i have not been to a dentist in probably 10 years

Ow ow ow ow owww.

I have chipped my third canine. So the back of it is now really super-sharp. Now this wouldn't be such a bother if it weren't for the fact that it keeps catching food and also my tongue CAN NOT LEAVE IT ALONE so I keep nearly slicing mine own tongue on the really sharp bit.

Now, really, it needs to come out. No one needs three canines. But I haven't been to a dentist in so long I wouldn't even know where to start. (and I'm sure I have lots else wrong with my teeth, but it's only this tooth that ever bothers me really badly.)

HALP.

Are NHS dentists a myth like the tooth fairy?

Have to sign up to some 'care plan' thesedays.

Well, when I say "have to", who knows...

NHS dentists exist! But you'll probably have to make a hundred calls to find one. Maybe since you're happy / preferring to just have it removed rather than go for something difficult and costly you could visit the nearest dental school. They're generally happy to set nervous students loose on drop-ins.

YES BUT WHAT ABOUT NERVOUS DROP-INS.

There's a reason I haven't been to the dentist in 10 years.

And I would actually like it replaced. With a GOLD canine. That would be expensive.

It's really too bad that my employers don't do cosmetic dentistry, because then I could get it done for free. :-(

Cosmic dentistry!

I'm not sure if that sounds more like a Stereolab song or an Aphex Twin album.

cosmetic dentistry = first full week after my big lotto win

Actually, as much as I slag off cosmetic surgery, if I ever did fall into huge amounts of money, I'd walk across the road to Claudia Schiffer's dentist and open my mouth as wide as I could and say FIX THIS FUCKING MESS.

(I mean, I had some cosmetic dental surgery when I was a small child, when I first moved to the States, otherwise my teeth would be even MORE fucked up Big Book Of British Smiles stylee, but I guess the whole surgery and recovery and having to wear a retainer for years afterwards just traumatised me so much that I stopped going to dentists as soon as I was able.)

((I can still remember quite clearly some of the seriously fucked up hallucinations that I had while under anaesthesia for that surgery, and this was, like, 30 years ago!))

Argh argh argh, now I have seriously scared myself out of going to the dentist and I'm just going to suffer this chipped tooth rather than face that horror again.

"Fucked up hallucinations" sounds like nitrous, which they don't use any more, do they?

Good luck with the tooth, anyway.

This would have been about 1979. I've no idea what they use now.

(but if my wrist op is anything to go by, the Cluster style auditory hallucinations from whatever they're using now are much better than the old insane medical instrument hallucinations the previous anaesthetic used to do)

((if only I could use lucid dreaming techniques to make being put under a nicer experience))

stroszek that shit

Sometimes I wish I was the chauffeur of ILX, driving everyone to appointments they were terrified of and calming them down on the way. "There now, it'll be over before you know it." I'd be good at it, but it wld not be a lucrative venture.

and i would probably physically assault you in order to escape as we neared the dentists. sorry :(

You have turned my mild wish into a monkey's paw nightmare...I guess I should know better having seen all of the Wishmaster movies.

Oh, I'm quite good at turning up to appointments that have been booked. What I'm seriously not good at doing is booking those appointments in the first place. (look how long it took me to get that awful growth on my wrist checked out.)

I HAVE TO GET EMERGENCY ROOT CANAL TOMORROW

:( :( :(

Sorry to hear that ENBB - hope it's relatively ok

I put off going to the dentist's for... about twenty years? Basically I've still got a milk tooth (lol dentally retarded), and back when I was 15 they said, we'll pull the milk tooth out the other tooth SHOULD come through, but if it doesn't we'll attach a little chain to it and pull it down bit by bit. And I said 'no fucking way' and didn't go back for twenty years.

Finally decided it was time to be adult about this, in spite of the fact I've still got a milk tooth, and went back just at the end of last year. Bricking it. Sweaty palms in the waiting room.

And it was fine! Nothing doing. 1 very disappointed dentist, who saw megabucks coming their way, but 1 v happy me.

Sorry, that's not very helpful. I'm not being smug, honest. I do genuinely hope it's about as painless as the phrase 'root canal' makes it sound like it can be.

my lil bro had this done last month it was fine e, he didn't feel a thing

Thanks guys. I'm sure it won't be that bad. I mean, it can't be worse than how it feels now. Since it's a temp/emergency root canal It'll only take 45 mins and then I'll have to go back for the rest in a couple weeks. It's more annoying than anything especially after being really sick for a week. Not my month!

gl

My third canine finally shattered and came out in bits on Friday.

So today I went to the dentist for teh first time in (I had to ring my Mum and ask) 25 years. One of my colleagues at work had to ring the dentist and make the appointment for me, I was too phobic to do it.

jesus christ I am high. When are the tip of my nose and eyelids coming back online? They numbed it all so they could pull out the little bits still stuck in the gum. Oh, the weird numb pressure. They are going to refer me for DENTAL IMPLANTS. Isn't that something off the X-Files?

I am so disappointed that I only have the two requisite canines instead of three now. I hope that I can specify that my dental implant is a third canine again. I would not look like myself without it.

When are the tip of my nose and eyelids coming back online?

I love this question.

They'll implant a fake tooth that looks like the real one it is replacing.

The tooth it is replacing is my milk tooth canine. However, my adult canine came in where my baby eye tooth was. So they would have to give me another canine. (Or yet more crazy orthodontical surgery and hijinx to move them about which I already endured when I was a child and my adult canine came down in the wrong place, pushing everything out of alignment. Which I really refuse to go through again.)

one of my teeth, evidently in solidarity with WCC, broke off at the gumline while I was chewing gum the other day. having lots of fun getting that situation sorted

Chewing gum? oW! I thought granary bread was fierce enough. Sticky situation. Hope you can get that sorted.

On a related note, when I was about 13 the dentist discovered that one of my canines was actually the milk tooth. They did an x-ray and found that the adult tooth had never descended and for some reason was lying sideways in my gum. After about six months of wearing braces I had surgery where they pulled out the milk tooth, sliced open my gum and essentially rammed the adult tooth into the hole. They said the tooth was actually dead, but was kind of fused to the bone and should last for 5-10 years. It looked normal at first, but gradually got higher and higher compared to all the teeth around it. After 24 years it was still there but my dentist said it needed removing and I had to go to hospital in April to get this done. I now just have a gap where the tooth was. The solution they recommended would cost about £3,000, but I think I'll just do nothing and keep the gap - I put up with a weird looking tooth for so long, I think I can cope with the space.

Ha! I always thought that having a persistent milk tooth was some weird rare thing, but here are 3 people on the thread with adult milk teeth.

i used to have FOUR eye teeth, the adult ones growing from high up the gum over the top of the milk teeth, giving me shark-style layers. then i had the overlapping ones removed. so i guess both of my eye teeth are milk teeth?

I did have five Wisdom teeth, which my dentist reckoned he'd never seen before.

I also had that 'long away from the dent, tooth shatt" thing, it was a Heston Services pie that did it.

I dunno, I remember being back at the dentists, having the fingers in't gob and all that, and thought to myself "Is this really so bad?" and decided no.

So, not phobic, not exactly regarding it as a pleasure, it now rates as 'more desirable than my yearly review'.

Oh, and more recently, I got a gold replacement for the shatttooth. Gril.

If I could get a gold tooth out of this, I would die of happiness. But that would probably cost a bomb, right?

Last time I went to the dentist he gave me a filling with no anaesthetic at all! Apart from a few chair-gripping moments it wasn't too bad, the pain was only temporary. Probably for a bigger filling they'd make more effort, or then again maybe not what with budgets being slashed and all.

We enrolled in a 'dental plan' just so we could get the kids NHS cover (!)

The tooth (actually a filling) was about £120 on top of the 'plan' price..

still pretty cheap from everything i've heard
i mean, dentists here (canada) usually charge over $200 for a cleaning (incl standard xrays) alone

i got my teeth cleaned last week after 2 years of not going to the dentist (no insurance, then just was being lazy abt making an appointment) and everything is good + my teeth are so clean and stain-free! my dentist gave me a deal and i promised to go to the dentist for a cleaning once a year, done and done.

I went today! My dentists love my teeth.

Ha! I always thought that having a persistent milk tooth was some weird rare thing, but here are 3 people on the thread with adult milk teeth.

Tell me about it - it's been quite a relief. Finding NB&S's story particularly reassuring. When I was about the same age (13/14) the dentist said that I should have my remaining milk tooth out, because the tooth above it wasn't coming down. They said they'd attach a chain to it, and gradually pull it down.

I didn't want to have a little chain in my mouth, so I didn't go back to the dentist for 20 years.

Fortunately, when I went to the dentist, there was nothing wrong with my teeth and no more talk of mini chains being put in my mouth. I was bricking it beforehand - going up and down the street in a cold sweat. My milk tooth is still there of course, and from time to time it becomes a little loose, and start getting worried, but then it seems to firm up again. Staying away from granary bread.

any other holders out out there who do not go to the dentist?

Yes I have not been in probably 10 years or more. I know I should go but I am afraid to, plus I don't have a dentist and am not sure how to find one. I'm nervous about finding one I will be comfortable with. I might just give in and go to my parents' dentist that I used to go to even though I never especially liked him. At least he has my file. I don't want to be lectured by him or his dental hygienist, who has lectured me before. I also had a bad experience with him while having my wisdom teeth removed.
Last night I had a terrible dream that my teeth were cracking and in it I thought, Yes, I really should have gone back to the dentist sooner.
I have always been afraid to go to the dentist (as well as the doctor). I did go regularly as a child and for some time after.

Ahhh, the dentist. I got my wisdoms removed and one of them messed up the side of my outermost tooth. The hygenist was poking it and it hurt real bad. I said "ouch" and she said "do you know why this is hurting you?", and I said "yeah because you're poking it!" then kicked her tray over and walked out of the office

did that happen in reality?

frogbs

I last visited the dentist in 2001. I had my wisdoms removed and was scheduled to do some other work, but then I moved and never got around to following up with that.

harsh dentist - they wouldnt let you move? at all?

Neither have I because I know when I get my super large inheritance (pool and pizza for everyone whee!!!) I am getting my teeth done along with the rest of my glamorous lifestyle!!

I know that day is coming.

Every ten years I skip going for a couple years, a mistake that inevitably results in a deep cleaning thus a deep fucking with my bank account.

Me too but I need new veneers put on my teeth and wanted them fixed anyway. It's just that the last time I went to the dentist I got scare stories. I mean, I take care of my teeth but I don't need the abuse.