Disaster Appointment Has Me Concerned

Question submitted by Dana: 

I have never been like, “Woohoo! I’m going to the dentist.”  But this last appointment has me not wanting to go back. It took twelve different shots in order to get me numb. I know that is the number because the dentist called it the lucky dozen. I did not find that nearly as funny as he did. Once I was finally numb, he extracted my tooth. A few days later, I developed a bone spur. I went back and he removed the spur. That took about 30 minutes and more pain. Now it has been a bit over a week since the spur and it feels like it has a sharp ridge there. Is this a normal part of the healing process?

Dana

Dear Dana,

I am sorry for the trauma you’ve experienced during your dental appointment. I have a solution for you about this for your future appointments that we’ll get into in a moment. First, I want to address your question. When your tooth was first removed, the socket will have had a sharp edge to it. At first you won’t notice that because there is swelling and the gum tissue is over it. As the site begins to heal, the gum shrinks back down, which makes the sharp edge more noticeable. It is a normal part of the healing process so you don’t need to worry. If it is bothering you,  there are ways for your dentist to smooth it over or clip it for you.

I wanted to address how hard it was for your dentist to get you numb. Most dentists are not aware that if you have dental anxiety it makes it hard for your numbing medication to do its job. This is because the anxiety amps up your metabolism which burns it off.

The next time you have to have dental work done that would require you to be numbed, make sure you do it with a sedation dentist. They can give you some medication that will completely relax you. It is relaxing you which will allow the medication to numb you and stay numb for the appropriate amount of time.

This blog is brought to you by a gentle prosthodontist Dr. Howard Steinberg.
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