4.04.2012

Feeling better.

I'm not quite as grumpy as I was for my last post. But still haven't found that happy place ... I think I will find it once I can close my eyes and not open them again for 6 hours. Srsly. It's been too long.

Or maybe when my house figures out how to clean itself. That might cheer me up a bit.

Or maybe I should just tell you about my horrific dental experience?

So I'm petrified of the dentist. Always have been. Don't know why. But even at the age of 8 my mom had to give me liquid Valium just to get me out the door. So now as an adult I avoid the place as much as possible. But the time came where I just can't avoid it anymore. I need to get my wisdom teeth out. So I had to start with a check up. Honestly just scheduling the appointment inflicted me with digestive issues. So you can imagine how actually driving myself and walking into the dentist's office effected me. I was pretty much a wreck. I told the receptionist about my anxiety. I told the hygienist. She spoke rather coldly and told me it was just a cleaning and there was no reason to be stressed about it. Not in a comforting way, but more in an annoyed kind of way. Anyway my legs were shaking the entire time, and I could not stop the tears from streaming out of the corners of my eyes and pooling in my ears (due to being reclined). It was also one of the most painful cleanings I've ever experienced. And she lectured me about flossing and regular dental visits pretty much the entire time. Then the dentist came in. I asked what he was going to be doing, and told him I had some anxiety. By this point I was no longer crying, but still shaking a little. He looked at me and told me flat out, "We can not handle your level of anxiety in this office. You're going to have to go a sedation dentist for your fillings. Good luck finding that with your insurance."  I was kind of flabbergasted. My level of anxiety?! Dude, you haven't seen anything. Talk to the three other dentists who have witnessed me vomiting, kicking, punching, and having full blown panic attacks. I honestly thought I had handled myself fairly well. Apparently not! And the good luck finding that with my insurance?! How rude. Yes we have crappy state health insurance while Aaron is in school. We are not moochers, or liars, or lazy scum of the earth type people, this guy was treating me like. Ugh, it was awful. Then he walked me up to the receptionist and told her not to schedule me for any future visits. I was so shocked! He never even talked to me about the cavities I apparently have, but did give me the referral for my wisdom teeth. So now I just need to find the courage to do that. Someone tell me how it's not so bad to get them out. Tell me how it's relaxing.Or something, anything! They have been getting infected a lot lately, and I know they need to come out. But living with a lifetime of infection honestly sounds better than having someone dig four teeth out of my skull.

... this didn't help with my grumpiness. Oohh well. Oh by the way I lost another EL BEE so I'm down 15. I'm really excited, even though I'm not even close to winning the contest.

6 comments:

Geevz said...

What a jerk! I'd check out a dental school for the fillings. Often they don't take insurance but are pretty dang cheap.

I'm sorry you had such an ordeal! Maybe go to another doc and see if you can get more valium?

And what is an EL BEE?

Tom and Juli said...

Wisdom teeth? You will never have as good of sleep as you have when they put you out... Even after waking and going home you are still so tired you will literally sleep for days. At least that's always been the effect sedation has had on me. So there's the sleep you've been missing so much! Just make sure to have made arrangements for the kids.

The other plus is sore mouth will put your on a restrictive diet and I'm sure you will lose even more weight!

Not to mention crazy Coyote Ugly dreams... Wait, maybe that only happened to me. :).

But yeah... That dentist was a jerk, sorry you had to deal with him.

LaurenOpie said...

Geneva - el-bee = lb... pound... yeah I don't know. I should have just typed pound. lol

Lisa Eggs said...

That is the worst, most unprofessional dentist working in America!!! Denists should be prepared for patients' anxiety. Dental anxiety is very common. What a quack. I bet he doesn't have a cool blog like you do. This blog is a little gem among blogs! p.s. thanks for the comment the other day :)

Rebecca said...

I used to work for a dentist and we had a sedation dentist on site. And we ALWAYS treated his patients with the GREATEST care. I would seriously report that dentist you went to to the Better Business Bureau and even tell your insurance about him. If I were you, I would call your insurance and ask for recommendations. They should know the one that are more gentle and caring. Good luck.

Liz said...

I would report the dentist as well. There are many different ways he could have approached that situation and unfortunately he chose the worst way. When you come back to AZ, I can give you the name of a dentist in Scottsdale that uses sedation... and everyone where I work LOVES him. I hate going to the dentist, so I haven't gone to him yet... I have to decide what I really want to do with that. For me, I'm not scared... I just hate them. The wisdom teeth- you can be put all the way under for that. You won't even know it happened, except that your jaw is sore. And you'll get pain killers for that. But, for the actual experience of having them taken out... well, you won't even know it happened.