I hate visiting the dentist. It’s one of the few things in life that can keep me awake in the middle of the night and make me break into a cold sweat whenever I think of it. But I’m making my kids go so it’s pretty hypocritical of me to not go myself. I talk about it today.
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My dad is very similar about the dentist. Had some very bad experiences when he was young (with a dentist that would not have been allowed anywhere near people today). Even after having a good dentist more recently, he still breaks out in a cold sweat just thinking about an upcoming appointment.
I guess you have to get it done but you need to find a dentist that you are comfortable with and that doesn’t leave you in pain.
Good luck with it, I know it’s not an easy thing to do.
I keep wishing the dentist would just put me completely under – knock my @$$ completely out before starting. Despite having some sympathy for dentists having read Piers Anthony’s Prostho Plus, about the adventures of a poor human dentist thrust unprepared into the world of Galactic Dentistry.
Hi Nathan, I hope the dentist went okay. Did you say you were seeing someone new? If so, good. Time for a new one if he or she keeps telling you that kind of pain is normal.
I used to dread the dental checks because of the cleaning. Most of the time I’ve had pretty good hygienists, but there are those sensitive spots that I would sit there in dread of being hit. After the exam I had some sensitivity for a while, but not like what you describe.
About 3 check-ups back, I told the hygienist about the sensitivity and she sold me a tube of Clinpro-5000 toothpaste. This has a 1.1% solution of fluoride. I normally use non-fluoride toothpaste. She told me to use this for a few days whenever I feel pain from sensitivity. You use this stuff once a day and you do not rinse out your mouth for 30 minutes or so after use. It works great for me. In a few days, I no longer have the sensitivity. And I got the bright idea to be sure to use it the week before my exam and I have no more pain with the cleaning.
I’m very happy for you about the book progress! And that scale sounds pretty awesome. I finally dropped down off a plateau I was on for a couple months. I was faithful to just keep doing the tracking and eating right and exercise, but the time came when weight loss stopped for a while. I just recently went on fosamax for low bone density; so I told myself that I was making bone and muscle from the weight training. Seeing that 1 pound loss that stuck was wonderful. I’m glad I was getting positive feedback from the things I was doing. That offset the feedback from the scale.
About the RSS: There is RSS for comments, but I don’t see it listed in the feed list. I found it by using Sage which will discover feeds.
Nate,
I, too, have had some difficulties with sensitive teeth. My dentist applied a special varnish to the exposed root portions of the teeth. It should be noted that this varnish is one of the newer epoxy formulations that hardens when exposed to a particular spectrum of light. This varnish seals those sensitive areas of the teeth and I’m a whole lot happier as a result. I have my dentist reapply this special coating after every tooth cleaning. Works for me!