant on what type of insurance he has (I'll assume he has none since he hasn't been to a dentist in so long) and it's not cheap. Several hundred dollars for a couple hours worth. In his case, I'd say it's well worth it. Even something as simple as nitrous oxide would be a safe way to go for him.
I hope he changes his mind and gets on it.