Tag Archives: Dental

On Just Letting Pain and Incompetence Happen While Hoping for the Best. Because Whatever…

by Gayle Towell

Oh, Pain. You’re always there for me when no one else is. My companion. My friend. I’ve made my peace with you. I mean, you haven’t killed me yet. Perhaps you’ve made me stronger.

So, here’s my follow up to my dental saga.

Beware that the following contains an arguably mentally unhealthy approach to the matter.

I made an appointment with a new dentist. I knew nothing about this dentist, just picked what was closest and had openings. Why so haphazard, you say? Because anytime I ever try to do my research online to pick just the right person, it seems to always end up a crapshoot anyway. I was just saving myself that intermediate step.

New dentist appears to be just out of dental school. Brand new. That’s ok, I tell myself. Might mean she’s extra trained with lots of fresh knowledge! Also, the dentist office seems like they got their shit together. X-rays went well and whatnot.

Overall, no major complaints about this dentist, though she did try to tell me (just as two different people over the phone have) that the bone poking through my gums was a free-floating “spicule” that would come out on its own eventually, or they could just pull it out real easy. Even though I was like, no, I’m pretty freaking sure it’s attached to my jawbone still.

But you know what? I decided I couldn’t care anymore. I was going to throw caution to the wind and just ride with whatever the “experts” say all the way to the end.

So I said, sure, go ahead, let’s pull it out!

But then somewhere in the process of obtaining insurance approvals and planning the procedure, the story changed, and I had to be referred to an oral surgeon. (And when I tried to ask what changed, no one could tell me. Curious. But whatever…)

A very kind reception person then helped with the referral and managed to get me in to see someone the very next day.

Great!

I googled the person I was going to see. He also seemed to be pretty fresh out of school. Hooray! Another adventure awaits…

Also, I checked the notes left on my “mychart” for the dental office and noticed that they now recommended “alveoloplasty” which is where they reshape the sharp pokey jaw bone (as opposed to plucking out a spicule).

At the oral surgeon the following afternoon, I’m fully committed to just letting them fuck up my mouth in whatever way they’d like and I would just roll with it. I mean, my mouth already hurt, and with chunks of bone poking through my gums, what was there to lose?

Well, my friends. The individual assisting the oral surgeon was also pretty new. At least, I fucking hope that’s the excuse. The surgeon himself, however, seemed to know things. I think? I hope. I think he fixed stuff. We’ll see.

But back to the assistant. Holy hell, folks. It was amazing.

You know how when they’re going to numb you at the dentist, they put that Q-tip with topical directly on the spots they’re going to inject, leave it there for a few minutes, remove, rinse, then the dentist injects? Well, that’s not this lady’s strategy. She had the Q-tip and swabbed it all around all over the left side of my mouth – back corner, along my gums both top and bottom as well as tongue-side and cheek-side.

It was super gross. That stuff does not taste good at all. I was very quickly begging for rinse and spit, which she was sparing with.

So at this point, the entire (and I mean ENTIRE) left side of my mouth was swabbed with topical, but nothing was applied to the right side.

Then the surgeon comes in to inject the local anesthetic. He begins on my right side.

So that hurt.

And then he did the left side. Which also hurt, because the topical was smeared all over instead of concentrated on the location where the injection would occur.

Side note: When I got home, I googled how this topical anesthetic is supposed to be applied in case somehow they do things differently since the last time I had a cavity filled. Nope. I’m not crazy. She did indeed do it completely wrong. It was as if this person had never done this before, never been taught how to do this, and never had it done to her. She was just making it up as she went, with full confidence. She also said nothing whatsoever as she watched the dentist inject the right side first. There was no, “Oh wait, I didn’t realize we were doing both sides” or anything. And as I said previously, I stopped caring and was ready to ride this adventure wherever it led, so I said nothing as well. (My physical body, however, was having some fun reactions. Tears were just pouring down my face and I was shaking. Good times.)

The shots took effect. Hooray for being numb. The next steps were to cut open my gums, file down my jaw pokeys, and sew it back up again. As far as I could tell, the surgeon did ok with this. But this assistant person continued with confident chaos. She didn’t seem to know how to do the suction right and was constantly getting corrections. She kept hitting my front teeth with the tools and I was worried she was going to break one of them. And she would stab the back of my jaw and my throat with various tools. This was worse on the right side than the left and I kept feeling like I was being choked.

Once it was all done, the surgeon left the room and the assistant person said prescriptions would be sent to the pharmacy.

What prescriptions? I asked.

Oh, uh probably something for pain and maybe an antibiotic. I’m not sure.

Ooookay, then. I guess it will be a fun surprise!

I went to the front to check out. After making my payment, I asked if there were after care instructions. The receptionist said she’d print them out for me. She handed me the papers and I left. (Side note: Surgeon gave me his phone number to call if I have any issues and seemed generally sympathetic to my previous experience. He gets bonus points for that.)

Now, what was on these after care instruction papers, you ask? Um. Nothing. Well, not nothing, but nothing related to what was done and what I was supposed to do to heal. It was just a couple lines listing that there was a visit, and then a list of the medications I was already taking (not new ones being prescribed). That was it.

Well, I thought, maybe it will be on the “mychart” patient portal.

So I log in to see. But there isn’t even a record of my visit on there. Though the newly prescribed medications did show up there shortly after.

Among them, 600 mg ibuprofen. Except I already take a daily prescription NSAID. It was on the list on my chart. But hey, at least I know not to double up on those. And the pharmacist caught it as well, so there’s that.

And you know, I can google after care instructions and make educated guesses, so it’s fine.

It’s all just fine…

The jury is still out on the surgeon, though he mostly seemed ok. Time will tell. I did ask about the part of my jawbone that felt like it had been broken and was not in full alignment with the rest of the bone. His take on that was that sometimes there are asymmetries and it might just be how my jaw is shaped. Not sure I buy that. But I’m also not sure it matters at this point. As long as the pokeys don’t come back, everything should eventually be functional again, (tooth sensitivity and occasional stabbing sensation in TMJ aside).

If It Gets Worse or Isn’t Any Better in a Week, Call Us Back

by Gayle Towell

Anyone else ever get these instructions? If so, what has been your experience when following them?

For whatever reason – blame my gender, my age, my distress when in pain – all that’s ever happened when I’ve followed such instructions is dismissal or disbelief.

As an example, I was once given these instructions following extreme shoulder pain. In fact, it felt like my shoulder was being ripped off my body any time I moved. During the initial visit I was told to try “gentle stretching and exercises” even though I thought I had made it clear that I couldn’t move my arm at all without excruciating pain. Whatever. Call us back in a week if it gets worse or isn’t better.

And it got worse and not better. But when I called back, I was told that I shouldn’t still be feeling pain.

Ok. But I AM. Which is why I called.

Use ice and take ibuprofen, they say.

Ok, but that doesn’t seem to be helping much.

Well, it should, they say.

Ok. But it isn’t. Which is why I called.

I ultimately had to go to the emergency room with my husband in tow so he could explain that, yes, I was in excruciating pain. And only after his testimony was I given pain medicine strong enough to help, some prednisone to speed healing, and a referral – which eventually uncovered a case of calcific tendonitis which I was told “often hurts worse than a broken bone.”

I wish this was a one-off story, but it isn’t. As I get older, I just rack up tales like this. After a while, it makes a person wonder what’s wrong with themself. Maybe my pain is always in my head. Maybe I’m wrong and my pain isn’t real, somehow. Who knows. Why can’t I ever convince anyone? I must be some sort of freak alien creature. Something. Part of me just doesn’t care anymore because what’s the point.

Anyway, I’m currently going through another such saga, this time dental related, which I will now share with you…

So, for years, I’ve been told I need to have my wisdom teeth extracted. I’ve put it off because they weren’t causing much issue. But one of them had been developing a deep cavity that I was told would be difficult to impossible to address and it would be best to just get my wisdom teeth removed – something that was apparently supposed to happen when I was a teen, and not at the age of 42. I had also been having some jaw issues – possible TMJ type stuff – and thought not having wisdom teeth crammed in the back of my mouth might help that as well, so screw it, take ‘em out!

It’s a routine procedure, they said.

You’ll be fine in just a few days, they said.

So one Saturday morning, I went in to get it done. I was put under sedation, so I don’t remember anything about the procedure itself, though my husband in the waiting room tells how at some point in the middle, I woke up screaming and it scared some poor teenager who then ran away, his mother chasing after. All I remember is suddenly being done, being shoved into a wheelchair, being told, well, at least they got it all, so that’s a good thing, wondering, what do you mean by that?

“At least they got it all.” What exactly happened?

Home I went, with prescription for antibiotics, ibuprofen, tramadol, and mouthwash.

After a long, drugged, nap, the first thing I became aware of was how much bleeding was going on in my mouth. On the left side in particular, it seemed impossible to stop, and biting on gauze kept resulting in chunks of blood clot coming out anytime I removed it.

But to spare you the full saga, here is the summary of the next several days:

I had only been given three days of tramadol. After it was gone, the pain was unbearable.

I don’t think proper blood clots ever formed on my left side, which means dry sockets.

On my right side, I soon noticed that the mouthwash was somehow going through my upper tooth hole and into my sinuses and out my nose, which burned and was rather disturbing.

Around Wednesday, I think, we (my husband and I) attempted to contact the dentist for help. Again, the pain was unbearable, pretty sure I had dry sockets, and I had a hole into my sinuses. I called, talked to people, was told it was “normal”. My husband called, talked to people, was told it was “normal”. My husband even went to the dentist office and camped in the waiting room for an hour until someone else would talk to him. Ultimately he was told again that this was all “normal”. Mind you, we were told this without anyone even looking into my mouth. No one wanted me to come in so they could check. No assistance was offered as far as what to do about it, other than “just let the mouthwash run through your sinuses”, use ice, and take ibuprofen.

Because the dentist seemed to have no desire to follow up, check, or help, I did my own googling. I used saltwater instead of the prescription mouthwash so that I could flush my tooth socket and sinuses out without it feeling like fire (seriously, snort some prescription mouthwash and tell me how that feels…). For over two weeks, anytime I ate, I had to flush the food out of my sinus cavity and out my nose by swishing saltwater, which was extremely disconcerting. Luckily, that opening did manage to eventually close on its own.

Meanwhile, on the left side of my mouth, the pain remained super intense. My mother-in-law shipped me clove oil, which is supposedly what dentists use to treat dry socket pain, which helped a little, but tasted super nasty. Also, since I live in a state where marijuana is legal, I was surviving on edibles and tinctures in addition to max doses of ibuprofen and Tylenol, to the point where I was having massive heartburn and also taking OTC heartburn medicine to be able to tolerate the pain medicine. Fun times.

After a solid few weeks of unbearableness, the pain slowly began to subside. But now, more than two months later, it still isn’t completely gone and my mouth is still screwed up. None of the sockets have completely healed yet. On the top right, there is some shard or something trying to come through. And on the inside of both bottom sockets, I now have what google suggests are “Sharp Mandibular Bone Irregularities” nearly poking through my gums like stalagmites. Moreover, a common cause of these pokies is “fracture of the cortical plate”. I’m going to a different dentist later this week to have it checked out, but if I feel along the gum line below the pokies, it feels like there is a chunk of bone that is not lined up where it should be – like it was broken and healed in the wrong place.

Add to that, I get regular shooting pain through my jaw joints now, my jaw pops and cracks a lot more than it used to, and I’m also dealing with increased tooth sensitivity all along my left side (which might be nerve damage related?).

So this procedure that I was convinced would be easy, only require a few days of healing, and would leave my jaw and mouth happier, has completely screwed it all up.

Earlier today I had to call my current (now previous) dentist to cancel a cleaning/checkup appointment. When they asked why, I sort of let loose, explaining that my mouth has been a disaster ever since I had the supposed “simple procedure” of wisdom tooth extraction in their office. They tried to tell me again that everything I described was “normal”.

Really? You initially told me I’d be fine in three days. When I wasn’t, you refused to see me to get to the bottom of what was going on. I am over two months out and still having issues. What part of this is “normal”?

They even had the audacity to call back a few minutes later assuring me the dentist would really be happy to take a look. But, why? If it’s “normal”? Which is apparently an assessment you’ve been able to make repeatedly from afar. And why now? Why not weeks ago when I was in excruciating pain? Why on earth do you think I’d be able to trust any assessments you would make?

My mouth is screwed up. I know this. Because it is attached to my head. And I feel it every day. It is NOT “normal.” What the hell did you people do to me while I was unconscious?

It’s possible there were bad words and tears on the phone. Which is a fun start to the day. But it’s ok. I’m over it now.

Just hoping the new dentist can make sense of what happened and maybe file off the sharp bony bits and put some of my mouth back into place…

To summarize – If it gets worse or isn’t any better in a week, then:

  • Sucks to be you.
  • Give us a call so we can add insult to injury.
  • We don’t believe you. That’s not possible.
  • We don’t care. Go away.
  • I guess you’re just a whiner.
  • That’s normal.
  • Just stop complaining and accept it as part of your life now.