dentist

[cellio]

My dentist (Katsur Dental, "we cater to cowards") gets points for making things so easy:

Me: I think this 27-year-old filling is loose.
D: (poke) It's not exactly loose, but it's disintegrating in place. Would you like me to replace that for you now?
Me: Sure.
D: Novacaine?
Me: Will I regret saying no?
D: I'm the one dealing the pain. You have to decide that.
Me: Let's try without.
D: (drill drill drill) (fill fill fill) Ok, we're done.

Elapsed time: 10 minutes.

Pity about the "don't eat or drink for an hour" part, as I'd politely abstained from breakfast so my dentist wouldn't have to face foody bits. I'll survive. And I'll remember that when the other fillings of that vintage start to fail.

(I only have a few fillings. All are either of that vintage or replacements for same.)

Comments

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

That's impressive (says someone who fears the dentist).

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

I've had that happen for little cavities before. It always amazes me how quickly it's over--I don't know if it seemed to take much longer when I was in grade school because I was anxious, or because back then it actually took longer.

[cellio]

It's possible that replacing a filling is faster than the initial excavation. If nothing else, seeing the remaining silver bits is probably easier than seeing the tooth parts that need to be removed.

This one also turned out to be really shallow. The dentist wondered why it was there in the first place.

[psu-jedi.livejournal.com]

OMG! Your threshold for pain must be amazing! That, or I'm just an extreme wimp! I need double shots for any work on the uppers, and a direct shot into the tooth being drilled on the lowers (I've had 3 shots and I can STILL fill pain, and my dentist was smart enough to know of another way to get around the fact that my nerves don't follow the same path that 90% of the population does!). Anyway, I'm also one who has a filling in almost each tooth, so my teeth are just really really bad. As, you can tell, is my threshold for pain. :-)

[cellio]

I'm a wimp when it comes to pain, but I'm a big wimp about needles and I don't think I have any fillings that are really deep. I'm pretty sure that the original filling didn't involve novacaine, so I reasoned that its replacement wouldn't require it either.

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

PSU Jedi: Wow, another one. My dentist ordered a new, stronger mix of novacaine and "cheerfully" informed me that he figured if it worked on me, it would work on anyone. Yay for smart, caring dentists.

Monica, I cannot imagine getting worked on without novacaine. Your threshold may be better than you think...then again, I don't have many "shallow" fillings. Glad it went so well!