i have not been to a dentist in probably 10 years

amateurist, yes the dentist is expensive. esp. since i can't even pay rent tomorrow, much less a dentist.

But man, gimme that laughing gas.

that said, i'm gonna bookmark this thread and look at it whenever i'm tempted to skip a day. brrrr.

[xpost] my husband had his wisdom tooth pulled out in pieces (it was broken)...and he kept it. on the nightstand. still has it. it's gross.
I'm making him a gift of a matchbox & some cottonwool. I just want it to go away.

Hence I'm really paranoid about people looking at my teeth. Especially with my having three canines and all.

my dentist story is on the "scary things yr hairdresser sed" thread: i haven't been since then

Rather shamefully, I haven't been back since. I have rediscovered the joys of flossing though.

(I also get a weird, uncomfortable, maddening sensation if I touch papers napkins (or other similar kinds of paper) when my fingers are too dry. And not dry to the point of cracking or flaking or anything, just the kind of dryness that comes from wind or air. If this happens I have to put the napkin down and get some kind of wetness or even like pizza grease before I can touch it again. Does this happen to anyone else?)

But the thought of me not going to the dentist for ten years is horrifying. I've gone to the dentist pretty much every 6 months for as long as I can remember, but I've always been lucky to have good dental insurance. I basically never floss (I flossed like 3 times last year), but I've never had a cavity. I do usually brush twice a day, and it usually brush for a couple minutes. And then a lot of times I start reading something while I'm brushing my teeth, and I end up sitting there with a mouthful of toothpaste for like 5 minutes, so maybe that somewhat makes up for not flossing?

Also, the last time I went to the dentist, they gave me a walkman to listen to, which is like the greatest idea ever. It totally helped distract me. The next time you go to the dentist, I highly recommend bringing some kind of portable music player. You also get to avoid awkward dentist conversation. It still baffles me when they ask me questions while they're doing something in my mouth. How do they expect me to answer with more than a wordless noise?

I found a very local NHS dentist who fixed a broken filling for me for very little cash, but I left his surgery actually feeling he hadn't done enough work in there (I can feel, clearly, the fissure between the patched-up filling and the body of the tooth, and if that isn't a bacterial pleasure palace I don't know what is), which is entirely unlike my reaction to my previous, private dentists, who fucked my mouth about at enormous expense and caused problems for years where there had been none before.

I won't be going back to Kennington then. (The missus has just registered at one in Crystal Palace - they actually put a leaflet through our door courting our registration! NHS shortages a media myth, blah blah blah).

You can put your name on a dentist's list in the same way that you can register with a family doctor (GP). Find a dentist, ring them to check they offer NHS treatment and ask to put your name on their list.

Some dentists will only register you as a patient after an initial examination. When you visit the surgery you should remind them that you want to be registered as an NHS patient.

Your period of registration will last for 15 months. If, after registering with an NHS dentist you have not made an appointment within 15 months, your registration will no longer be valid and you will have to register again.

If you see your dentist regularly, you will not need to do this.

Yeah, same here! Have gone every six months since I was able to remember things at four or whatever, will be going in a couple more weeks. My dentists always say I've done a very good job with my teeth, with the exception alas of two small cavities I got back in 1984. Otherwise, smooth sailing. And my wisdom teeth came out in one piece and with no fuss. I love me.

this makes me feel rotten.

i never had dental issues as a kid, not one cavity, and then about age 15 all of the sudden they would find new ones all the time, which i find very odd becuase it seems as though i take better care of my teeth now than when i was seven. anyway, i have insurance, but i haven't made an appt yet, i think because i'm secretly afriad. also, i don't want to pay the deductible and copay for a filling.

I need to go, but I have hated every dentist that I've ever gone to. When I take my car to the mechanic, he doesn't give me a hard time because it's been years since I've gone. No, he just fixes the damn thing. Dentists, in my experience, just want to throw a guilt-trip over you before taking a thousand x-rays for no reason at all.

i didn't find that to be the case when i was a kid.

what's up with all you dental slackers??

This same doctor slapped my cousin once because he thought she was being a bit too hysterical. Never mind the fact that he TORTURED KIDS AND CHARGED THEIR PARENTS FOR IT.

no dental insurance!

Fuck American health care

i hadn't gone in 10 years and i went over xmas. i was told that i was RUINING MY GUMS because i brushed INCORRECTLY! i have been going side-to-side for my entire life. the dentist was like NO NO NO AAAAGGGH NO. brush in the direction your teeth grow he said. he said "be gentle." i was, apprently, brushing my gums into oblivion. i should probably floss too huh, i said. "just the ones you want to keep." i remembered hearing the same line from him, 10 years earlier. and i still had them all! HA.

anyway, i have decay on two teeth, but they're my wisdom teeth and he said i should get em yanked soon anyway, so he didn't bother doing anything to them.

i reported all this to my dentist friend who lives in glasgow. he had a somewhat glaswegian attitude, i guess. he emailed back: "why did you go to the dentist? were you in pain?"

One dentist said to me once, "You don't wash your hands until they bleed, do you? Then why do that to your gums?" Makes sense, I guess.

I'm going in on Thursday for my first appointment since the Clinton administration. Never been to this guy before. If he recommends braces, I'll be excusing myself once more.

yes, too much of the former, plus genetics, led to gum surgery for me. never had a filling, though.

i need to get 3 wisdom teeth out soon lol

thankfully got decent "bennys" so it won't cost me too much

my dental insurance now isn't any better than it was pre-Obamacare, so I guess this is a fitting thing to happen to me today

ugh sorry that suuucks :(

Got to go back in 2 weeks and see if the rest of my teeth are ok.
Had rot under an old filling which dentist said I might be able to get root canal work on. But would be €400 roughly and might still only make tooth last couple of years.
So had it out and kept it. Now got great gap.

getting your wisdom teeth out is kinda fun actually

coming down from the cool drugs they give you sucks

also hope you like spaghetti o's, cuz you'll be terrified to eat anything else

I like spaghetti o's so it was no problem for me

I broke another tooth (right next to my other broken tooth) y/day, the dentist was obv shut on Sunday, and now they're not answering their phone or email. c'monnnnn

It doesn't actually hurt so it's probably not actually urgent (yet?) but I would really like not to spend too many more days being scared to eat anything and using all the mouthwash and then wondering if mouthwash is also bad for whatever is now open to my tongue and bacteria

I've also developed a weird compulsive tooth-sucking/lip-chewing habit which I've been failing to train myself out of so I guess I'd better confess that to the dentist even though I know they're just going to say "well, that's a weird and stupid thing to do, don't do that then"

(if anyone has any tips on correcting bad mouth habits please let me know but I am aware that it is so far into the category of weird and stupid that probably nobody else has ever a) done it b) been unable to stop doing it)

My dentist is always on at me to stop clenching my teeth (I have a bite guard for that now, which is honestly the greatest thing I've ever spent money on) and biting my lips and the insides of my cheeks. Obviously these things are involuntary, so it's hard to stop, but I have started chewing on toothpicks, which does actually help a bit.

Ooh. Do you have a proper fitted bite guard or did you get a home-mouldable one? I tried one of the mouldable ones but couldn't really get it to fit. Toothpicks could be good as long as I don't manage to choke on one while stabbing the back of my throat - will try it out, thanks.

I've tried gum and it helps for a short while but eventually I notice I've moved the gum aside and gone back to chewing. Plus for some reason it really annoys me watching/hearing my coworker chew gum all day so I'd rather not do the same. Also weird, I know.

I got my tooth filled and the dentist told me to see the orthodontist in case teeth breaking in weird places + jaw grinding = both caused by alignment issues, as I do have an overbite and v crooked/crowded teeth - so that's next on my list of dental appointments in my new era of actually going to the dentist. Suspect tooth breakage is just because I eat way too much sugar and didn't see a dentist for 10 years but hey.

Ooh. Do you have a proper fitted bite guard or did you get a home-mouldable one?

I have a proper one, and I'm going to have to get a second one, because my dentist now reckons I should wear it while driving as well as while sleeping. I don't mind, though. Having it properly made was expensive, but it fits really well, so it's very comfortable. Bloody thing is nearly worn down already, though, and I've only had it two years.

All my back teeth are split. They've all got heavy filling from my teenage years, and I'm about to get a second crown put in back there. The tooth I'm just about to get crowned was so badly split that we didn't even know if the root canal would work, and I was going to have it removed, but then all the force of my bite would just come down on the next tooth along, so then I'd just have to get that one root canaled & crowned instead. Ugh. Stupid jaws.

My sympathy, that sounds like no fun.

So far my 4 back lower teeth are p screwed. TBH I just hope I can keep the chaos at the back where nobody can see it.

I saw the orthodontist and I might get a splint which AFAIK is like a mouthguard which does the double duty of being shaped to make my nasty teeth line up where they're supposed to instead of just at the back. That's phase 1 of a horribly expensive 4-stage, 4-year plan which I'm really not sure about, but I might do the splint anyway and hope it gets me out of bad habits...

read this thread at lunchtime, thought "i should really do something about that." Just shattered a molar on a peppercorn :(

sorry to hear & good luck sktsh!

Just had a tooth drilled out and refilled, but at least it didn't have to come out like the one above it.
Got another being done tomorrow.
Lovely.

i would totally get veneers if i could afford it.

xps thanks!

I'm kinda grateful for the broken tooth now, because it turned out to be pretty surface level stuff that waseasily fixed, but I had a bunch of cavities that needed urgent work. Had my first bit of treatment yesterday and apart from a bit of a sore jaw and huge guilt at having let this happen (my old man was a dentist and must be rolling in his grave) I'm ok.

700 pounds though!! :(

the two most expensive things i own are both dental 8)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/

I switched dentists about four years ago and lo and behold I haven't had to have a filling since. Last guy always wanted to drill out something or replace a filling, which sucks because I have the same dentalphobia that everyone else does. My habits haven't really changed much so I'm starting to suspect the other guy was maybe doing unnecessary work on me. Imagine having to get a root canal you don't actually need.

I've never had a cavity, had some orthodontics in '84-'86, wisdom teeth removed + some cosmetic dentistry in '99, and haven't seen a dentist since. I'll continue avoiding all foods with added sugars, brushing w/mouthwash every day I have to leave the house, flossing when I'm really bored, and avoiding the dentist till I actually have an issue.

I would not be surprised if preventative dentistry is much like medicine, where there's no benefit for patients with annual checkups (when assymptomatic), and remarkably little for screening. I certainly have seen no benefit and quite a bit of potential harm for the full set of head x-rays the last one needed annually.

why does this article contain a picture of space ghost

frogbs i'm sorry about you getting an unnecessary root canal, that totally sucks

mostly i just need regular deep cleaning because my gums are shit

i don't think that was a good article, there's some good stuff in there making the argument that dentistry needs to adopt more rigorous self-regulation and adoption of evidence-based standards but then it all gets thrown to shit by talking about one super-egregious fraud and then titling the article "is dentistry a science?"

but i guess the general public doesn't particularly want to read about the need for stronger self-regulation and perpetuation of evidence-based standards in the dental profession, i admit it does come off as a little dry

had a crown (the same one) come loose twice in like a month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jswebxVzEYA

I was talking to my mum who was giving me an update on my brother who lives in Dubai. She says he has finally found a really good dentist, who has taken every single last tooth out of his head.

"i have found a good veterinarian who has put down all my cats"

my grandma had all her teeth taken out as a 30th birthday present.