Had a pretty interesting day today at the office. Morning was pretty normal, drill and fill, check hygiene, extract a tooth etc. Nothing too out of the ordinary.
Pretty normal lunch. Trolled around on CP, ate an apple and a handful of wheat thins.
Then the afternoon hit.
I see inmates from the county jail here in town if they have a tooth ache or something, sheriff or deputy will call up and bring them up in shackles and the whole bit. It's not big deal, most of them are just happy to get out of pain and it's not a problem. So dude comes in, my assistant goes in to ask the normal "which tooth is bothering you, let me get an xray, blah blah". I was in the lab doing something so I wasn't really paying attention. She comes in and says "doc, you will need to come look at something" to which I responded "he need a tooth out, which tooth is hurting"?
"All of them". Huh, ok, weird response but lets go check it out. Sure enough, continued meth use pretty much causes things to not go so well intraorally, so he was pretty much decayed out and most teeth were broken off to the gumline (google meth mouth if you want to see it, i'm not messing with photos). Asked if I could extract all 26 teeth he had left in the 30 minute block we had on the schedule for him.
I laughed, said "nah, which one hurts the worst, we'll take that out". He pointed to one, I numbed it up, used an elevator to take it out, about 30 seconds worth of pressure and it was pretty lose. 2 teeth next to it are super mobile and infected (which starts draining as I get this one out, that smelt nice) so I told him he was getting 2 free extractions since he was already numb in that area and they were loose and I was right there, no harm no foul.
It's always fun when we see the inmates, the Sheriff comes up and sits in the room with them all serious, then when I come in the room we talk about hunting or why the Chiefs always break hearts or something.
He breaks down and starts crying thanking me, that he already felt better (if you saw the amount of infection I drained, you'd see why) and asked if he could make an appointment for when he got out. "Sure, how long you think you'll be in this predicament".
"I figure 4 or 5 years, you scheduling ahead that far yet"? Told him nah, just take care of himself and come see me when he gets out.
Next patient is an amish guy (we have a fairly big amish community near us), super nice guy, needs a crown. Asks if he can barter instead of pay, I ask what is in it for me, said he'd bring me a dozen eggs every week for 6 months (they have chicken barns or something) or I could have a quarter of one of the cows they're butchering. Sold, eggs and beef for a crown, sign me up.
Only problem with that is he scheduled an appointment for himself, but brought 4 other family members who all needed work done.
So we had a waiting room full of inmates and Amish this afternoon. Thought that might be a good name of a band or something. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
Oh, and I have another one. We purchased the practice next to us three months ago. Agreed to keep the dentist on as an associate. He died today. So now I'm gonna be busy as hell until I find a new guy.
Turned out worse for the other dentist..... [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
So, O. City, I've got a good one for ya. So over the weekend, I get a call from a lady I worked on last summer. She was new to the office. She's a phobic patient, hadn't been to see a dentist in 15 years, had shitty dentists in the past, blah blah blah. Anyhow, I use kid gloves and TLC.
She tells me she's broken a tooth. "one you worked on" she says. Tells me "it's the crown you did on the upper left. The last tooth in the back".
I tell her I'll meet her at the office (this is a Saturday btw). She says she can't. I tell her I'll see her Monday morning. She says she can't. I tell her to call Monday morning. She calls, sets up a time to see me Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday around noon, she calls and cancels and reschedules for Wednesday.
She comes in, and tells me that she bit on the hard red and white mint that you get a Chik Filet. "I knew I shouldn't have bit into that, I've never done that" she says. I look at the upper left and there is a piece of tooth missing from the distal (back) of tooth 14, which is not the back tooth. It's a tooth I had done a filling on, but just on the biting surface of the tooth. The crown I did is on the bottome btw. She tells me she thinks its "my work" that failed. I tell her that the mint is pretty darned hard and it would break any tooth. She tells me she isn't gonna pay to fix something I did that failed.
I tell her that even though I think the mint contributed to the problem (it was the problem) that she'd not have to pay because I just felt like taking care of her.
She kept saying "I'm just not prepared to take full responsibility for this" over and over. I finally sat back, took my gloves off, and said "look, if you want to go somewhere else, I'd be thrilled. Really, I'd be super happy. But, since you are here, I'm here, and I'm willing to fix this for no cost, we can either do this right now without wasting any more of my time, or you can leave now. It's up to you" She tells me she wants it fixed. I fix it. Then she proceeds to tell me that she thinks I did something extra so it wouldn't fail this time. WTF? I cleaned it, bonded it, cured it, polished it. Same as I've done ten thousand times. Freaks
That bitch probably didn't even thank you for the death's head moth cocoon you shoved down her throat at no extra charge. [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
What do you make that smells worse than Peridox? Anything?
Personally, I make some organic tainted methane from time to time that just smells like ass.
Professionally, we work hard to insure our products have a pleasing scent. However, we have a product containing oxalic acid that if it wasn’t formulated to cover the base odor would smell like burnt rubber on a decayed chipmunk. [Reply]
I have a crown on 14 that keeps coming loose. After it cracked in half I went without for about 6 months. I finally go in to the dentist and they did a reduction so they could get more post to bond the crown onto. This new crown didn't fit correctly and I told the nurse as much... when I closed my mouth it was the first thing to touch and I had to bite down hard in order for my other teeth to make contact. She gave no fucks and said the paper I was biting into looked just fine. So much for the "royal treatment" joke she made in reference to the crown.
Fast forward 6 months, about a week before I move to another state, and the crown comes off again while I am eating. It came down hard on 19 (which cracked open to the pulp) and sheared off the back side of 13. Go back to the dentist who, due to my moving states, does a masterful job of filling/rebuilding 13 and 19. Then she ground the crown down further so it actually fits my mouth. Told me I need to see a dentist when I get to my new place but work fell through and had no insurance.
Fast forward again... this time 4 months. The fucking crown is wiggly again but at least it doesn't come off the post. That said, my gum around the crown isn't happy... at all.
The best experience I've had was this last dentist, she was very generous with the happy gas and numbing agents as I don't do well at the dentist, who is 800 miles away from me and even she couldn't get my crown to stay in.
I'm about done with it. If it falls off or cracks again I may just call it done and leave it off for good because I cannot keep going back to the dentist to fix the same issue over and over and over again.
13 is super sensitive to cold but 19, the one that went down to the pulp, is solid.
WHY WONT MY CROWN JUST STAY PUT?!?!?!
/edit - I may have the tooth numbers wrong but top right first molar is the one with the crown. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
Oh, and I have another one. We purchased the practice next to us three months ago. Agreed to keep the dentist on as an associate. He died today. So now I'm gonna be busy as hell until I find a new guy.
Damn, that sucks. I'm in the process of buying another one myself, it's a fucking pain in the ass.
What are you gonna do?
Let me know if you need anything, I know some guys up there that might be able to help you out. [Reply]
Originally Posted by tooge:
So, O. City, I've got a good one for ya. So over the weekend, I get a call from a lady I worked on last summer. She was new to the office. She's a phobic patient, hadn't been to see a dentist in 15 years, had shitty dentists in the past, blah blah blah. Anyhow, I use kid gloves and TLC.
She tells me she's broken a tooth. "one you worked on" she says. Tells me "it's the crown you did on the upper left. The last tooth in the back".
I tell her I'll meet her at the office (this is a Saturday btw). She says she can't. I tell her I'll see her Monday morning. She says she can't. I tell her to call Monday morning. She calls, sets up a time to see me Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday around noon, she calls and cancels and reschedules for Wednesday.
She comes in, and tells me that she bit on the hard red and white mint that you get a Chik Filet. "I knew I shouldn't have bit into that, I've never done that" she says. I look at the upper left and there is a piece of tooth missing from the distal (back) of tooth 14, which is not the back tooth. It's a tooth I had done a filling on, but just on the biting surface of the tooth. The crown I did is on the bottome btw. She tells me she thinks its "my work" that failed. I tell her that the mint is pretty darned hard and it would break any tooth. She tells me she isn't gonna pay to fix something I did that failed.
I tell her that even though I think the mint contributed to the problem (it was the problem) that she'd not have to pay because I just felt like taking care of her.
She kept saying "I'm just not prepared to take full responsibility for this" over and over. I finally sat back, took my gloves off, and said "look, if you want to go somewhere else, I'd be thrilled. Really, I'd be super happy. But, since you are here, I'm here, and I'm willing to fix this for no cost, we can either do this right now without wasting any more of my time, or you can leave now. It's up to you" She tells me she wants it fixed. I fix it. Then she proceeds to tell me that she thinks I did something extra so it wouldn't fail this time. WTF? I cleaned it, bonded it, cured it, polished it. Same as I've done ten thousand times. Freaks
Had a similar thing happen recently. Wasn't the tooth I worked on, but it needed a new DO, I was doing a crown on the tooth distal to it anyway so I said "just to clear the air i'll replace it free of charge".
She called the next day and asked for a refund on it. A REFUND ON SOMETHING SHE DIND"T EVEN PAY FOR. I mean, she's got balls trying to get money I guess but for fucks sake, people suck.
I had a lady this morning that wanted composite placed on the lingual of #18 under a crown. I told her she's getting amalgam or she's getting an extraction. [Reply]
Is there, like, a market where y'all just go and find solid 7s for your dental hygienists?
I mean I've never walked into a dentists office and had my jaw hit the floor at the ethereal hotness of the person that was going to be cleaning my teeth, but almost invariably I'm like "man, I just wanna take that one home to meet my mom..."
It's uncanny. Just a never-ending stream of extremely attractive but not distractingly hot women. You have to keep them just below an 8 to keep from alienating your female customers, don't you? [Reply]
Originally Posted by MephistophelesJanx:
I have a crown on 14 that keeps coming loose. After it cracked in half I went without for about 6 months. I finally go in to the dentist and they did a reduction so they could get more post to bond the crown onto. This new crown didn't fit correctly and I told the nurse as much... when I closed my mouth it was the first thing to touch and I had to bite down hard in order for my other teeth to make contact. She gave no ****s and said the paper I was biting into looked just fine. So much for the "royal treatment" joke she made in reference to the crown.
Fast forward 6 months, about a week before I move to another state, and the crown comes off again while I am eating. It came down hard on 19 (which cracked open to the pulp) and sheared off the back side of 13. Go back to the dentist who, due to my moving states, does a masterful job of filling/rebuilding 13 and 19. Then she ground the crown down further so it actually fits my mouth. Told me I need to see a dentist when I get to my new place but work fell through and had no insurance.
Fast forward again... this time 4 months. The ****ing crown is wiggly again but at least it doesn't come off the post. That said, my gum around the crown isn't happy... at all.
The best experience I've had was this last dentist, she was very generous with the happy gas and numbing agents as I don't do well at the dentist, who is 800 miles away from me and even she couldn't get my crown to stay in.
I'm about done with it. If it falls off or cracks again I may just call it done and leave it off for good because I cannot keep going back to the dentist to fix the same issue over and over and over again.
13 is super sensitive to cold but 19, the one that went down to the pulp, is solid.
WHY WONT MY CROWN JUST STAY PUT?!?!?!
/edit - I may have the tooth numbers wrong but top right first molar is the one with the crown.
When the tooth was first prepped it may have been overtapered or something. Could be a short tooth and just isn't enough to bond too. Hard to tell. [Reply]
I could feel it swelling on a Friday night. By 9pm the pain became intense as fuck. I was taking advil like it was candy and nothing was working. I probably drank a whole bottle of whiskey, I didnt give a fuck I just wanted the pain to go away. The bottle didnt do much either, went to the dentist the next day got antibiotics went back a few days later said the tooth was too far gone and had to be pulled.
Worst pain I've ever had and that's including the time my collar bone broke because of the seat belt in a car accident. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
I don't know what it is, but I'm a complete bitch with teeth/mouth stuff.
Sturdy as hell with other stuff; have had some really good impacts in sporting events where teammates come huddling around expecting me to be rolling about or something but the old man was southern stock so he just told me to shut up and play or stuff like that when I was growing up so when stuff hurts, you just kinda stand there and bleed or pop it back into place.
But when it comes to all that teeth stuff...haaaaate it. Had a cracked tooth that nagged at me for months; started giving me headaches and things like that. The dentist did his x-rays and was like "yeah, we can probably do this easy thing that will hold and you should be okay for quite awhile but may have some occasional discomfort"
"Or?"
"Well we can grind it down past the crack and put a crown on it..."
"And that's largely permanent?"
"Yeah but it's native teeth and I really hate to...."
"Dude, just go get the grinder. I'm done with this shit"
Won't get my wisdom teeth pulled because they're in and they don't hurt. "But they'll get cavities someday..." "Do they have them today? No? Then we're good here..."
I already mentioned that I can just about only tolerate the hypersonic water thing now. If I take a grounder to the lip, I'll spit out some blood and get in my stance. But if I bite the inside of my mouth I'm gonna pout like a little girl for the next week. Those little dot things you get on the tip of your tongue if you eat too much acidic food - might as well have a broken arm for as much as they bother me.
I just do not get it.
I'm that way with my eyes, man. I can barely get an eye drop in there and my wife peels half her eye off when she takes her contacts out.