Went to the dentist yesterday, ended up being taken by rescue squad to the hospital.

[Blue Diadem]

They think I had a reaction to the nitrous oxide. The dentist office told my husband that I passed out and stopped breathing. The hospital kept me overnight to do tests and make sure everything was ok. As best the hospital could determine, after running ekgs, a cat scan, several blood tests etc, is that it was a reaction to the nitrous.

It was the first time I've ever had it. The dentist had given me 4 shots and every time he'd try to pull the tooth, it felt like pure nerve pain. That's when he decided to use the nitrous stuff and that's the last I remember going on around me until I woke up to the EMT's and paramedics.

I still have the damn tooth too.

[graywarrior]

1. Holy crap!

Glad you are ok. Kinda funny that you still have the tooth, tho.

[Blue Diadem]

4. Yeah I was surprised it was still there. I guess

it happened before he could do anything with the tooth. It's weird, it hasn't hurt at all since then.

[graywarrior]

6. It learned it's lesson.

[Blue Diadem]

8. *snort*

:rofl:

[LeftyFingerPop]

2. Jesus! I'm glad you are ok! n/t

[Blue Diadem]

5. Thank you. I'm glad too. :)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear Blue Diadem!

Wow, what a scary thing! I'm glad you're OK, and too bad about the tooth.

I hope they can figure out some other way to get it out...

:hug:

[Blue Diadem]

7. I have to call the dentist in a while.

He called and spoke to my daughter last night. He's having whatever guages there are checked out to make sure nothing is faulty on his end.

I think he said something about checking with an oral surgeon while I was on my way out of his office on the gurney, but that's all kind of fuzzy.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

33. In my last year of law school,

a classmate went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled.

The guy who delivered the oxygen and nitrous oxide canisters had reversed them.

My classmate died instantly.

That stuff's scary. I'm glad you're all right, but, yeah, you don't want to go back there. An oral surgeon is a much better idea.

[Blue Diadem]

38. That's awful about your classmate.

My trust is zero right now for any dentist. I just don't know how to find a good oral surgeon I can trust. Around here, it's more about people knowing someone personally rather than the quality of the work or their personal experience.

[Shell Beau]

9. Gah!! Glad you are ok! That sounds freaky!

:hug:

[Blue Diadem]

10. It was freaky.

If I didn't have anxiety before when I go to the dentist, I will definitely have it now.

[applegrove]

11. That is so scary. Glad you are allright.

[Blue Diadem]

15. Thank you applegrove.

[jobycom]

12. Egads! Glad you are alright. Hope your bank account doesn't suffer much!

Not that it's my business, but I'm curious whether your insurance covers all that, or whether they will try to get the dentist's insurance to pay it, or what.

Yeah, that wouldn't be my first concern, but being a bookkeeper, it would be high up there after I was sure I was alive. :rofl:

[Blue Diadem]

14. Today is technically the last day of our insurance unless we pick up Cobra.

DH got laid off in early Feb and our insurance coverage ends tonight at midnight. When he came to pick me up at the hospital he told me the cobra papers finally came.

Believe me, it's a concern for me. We have crappy insurance anyway with a large deductible which we're still paying from last year when DH was hospitalized and they found his heart problem.

It may push us closer to bankruptcy.

[dysfunctional press]

18. you can sign-up for cobra retroactively...

i think you have 60 days to do so- and sometimes it's better to wait, in case he/you get a job with benefits by then, and don't need to avail yourself of it.

[ThomCat]

13. I am very, very sorry you had to go through all that.

And you still have to go back to the dentist. :(

:hug:

No more nitrous for you. Hopefully your dentist has other options for you next time.

[Blue Diadem]

16. If I wasn't anxious before I sure will be now.

I don't think I ever want to see another dentist. :cry:

Thank you ThomCat. :hug:

[tinkerbell41]

17. Sorry! Did they give you epinephrine in your novocain

I totally get nuts with it, have a panic attack heart starts pounding out of chest.
Maybe it was a reaction to the mixture to nitrous and epinephrine

[Blue Diadem]

20. There was an EMT who kept questioning them

about what was in the 4 shots and I remember hearing him saying epinephrine. The EMT knows my daughter and he told her my heart rate was all over the place, from very high to very low.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Excellent point..glad you mentioned that.

I have to specifically tell them NO epi.
Does my heart and anxiety no good, plus it counteracts the
20 mg. of Valium I have to take when they drag me into the dentist office.

[tinkerbell41]

41. 4 shots would do me in!!

Seriously, i would probably go into cardiac arrest. I went to a new dentist 3 mos ago i told him no epi, gave it to me anyway, 2 shots. Within minutes I was freaking out thinking I was nuts. I said "I don't feel so good" he pushed me back in chair told me to relax left and shut the door.
I got up and left room looking for someone to calm me down, sooooo embarassing. I NEVER went back and I won't.The new guy understands no problems.

[Rambis]

19. glad you are ok- hope you lose the tooth soon

I would not be able to get through a dental visit without my hippie crack! I am a dental wimp-

[Blue Diadem]

23. Yeah I hope I can find someone to remove it without killing me.

To think I was having it pulled because we couldnt' afford a root canal and crown...now we're stuck with a hefty hospital bill.

[dembotoz]

21. i don't pass out until i see the bill

[Blue Diadem]

24. I don't want to think about the bill.

*eeeeeeeekkkkkkk*

[BikeWriter]

22. DaMMiTT! That sounds like a close call. Don't do that anymore!

[Blue Diadem]

25. Hey you! It's good to see you around here again.

I'll try not to do that anymore. Suffice it to say, I saw the light. I'm not kiddin' about that either.

I hope you're doing well.

[Haole Girl]

26. It sounds strange that your Dentist couldn't control the pain better

I would definitely not go back to that dentist.

So glad you survived that. :hug:

[Blue Diadem]

27. I was surprised too. He's done other work for me that

wasn't bad at all. I definitely won't be having his office do anything else other than maybe occasional cleanings. It's difficult, he's local and our granddaughter goes to school and plays soccer with his kids and most of the kids of his employees.

It's a strange feeling to be so serious one minute to be transported and admitted, then home 24 hrs later feeling ok, exhausted but ok.

[MorningGlow]

28. OMG! So glad you're all right (remaining tooth notwithstanding)

Scary shit! :scared:

Um...I'm going to the dentist tomorrow morning. Maybe I shouldn't have clicked on this thread...?
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[Blue Diadem]

34. Thank you MorningGlow.

Yeah, it's finally scaring the crap out of me. Yesterday I must have still been in shock. Now I'm going between anger and fear because I don't know what I'm going to do. Just thinking about having my tooth removed now makes me sick.

Good vibes to you for your appt. this morning.

[Rhythm]

29. That sucks... glad you're o.k....

I passed out for about 20 minutes the first time i ever had it. The tech had the concentration too high. Had the damnedest dream, too... like i was strapped to the outside of a ball, and was falling and spinning all wobbly through black space.

[Blue Diadem]

35. I saw a big bright white light

really bright. Then I could hear people calling my name but it was a struggle to respond.

[begin_within]

30. You need to find a better dentist or go to an oral surgeon even for extractions.

Even though general dentists can do extractions, they can't always tell how easy or difficult a particular tooth is going to be. Neither can an oral surgeon, but at least they are more skilled at it. Oral surgeons - in my experience anyway - are far better at even simple extractions, and usually quicker too. In a couple of cases, the surgeon had the tooth out before I had thought they even started pulling. There are some that are so good at it that they would never need to use nitrous. They would administer the right amount of novocaine in the right place, and test you out before starting, and add more if necessary, and have that tooth out within minutes. My opinion anyway.

[Blue Diadem]

36. I need to start looking for another one before this tooth begins again.

When I think back, this dentist did pull another tooth for me. While I don't remember feeling pain when he did it, he broke off a root and it took quite some time for him to remove that.

[begin_within]

39. Wow, after reading that,

if I were you I would never set foot in his office again. There are plenty of dentists. I would ask around to everyone you know to get some good recommendations.

[Blue Diadem]

40. compared to other dentists who have pulled teeth for me,

I guess I thought he was ok before this last fiasco.

I came home one time and looked in the mirror and much to my horror saw a tooth still in my mouth that I'd just had pulled. She had broken most of it off at the gum line. I immediately called the dentist who told me it was phantom pain. She didn't believe I could see the tooth or that it was still there until I walked into her office and she saw it herself. It was a frickin' baby tooth too.(I have impacted eye teeth)

Before that and again with a different dentist, I had wisdom teeth removed and my jaw locked shut for almost a month. That dentist told me it was his fault, that he'd injected too deep into the muscle. I ended up with dry socket as well and had to see him every other day for weeks. He finally told me that one tooth had been sideways and he should have sent me to an oral surgeon.

I'm so ticked right now. They just called here. The assistant who was there administering the nitrous had the audacity to tell me I'd never had problems with Nitrous before. She was shocked when I told her that was the first time I'd ever had it.

[begin_within]

42. Wow - you have had some bad luck with dentists

Hope things work out better in the future. I'm very much in favor of specialists - oral surgeons for any type of extraction, periodontist for any type of gum work including "clinical crown lengthening," etc. Some general dentists may think they can do it all, or they do things just so they get the money instead of the specialist, or whatever. I think if your dentist won't refer you to a specialist when you request it, then you should change dentists.

[FloridaJudy]

32. Good grief!

I'm glad you're okay! Any chance it was an inadvertent intravenous injection of lidocaine? That can sometimes happen no matter how much care they take with the injections. That happened to me during a minor office surgical procedure by a gynecologist - and he was one of the best ones around. Last I remember was his telling me he was going to numb me up, before I woke up in the ambulance. He didn't use nitrous. Lidocaine drastically slows the heart rate when given intravenously: they actually use it for that purpose in hospitals.

Sorry you've still got the tooth. I'm deathly afraid of dental work: bad experience as a child. My dentist has to give me a short-acting sedative if she plans on doing any really scary stuff.

edited for grammar

[Blue Diadem]

37. I'm learning more about what they give in those shots and the mistakes that can take place.

While I've never been fond of dental work, I always managed to get through it. Now, after what happened, I think I'll be needing a sedative too.

I still haven't spoken to him yet. I was supposed to call him last night to let him know I got out of the hospital but I just couldn't bring myself to talk to him.