DENTISTS- a tooth rant...
 

After years of good teeth I had a tootheache for the first time a couple weeks ago. Well, turns out after nights of not sleeping and days of not eating I had to have drilling done and then followed by a Root Canal. Add in the cost of antibiotics and such and this totaled £330!!! This week.. second toothache of my life... FORTUNATLY (After 3 horus in the dentist because their compressor borke and they had little to no power!) they jsut wanted a temporary filling to be followed by a full one if this works.. toatl cost 30£ plus probably at least a another 50-100£ AND I CANT DRINK FOR 6 DAYS because of my tablets i have to take.... NOT HAPPY.. WHY NOW?!
Teh guy i'm seeing a really good dentist, i've had everythign explained to me and how i could save money etc, BUT this stuff has to be done and I need it done now. Good job done, but I could think of spending 1000$ in a lot of better ways! and WHY all at once... ugh, just had to vent somewhere.. anyone got any tooth stories? (dare i ask?)
/rant over

root canal... infected abcess...

got infected again 1.5 years later... had to do the whole thing again.

sucked, but i went to work after both procedures...

Worst I've ever had was removal of my wisdom teeth. They were impacted, but hadn't broken the surface so they had to surgically remove them (aka cut them out). Naturally, I went under, and the procedure was followed by two days of intense bleeding, dizziness, and even a little bit of passing out (slammed my head into the counter and twisted my knee :( ).

Yeah, I went through that about a year ago. Nothing better than changing the gauze you have to keep in your mouth for the first couple of days. Luckily though, my girlfriend was there to help me through my recovery. :thumbsup:

I've spent $875 since August on dental work. I have dental insurance, so my cost is 40%-60%, depending on the procedure. One cleaning, one filling, one root canal and crown. It's worth every penny.

Coming also from Britain where the NHS sucks i'd like to say that dentist here are way to expensive for a 15 minute check up it sets you back £30. I won't even start on the amount that i have shelled out on my teeth but lets just say the figure is big.

Wisdom teeth removal is bad as is a removal of an infection at the tip of the root of the tooth which has spread into the jaw bone. To get that infection out was no day in the park. I even flew to germany because including flight and stuff it could be done cheaper and without out waiting.

You pain is shared by all especially the financial pain.

I had my two wisdom teeth removed about a month ago. My insurance company charges $45 a tooth for extraction. I didn't think that was too bad, until I asked if the pain medication was covered. NO?? That would run me $380 more. I decided to medicate myself. I took a few codeine pills I had for the infection and put up with the pain and unpleasantness of having your teeth ripped out. Not a lot of fun, but I can take a little suffering for $380!

Many moons ago, I had one wisdom tooth pulled. Before I went under the knife and drill, my dentist told me it would be one of the easiest teeth he has ever removed. Well, the x-rays didn't show that the root was wrapped around gum tissue. I remember coming out of my anesthetic coma to see him pulling, tugging, and cursing at the tooth in my mouth. It required 9 cuts from the dentist saw to get one tooth cut free from my gums. It felt like there was an enormous pothole in the back of my mouth when he was done. Ouch.

Wow, I had a root canal a little under a year ago and I that didn't happen to me. I went in there for 4 hours, I came out with a temporary filling, only have to take asprin, and then 3 days later I got this plastic things in my tooth and a filling. The guy I went to specialized in root canals, so the only downside was the cost. It was about 1300$.

I've had good teeth, no complaints up until a year ago. I went to the dentist after not going for a few years, even though I didn't have any problems, and she told me I had 4 cavities. 3 of them are fine but now occasionally when I'm eating the one hurts if I bite down on it. I guess I am better off in the long run, but worse off in the short term. Go figure.

That got me thinking - I think the whole Dentistry profession is a sham. Think about it, if they actually fixed your teeth, it would put them out of business. They fix them well enough to make you come back year after year.

I've had 14 teeth pulled total in my life.

All procedures went really well. When I had my wisdom teeth removed, it didn't hurt one bit. And, it was actually the better of the three times I have gone to have teeth pulled.

Reason I have had so many is because I have a small mouth (interior bone structure). And, to make way for braces, a couple had to be removed so as not to interfere with the braces.

I have had some cavities fill back in. Just so long as they don't get through the dentine they can repair themselves it seems. The plan they had of putting a temp in and then later a permanant filling is a good one. It was explained to me on my last BIG cavity where the old filling (10 yrs old and it was done improperly to begin with) broke off that a temp filling with medication inside it would help stop the decay and kill any bacteria. Then the body can actually heal itself and build the tooth back up preventing a root canal if it's caught in time. Well they did that for mine and no root canal.

No sensitivity even after only a week later. I too understand the sleepless nights. Amazing how one small hole in a tooth can ruin your life for a while.

I've been having lots of work done lately on my teeth. When I turned 19 I had to go to a new dentist. He was truely out for money. I've even told later dentists of what he wanted to do and they confirmed with disgust that he was one of those that were out for money and gave dentists a bad name. It totally turned me off of dentists because not only did he not do a good job on what he NEEDED to do but he wanted to do things that were totally unnecessary. Well after that I never went to a regular dentist for over 10 year. I did go to the local college for a cleaning a few times and they warned me about a number of cavities. So now I have LOTS of cavities. Well not quite so many I've gotten quite a few fixed lately. I have a couple more visits but then I should hopefully be done for a while.

No personal stories but my mom is going through something I would never try. She lost most of her teeth and used a partial/dentures for years. She recently decided that she wanted teeth again and is going through four painfull procedures. One removes bone from her knee and reenforce her jaw, one to have mounting supports put in and two to have teeth reinstalled. The total cost will be about $14,000.00.

Cheers for the stories and advice guys and gals! Anotehr day with more pain, hopefully this temporary filling will sorty it out. Back to the dentist in another 9 days for hopefully JUST a full filling to replace the temporary one...... ah well at least they have a nice receptionist :thumbsup:
The tooth pain really puts every other pain into perspective though. I also recently dislocated my knee and whilst painful i think that the hight of tooth pain is MUCH higher... The only way I can think of describing it (when i had two days of agony) was like a 2 day (and night) tattoo being done with no end in sight!

Sounds like you guys need to slip over to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico...good dentist and you can get most of that work done for about $14 US...and the the dentists actually live in the the United States....no taxes, and less goverment B.S. for them..

I know the pain so well. I had a sinus infection about a month ago. I started antibiotics for it and the pain from the sinus infection had just begun to subside after two days of meds. Then I broke that filling out that I mentioned earlier. The pain from my exposed tooth/cavity was worse than my sinus infection had been. I was trying to sleep with my cheek laying on an icepack just to kill the pain. I also discovered that rubbing icy hot on my cheekbone numbed the pain a little (overloaded the nerves so things didn't hurt as much) and I even put nailpolish on my tooth just to get through the night without my saliva making it sting all night.

I feel your pain. Getting this fixed will be a huge relief I'm sure. Good Luck.

No oral for her for a while! :D