Went in for a crown the other day. The dentist got called away to a different patient midway through. Anesthesia started wearing off. Dentist took her time with the other patient. I was fairly tensed up by the time she got back. I was doing my best to balance being polite with limiting how much the pain affected me. The longer she was gone, the less I was able to pretend I wasn’t in pain. My strategy for pain management is tensing inwards, and I hadn’t raised my voice or cursed. I was waiting for my turn.
A friend who works there later told me that the dentist said I scared her and she thought I was going to harm her. I can’t seem to make sense of that. I can’t think of what threatening behavior I displayed, unless dentists getting attacked by patients is just a thing they have to deal with.
The lidocaine being insufficient for the task is something I just have to deal with. Dental visits for me will always involve toe-curling pain. I require more lidocaine than is safe.
The real secret is to mask my pain until it’s unbearable, then get the second dose. I listened to the dentist this time and spoke up whenever I was in pain. Well, that meant I got the second dose too early, so the last 30 or so minutes in the chair were raw.
I would consider a new dentist, and probably a sedation dentist if you have issues with numbing.
Depending on what you are having done, there is also laser dentistry. And my dentist has some special drill where he has done shallow cavities for me with no novacaine and I didn’t feel shit except the usual drilling/pressure feeling.
This dentist just sounds shitty. Yes you were tensing up but you already told them a bunch of times you were in pain. They should have had a plan in place that y’all had agreed upon for dealing with a situation where the lidocaine wears off. Or maybe schedule you at a time where there are no other patients so they could go as fast as possible with no interruptions. Maybe I am expecting too much here but my dentist is the bomb and would easily do that for someone.
No no no no no!
You should not be in pain. PERIOD.
If the dentist is causing you more than mild discomfort they’re doing it wrong and you should not accept that! If lidocaine doesn’t work for you then they need to try other meds or different dosages.
This has been normalized for you and it’s wrong. You deserve better.
Find a better dentist. One who focuses on you, listens to you, doesn’t shame you for being in the pain they caused.
Also ask for gas. It doesn’t stop the pain, but it relaxes the mind somewhat.
I tried that. I got paranoid. Gas made the experience worse.
e: iirc, I think they might have overhyped it as an extreme mind altering drug that would affect my ability to make decisions. The important take away I fixated on was:
Things are not as they seem. You are not in control.
I wasn’t able to shut the Clockwork Orange montage vibes out.
In retrospect, I had gas a bunch of years prior. It’s mild af.