I am just EXHAUSTED...my trip to the dental hygienest...

[CTyankee]

She lectured me last time so I had told the receptionist to switch me to another for the scheduled cleaning today. However, due to some delays I had her again and I thought "maybe I was wrong about that one" and I thought maybe I shouldn't hold a grudge.

Same damn thing happened! She lectured me and told me I was doing the flossing WRONG and that's why I have all these problems.

I scheduled with someone else for next time. I really like my dentist. He was kind and helpful when I had to have a tooth pulled on the January day of the insurrection. I was crying in his chair but he made me feel better and prescribed great pain meds.

I need another extraction and have scheduled it. At least she won't be in the room...

[Walleye]

1. Ugh. I have an appointment Monday. Dreading it

[Wingus Dingus]

2. I had an upper wisdom tooth pulled a few weeks ago--

had a cavity and the dentist decided it was too much hassle to try and fill. What a pain in the butt--no nitrous, no meds beyond "take some ibuprofen and Tylenol". Took me two weeks of liquids and soft foods but I'm back to eating normally now. Sounds like your dentist is a keeper, even if the hygienist is a jerk (I've had ones like that too--snarky and insulting).

[Lochloosa]

3. I would look for a different dentist. You should not have to suffer pain going to a dentist.

There are very good pain meds that are perfectly safe for short term pain.

It took a few calls, but now I have a dentist that has no problem prescribing the pain meds I request.

Last wisdom tooth was nitrous w/ IV valium. Percodan for the pain. I was fine in a few days.

[Wingus Dingus]

6. Yes, I will try a different dentist if I ever have to do this again.

This is a group practice that I go to, and she was the only one who did extractions.

[CTyankee]

5. Oh, I will get meds when I have the extraction.

My husband had two teeth extracted by an oral surgeon. His pain was so bad afterward he fainted. I tried to help him to his feet and up the stairs (he crawled and I was behind him pushing). At the top of the stairs he collapsed and I had to call 911. They came immediately and got him into bed. We gladly paid the bill when it came.

[Wingus Dingus]

7. That's awful--sorry he had to go through that.

[zuul]

11. Ugh! That sounds horrible.

I went to a dentist a few years ago who performed half a root canal, decided that I needed to see an oral surgeon so he could complete the job, and then sent me away with no pain medication.

I made it about an hour until my mouth was screaming in pain. Then for some reason the dentist couldn't send a pain Rx to the pharmacy, so I had to drive back to his office, pick up the written Rx, and take it to the pharmacy. I was ready to kill the dentist. And then I had to go through the entire experience again with the oral surgeon.

Needless to say, I have never been back to see that jackass dentist again.

[Wingus Dingus]

13. Yikes. I never had a root canal, honestly that sounds worse.

[LisaL]

24. I will need to do that soon.

Apparently my wisdom tooth is wiggly and needs to come out. Not looking forward to it. Dentist never want to fill wisdom teeth as far as I can tell, they always want to yank them out.

[Wingus Dingus]

27. After the procedure, I wasn't too bad off with ibuprofen.

The worrying about dry socket is the worst part, IMO. Hope it goes easy for you!

[CrispyQ]

4. Oh, man, can I relate!

I had a regular hygienist who I loved, & another one was subbed in one day & I told the receptionist as I paid my bill "Please make a note in my file that if I'm ever scheduled with this hygienist again, I'll walk out & never come back." I was never scheduled with her again. You should call & request the same.

I had two horrid dental experiences when I was a kid & I hate dental work, even cleanings. So sorry to hear you have to have any!

[Grasswire2]

8. wow I'm sorry I read this thread.

Have a nasty extraction coming up soon. Rear upper molar, old root canal that is broken.

Yikes.

I guess I won't be able to walk home from the office -- about half a mile away.

[patricia92243]

9. I thought this was a joke. The hygienist urging you to take better care of your

teeth is GOOD!

[Midnight Writer]

10. A health care provider that only tells you what you want to hear is not very useful.

[Ocelot II]

15. Lecturing and haranguing a patient isn't the best way to do it, though.

Sounds like the OP's problem with the hygienist isn't with the information but the delivery. There are ways of offering advice that do n't come across as overbearing or demeaning.

[Akoto]

16. I avoided dental care for years because advising meant shaming the patient. nt

[2naSalit]

12. I had that experience with the only...

Dental practice in town that I could afford to see. I had an abscess and all she did was belittle me. I had been traumatized in the dentist chair as a child, drilling my teeth with no anesthesia so I had no patience for that wench.

I drive 40 miles one way to the next county to go to the dentist for small stuff. I just had a lot of work done over the last half of last year but I went to Idaho, a six hour drive, to get that done at the place I had been going to before I relocated this last time. Even with the long drive, I only had to pay for gas and meals because I can stay with friends there., and the dental work was all on a sliding scale. It cost me for two fillings, a crown and a root canal with full anesthesia each time, one third of what the root canal with anesthesia would have cost me here in Montana where health care is a fucking joke for all but the millionaires.

[milestogo]

14. I complained about my hygenist once, and they told me to find another dentist.

She turned out to be the owners daughter, and she could do no wrong.

[Ron Obvious]

17. I thought flossing was out?

I think I read they no longer recommend it, as it does more harm than good to the gums.

I've stopped doing it many years ago, opting for a rubber-tipped stimulator prodder instead, my recession numbers are fantastic and I haven't had any cavities for the whole time either.

[LisaL]

21. I don't think so.

NT

[lillypaddle]

18. I have had periodontal disease forever (or so it seems)

I finally got a great dental hygienist who patiently and nicely instructed me on how to clean my teeth properly. On her recommendation, I've been using an Oral B electric toothbrush for quite some time, and a WaterPik water flosser as well. Those items have turned my problems around. I would highly recommend them to you. Definitely worth the investment. I'd also recommend you switch over to a periodontist. They don't do cavities, but they will do an extraction, and either they or their hygienist will do a deep cleaning instead of the regular "scraping."

[CTyankee]

19. I have the Water Pic and will use it in the shower as I hear it sprays all over some times.

[LisaL]

20. Don't feel bad. It's not you, it's them.

I always get lectured on flossing when I go to the dentist.

[CTyankee]

22. "You're holding it wrong!" is what she said to me in a loud, unpleasant voice.

I said "OK, so SHOW me the right way!"

I'm gonna have to practice with my floss. I never heard of a "wrong" way of holding floss.

[LisaL]

23. I get the same.

I don't even tell them I am actually using flossers. I imagine they will faint in disgust.

[a kennedy]

25. Is this the place where I mention my husband had a cap replaced old had a crack so all they had

to do was take the old one off put a new one on……$1500 😳 😳 😳 $1500 dollars he was there for a tad over an hour!!!

[Skittles]

26. she should be made aware she is alienating you

her job DOES include educating but not belittling

[csziggy]

28. Yes, I had a very annoying hygienist at a previous dentist

I'd used that dentist from when I moved to town in 1972 until he retired in the early 2000s. In his letter to his patients, he gave a referral to another dentist with the promise that his dental hygienist would be working in that office. She was the primary reason I did NOT go to that dentist.

No, she didn't lecture patients, but while she was working in my mouth she'd tell me all the dirty details of her breakups with the exs and how she got revenge on them. The first dentist I tried after that, talked politics the entire time I was in his treatment room - I didn't go back to him.

I do not want to know the details of the private lives of professionals working on me. I don't want to know their politics. I just want them to do their job.

[flying rabbit]

29. My dental hygenest is the best

I drive 50 minutes to see her. The dentist ain't bad either. If you find a good one stick with them.