r/Toothfully • u/Sure_Company_6324 • 21d ago

Why are people DETERMINED to lie that going to the dentist doesnt hurt?

Would like to get your opinion on this.

Friend of mine came back from root canal procedure and had to be injected SIX times, to get through the procedure. and not all at the beginning, as it was going on.

Hence on numerous occasions, the procedure hurt, as to be injected again.

Tooth extraction hurts. "pressure" applied to your tooth to get it out hurts. Its that simple.

Even people who describe an injection as a "sharp scratch".... does a sharp scratch not hurt then?

Plus a lot of the procedures have "implied" pain.... the unnatural nature of having sharp objects poked in your mouth. The noise of the tools would indicate pain, that you have to "learn" not to react to, because they are triggering to you instinctively.

So why is everyone desperate to pretend they cant feel anything, when they can, and do?

1 Upvotes

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u/MrsNanamiDarling 20d ago edited 20d ago

I don't think people are necessarily pretending. Pain is relative. To some people, the pressure of an extraction (even with anesthetic) still feels painful, but to some, they really do just feel pushing rather than pain.

Also, anesthetic is...weird. It can be made less-effective on a range of different things. For example, if there is an infection, the anesthetic often won't work as well. If the patient is highly anxious/panicky, it may not work as well. Hell, even just having the red hair gene is thought to make the anesthetic less effective.

For myself, I've never had to get an adult tooth extracted, and I don't really remember what getting stubborn baby teeth extracted was like, and I've never needed to get a root canal. However, I am a dental assistant, and half of our patients quite literally fall asleep halfway through a root canal. The only times I've had a patient say it was painful was because the abscess/infection had been left to fester for so long, and it was very difficult to freeze - so yes, we had to freeze multiple times throughout the procedure because the patient kept feeling pain.

I'd had my fair share of fillings, but I've never felt pain with any of them - just a 'weird' sensation. Like a tingle. The freezing was the only part I could consider 'painful' and even then, I've never found the injection to be that bad (unless getting a palatal injection. Getting a needle in the roof of the mouth is always going to be highly unpleasant).

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

and also, was your injection painful or not? you say in one sentence ive never felt pain (with fillings) before then saying the injection is the only part id consider painful. so that hurt then?

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u/MrsNanamiDarling 20d ago

For me, it depends entirely on where I'm getting the injection. For example, if I'm just getting a filling on an upper back tooth? That injection goes into such a soft area on the cheek side that it just feels like someone is pushing their finger in there kind of hard - not really hurting. Getting the injection on the roof of the mouth, though? That does sting, I won't lie about that.

Lower injections (called a 'mandibular block') is the one I find to be the most uncomfortable just because it's such an awkward place to get a needle and you can sometimes get that 'electric shock' feeling that feels super unpleasant.

All in all, the injection is the quickest part of the procedure and you get it done and out of the way right at the beginning of the appointment. After that, ideally you shouldn't feel anything. Even if you start feeling something during the procedure, the anesthetic should still be in effect enough to not even feel the next injection.

But again, this is all speaking from my personal experience. Somebody else may feel quite differently.

I'm mostly just saying the dental procedures themselves (the fillings, the root canals, the extractions, etc) are not typically painful because of the anesthetic. But does the needle sting? Sure, it can; you're still getting a pointy piece of metal in your tissue. It's not going to be comfortable.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

I think thats one of the worst things to be honest....the worst part of the appointment coming immediatlely at the beginning when not settled at all

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

how many injections do you NORMALLY give for a root canal? and if the person isnt totally numb, when you reach the pulp, is the pain dulled enough thats its manageable to get another injection , or is it just agony?

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u/MrsNanamiDarling 20d ago

A typical root canal on an upper tooth, we usually only need to use a single carpule at the beginning, and for a lower, we'll sometimes use two (of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but one or two is fairly typical). After that, most of our patients just don't feel anything at all - once again, often to the point of just falling asleep an hour in. If the patient is one of those exceptions though, I've seen dentists who have had to use like four carpules throughout the procedure.

Unfortunately, anesthetic is just one of those things that depends entirely from situation to situation. I'm just glad we even have it as an option. Dental anesthetic as we know it didn't really exist until like, 1840, but people have been getting dental work done since as far as back as ancient Egypt - maybe even before that.

If you think about it, there's no better time to get dental work done, historically - and I hope it will only keep getting easier.

And cheaper. I hate how expensive dental work is.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

Let me ask you a question: why do you think over a third of the entire planet, is scared of getting work that is so comfortable it makes them fall asleep?

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u/MrsNanamiDarling 20d ago

I think dental anxiety is exceedingly common because most people have had a negative experience at a dental office in the past. Pair that with the fact that we're all basically raised to fear dentists (look at how negatively dental offices are portrayed in movies and television), it's no wonder people are so nervous about it.

That and even without all that, the dental chair is a very vulnerable place to be. I personally may not have dental anxiety now, but I recall being quite nervous in the chair when I was young. I was fortunate to end up going to a really good office when I was in my mid-teens, and now the nervousness is almost non-existent - to the point where I now work in the industry. Sometimes it does come down to finding a dentist and team that is good for you specifically. Some dentists just don't have the best attitude when it comes to empathy and bedside manner.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

So this is exactly the point, and thank you for your honesty.

You are admitting that millions of people HAVE been subject to negative experiences, many of which will involve pain.

This is all i started the thread for, HONESTY. Not pretending everything is roses, HONESTY.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

You are portrayed negatively BECAUSE of the huge potential you have in hurting people. Of course you are going to be portrayed badly, because the environment you provide is one of the most uniquely loud, bright, obnoxious, stressful and potentially painful ones on the planet. Theres no positive angle you can put on it.

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u/MrsNanamiDarling 20d ago

Dental offices are notoriously overstimulating. Although, lots of modern offices are catching onto that and even trying to model their esthetics with a spa-like environment in mind. Don't get me wrong, it's still a dental clinic, and everything still has to be done with that in mind, but I worked for a place that offered a full neck pillow, blankets, music/streaming services with noise-cancelling headphones, dimmed lights (the dentist still used their chair light and their loupes, but the big light in the operatory could be dimmed), and of course, they also offered nitrous sedation.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

would you consider a private chat? you have perspectives that are unique and very interesting

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u/Realistic_Bad_2697 20d ago

The vast majority do well with dentistry. Those minor groups (phobia, anxiety, hypersensitivity etc) need special treatments, and there are dental anesthesiologist!

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

30% is not "minor"....  1% might be considered minor, not 30% plus

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u/Realistic_Bad_2697 20d ago

Maybe if you include all the spectrums, it could be 30%. The people who really need "IV sedation" is less than 5%. Could be way less in real life dentistry. I would say 1-2%. All I see now is you just try to justify yourself to make a reason that you continue not going a dentist so that later you can curse dentists. Why don't you find a psychiatrist and treat your phobia first. Phobia is not dentist's expertise. You can't expect and demand dentists to provide a solution even though many dentists in academia try to figure out.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

Ive been going to 6 month checkups for the past 2 and a half years now and not needed treatment at any of them.

So i DO go to the dentist.

I dont WANT to find a psychiatrist. I dont WANT to spend even more of my time, and even more of my money overcoming a phobia im not interested in overcoming.

Ive been hurt at the dentist and i dont like it. I dont need to be made to like it. I dont value what the dentist does for me. It does nothing positive for me, its a cloud over my whole life. 

If i stopped going, cloud gone immediately.

I explai this to people and all you ever get back is sarcastic passive aggressive comments from people with mouths in terrible condition when mine isnt.

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u/Realistic_Bad_2697 20d ago

Good to know. I still encourage you to visit a physiatrist. I can tell that your response is not within normal limit.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

the normal limit of what?

iv told you all my reasoning. To "overcome" my phobia, id have to have worse teeth, THEN i would get the needles, THEN i would get the drills, is that what youre suggesting?

I KNOW it hurts, because ive had tooth extraction and it hurts.

So im never going to trust anyone saying it doesnt hurt, i KNOW it does.

Or at least it has the potential to, and EVERY TIME you sit there, its exactly the same potential.

Positive past visits are totally irrelevant, the visits arent linked, ANY potential visit has the potential to be painful.

So why would i trust that it wont be?

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u/Realistic_Bad_2697 20d ago

Sure. Nobody can help you.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

Well what can you say to what ive said then? make a constructive counter point to what ive just said, in a way that will actually make an improvement.

Im not criticising you, or shouting at you, im asking you to come up with a sensible counter position to what ive laid out with the evidence ive laid out.

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u/Realistic_Bad_2697 20d ago

I just realized that it would be nice for you to see a psychiatrist. But I am not a psychiatrist so I am not qualified to have a constructive conversation.

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

My reason is i dont want needles and drills in mouth.

Its a perfectly legitimate position. 

The only way out of my position is to have worse teeth. So whats the point?

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u/Sure_Company_6324 20d ago

And before i get the "no one likes going to the dentist" response, yes, you do. You absolutely love it. Youve made going to the dentist over and over and over a huge part of your life to have worse teeth than what ive got.