Your worst Denist/Doctor Experience?

[Ark-Tider]

I experienced a pain this week like never before. That's saying alot since I have had multiple operations, broken bones, concussions and so on. I had to have two root canals done. The first went ok. While doing the second, my dentist ran into a nerve that needed to be deadened. When he stuck the needle in the nerve my eye's crossed. It did not work. The second time he tried to go deeper into the nerve and I almost passed out. The third attempt ended up by me grabbing his hand, spitting out the mouth chock, sitting up and dropping the f-bomb. It was totally out of character for me but I had never experienced pain at that level. He took a moment to figure out what was happening when he realized that the needle had a kink in it and no novacain was coming out. He looked like he saw a ghost when he told me. Once he replaced the needle everything went fine other than the fact that I was stiff as a board the rest of the time.

That's a lot of typing about something that might seem minor but I gotta tell you, you will know you are alive. Has anybody else ever had this kind of experience?

 

[NYBamaFan]

When in the Army, I was sent to the dentist for a standard cleaning/checkup before a deployment. The dentist found a "minor" cavity that would need filling. However, as it was minor and not very deep, I would not need novocaine. I was 19 and stupid enough to trust him. I had tears running down my cheeks for 15 minutes.

I have walked 20+ miles with fallen arches on both feet and a partially torn achilles tendon, and the pain was nothing compared to the "minor" cavity that was drilled and filled. I cannot imagine how much it must have hurt to have the nerve jabbed directly...

 

[Ark-Tider]

I cannot imagine how much it must have hurt to have the nerve jabbed directly...

Let's just say that I would have spilled the beans if it was a torture method. I would have told it all. Speaking of military dental experiences, I had my wisdom teeth pulled in a GP Tent in Pohang Korea during cold weather training when I was in the Marines. Wind chill was something like -60 degrees and I ended up with dry socket. That pain was a cake walk compared to my recent experience.

 

[DiamondDust]

I have very sensitive gums. Nearly every routine cleaning can be similar to medieval torture for me. It all depends on the dental hygienist. Some notice this early on, take mercy on me, and go about it as carefully as possible. Others, well, don't give a flying flip and go in guns blazing.

 

[Ark-Tider]

I have very sensitive gums. Nearly every routine cleaning can be similar to medieval torture for me. It all depends on the dental hygienist. Some notice this early on, take mercy on me, and go about it as carefully as possible. Others, well, don't give a flying flip and go in guns blazing.

I like my family dentist and will continue to use him but make no mistake about it "I will remind him on every visit going forward". If I were you, I would take the same approach.

 

[Displaced Bama Fan]

I've never had a truly bad experience to be honest with you. I truly like my dentist and doctor.

My wife had a horrible experience with our dentist involving a root canal. He had to drill through the gum to get to the root because one of the files broke off in the root.

We left for Gulf Shores a couple of days later and had to find a dentist there to ease the abcess that resulted from our dentist's work. She was in miserable pain for a couple of days and had problems off and on for a while with that particular tooth.

Actually, my only bad experience has been "waiting"....I had a dentist in Mobile, a specialist, that left me in the chair for almost an hour while working on another patient. I got up, walked to the desk and told them to schedule a time when it was more convenient for the dentist and that I had to go to class (USA). When the appointment was rescheduled, he was with me in 10 minutes after giving me the novocaine.

My doctor takes forever to see us as well...but, he's great and worth the wait. He's a dying breed...he'll actually call you to see how you are, depending on the severity of the illness. He's called me several times. He's a great guy.

 

[It's On A Slab]

Not dental related, but I've found that most general practice MDs are not worth shaking a stick at. Fine if you need a script for an upper resp. infection, or to sew up a cut, but horrible for diagnosis otherwise.

I usually find that I can Google symptoms, or use WebMD and do better at diagnosis than most of these guys can.

My daughter tore her ACL in high school. The Einstein at the family med clinic diagnosed a "sprain".......when the MRI we later got from an orthopedist showed a clear complete tear, requiring surgery.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

I went to a doc-in-a-box once while in college and was told I had a cold. He didn't do an x-ray or anything. I kept getting worse and felt like i was going to die/ I finally went to a "real" doctor and found out I had walking pneumonia and had "most likely had it awhile." This doctor wanted names and exactly where i went because he couldn't believe they had not done a chest x-ray.

 

[gmart74]

i have 2 good dental stories. One one they were going to drill and shot me up with novocaine. After a few minutes my head was swimming, I broke into a cold sweat and my heart was racing. A dental asst came into the room to start prepping all the gear and I asked her if i was supposed to be feeling that way. She immediately ran out, came back with every dentist in the joint. They strapped an oxygen mask on my face, then hit some lever which basically lifted my legs straight up in the air. Needless to say this had me somewhat freaking out like a banshee. Turns out the doc thinks he injected the novocaine directly into a vein instead of the gum. Hasn't happened since then but definitely scary as hell.

The other story was when I needed a cavity in a molar drilled out. They couldn't deaden the nerve and finally the dentist just told me to hang on and he would try to be gentle. The entire procedure was done with my ... completely off the chair and putting a deathgrip on the handrest. I think when I got home a few diamonds fell out from my buttcheeks. It has happened a few other times as well with that nerve but wasnt as painful.

 

[dayhiker]

A friend told me about his Navy vasectomy. It was about a 30 minute story, but there were 2 highlights:

doc: you're going to feel a slight tug.

friend: A slight tug, it felt like he was cranking a damn lawnmower.



doc: Oops.

friend: Oops? Don't say oops, what's oops?

doc: I think I cut a vein.

friend: Well I hope to hell it isn't that real important one.

 

[BAMAFAN IN NY]

When in the Army, I was sent to the dentist for a standard cleaning/checkup before a deployment. The dentist found a "minor" cavity that would need filling. However, as it was minor and not very deep, I would not need novocaine. I was 19 and stupid enough to trust him. I had tears running down my cheeks for 15 minutes.

I have walked 20+ miles with fallen arches on both feet and a partially torn achilles tendon, and the pain was nothing compared to the "minor" cavity that was drilled and filled. I cannot imagine how much it must have hurt to have the nerve jabbed directly...

Army dentists are the best! lol. Once I went to the dentist and he told me I had a cavity.. made an appointment.. went back.. a different dentist told me that i didnt have any cavities, but needed all my wisdom teeth pulled! I never went in for the wisdom teeth extraction, and to this day, I still do not have a cavity, and my wisdom teeth are fine! That was 15 years ago! Try to avoid Army dentists at all costs.

 

[DiamondDust]

I like my family dentist and will continue to use him but make no mistake about it "I will remind him on every visit going forward". If I were you, I would take the same approach.

Oh trust me, I do. The second the scraper hits my mouth, I usually start squirming and let them know how sensitive it can get. Like I said, some take pity/mercy on me and go about it extra carefully. Others, well, in the past have used it as an example to tell me I should brush better. At this point in life, the gums are going to always be sensitive (Coming straight from the dentist, Dr. Jack Smalley, a former player at UA, who is a super nice guy) so I get pretty ticked off when I hear that from the hygienist.

As a kid, I had either 8 or 12 teeth pulled to make room for permanent teeth (I went in so much, I lost count because it got to be routine). Those procedures never really bothered me that much. The first time I had Nitrous, I nearly fell out of the chair, laughing my head off. When I got braces put on in middle school, they gave me some Nitrous as they were putting a band on one of my teeth. For whatever reason, the orthodontist went to check on someone else, and he forgot about the Nitrous. I started to doze off, but my sudden dreams of the multiple demons from the game "Doom" quickly woke me up. Needless to say, the Nitrous was taken off at that point.

 

[always4bama]

When I was a teen (13) and my parents divorced my Mom was awarded Medicaid for the 4 children that good ole dad would not help support. Part of this great coverage included dental care.

The system provided dentist decided every tooth in our heads needed some type of work my other three siblings faired a little better than I did. He was able to convince my mom all this work was needed - 21/2 - 3 years of it.

1. The good dentist did work on my two front teeth WHY?? no clue I never had a problem - slowly these teeth begin to darken. My the time I was in my twenties I had to find the funds to have veneers put on.

2. After all was said and done I was to return for a cleaning - I drive myself 45 minutes to this guy only to have my wisdom teeth pulled not a cleaning - I had to drive myself home.

3. I was in my late twenties when I begin to have problems with a tooth that had gone through the root canal process - only for the new dentist to find cotton balls packed in the canal. It is miracle that my teeth ever stayed put.

Needless to say I almost have to take a nerve pill just a cleaning.

Worst Dr. Experience came when my two year old daughter cut her head above her eye brow - We were delayed in getting treatment because a 9 year old had been by a car and we were not in a life threating situation. When they got to us I had to help hold her so they could numb the spot. After waiting a few minutes to let the place get numb - on the last stitch the place was not numb it took three of us to hold her for the needle to get through. This was the worst!!

 

[Relayer]

Dentist: 38 years ago I broke one of my front teeth off playing basketball. The day came to fit me for the cap and I had been in the chair for quite a while as they prepared the tooth and the anesthesia had worn off. They needed to cut away some of the gum in order to get a good impression of the tooth. When they sliced away about 1/2 inch of gum I nearly went through the roof.

I've had my teeth busted up a couple of times playing sports. That and the subsequent treatments and related issues still cause me to have teeth-related occasional nightmares to this day.

Doctor: 28 years ago I was playing softball with my military unit's team. I took a line drive off the tip of my middle finger making a diving catch (naturally). It pushed the fingernail back about 1/4" or so, and they decided in the emergency room that it needed to be removed. The doc wiggled it around a bit to decide this. He gave me a couple of shots in the end of the finger in an attempt to deaden it and he began to try and remove it.

My cursing led him to believe that I needed a couple of more shots. Further blue language led to a couple of more shots before he finally became convinced that I had some nerve damage and he was not going to be able to get it deadened, so he proceeded. When he slid the scalpel under that nail, and then starting tugging... oh boy.

By the time he was done I was so weak I could hardly get off of the table.

Removing the dressing off of the top of that exposed meat under the nail every couple of days for a couple of weeks was no cakewalk either.

 

[Bama Reb]

Army dentists are the best! lol. Once I went to the dentist and he told me I had a cavity.. made an appointment.. went back.. a different dentist told me that i didnt have any cavities, but needed all my wisdom teeth pulled! I never went in for the wisdom teeth extraction, and to this day, I still do not have a cavity, and my wisdom teeth are fine! That was 15 years ago! Try to avoid Army dentists at all costs.

Must have been a barner dentist. They don't need 'em anyway...:wink:

 

[gmart74]

ohhhh i forgot the time i had some infection in the tip of my middle finger. The doctor put some painkilling shot in it and that alone almost made me pass out. then he shoves a scalpel into my finger and i couldnt feel a thing. he suddenly hits the pus pocket and there is so much pressure that it squirts up to the ceiling. then he starts squeezing on the finger. it felt like my entire finger was sliced in two. he mumbled something about the pain being close to childbirth bc of all the nerve endings. i think my body shook for the next couple hours.

 

[Ark-Tider]

My new Pain Scale:

1. Common Cold
2. Hang nail
3. Migrane Headache
4 Hot grease burn
5. Torn ACL
6. Broke Leg
7. Tooth Ache
8. Hit in head with sledge hammer
9. Leg gashed open with chain saw
10. Needle directly into nerve from dentist

 

[Ark-Tider]

ohhhh i forgot the time i had some infection in the tip of my middle finger. The doctor put some painkilling shot in it and that alone almost made me pass out. then he shoves a scalpel into my finger and i couldnt feel a thing. he suddenly hits the pus pocket and there is so much pressure that it squirts up to the ceiling. then he starts squeezing on the finger. it felt like my entire finger was sliced in two. he mumbled something about the pain being close to childbirth bc of all the nerve endings. i think my body shook for the next couple hours.

A common form of toture was sliding bamboo slivers under the fingernails or directly into the finger tip because of the nerve endings.

 

[SavannahDare]

Most inept physician:
I got horribly ill when I was 14. Fatigue, headache, total body aches, and fever. My mom took me to the local GP and he told me it was mono (no labs done...just a guess) and sent me home. A couple of days later, as my fever became more persistent and higher, my mom took me back and he again said "mono" and sent me home. I promptly climbed into bed with my 105 degree fever (yes, I said 105) and don't remember much of anything for the next three days when my mom decided enough was enough, hauled me to the car and trotted me off to an internist in the next town over. I will add that by this time, I was actually praying for death, that's how horrible I felt. In his office, the new doc asked a lot of questions (particularly about travel, etc), did some labs, did a physical exam, and announced to my mother (with me in the room, no less) that my white blood cell count was so high, I probably had leukemia and needed to go into the hospital. Luckily, he didn't put all his eggs in one basket, and kept looking for the cause of my fever once he got me into the hospital. I got blood drawn several times a day and had to be packed in ice several times a day (because of the ridiculously high fever). Obviously, I was delirious during most of this, but I do remember some amazing hallucinations! He pumped all kinds of antibiotics into me and on day 3 or 4 of my hospitalization he noticed that I had a rash on my arms and the fingernail on the middle finger of my left hand had turned black. He took a biopsy of the skin under the nail (yeah, that was "fun") and the lab identified the rickettsia that was causing what he was "happy" to inform my mom was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. I had been traipsing around in the Smokies a few weeks earlier and apparently had gotten a tick bite. Lucky me. Anyway, thank God for that guy because if my life had been left in the hands of Dr. Inept GP, I likely wouldn't have made it.

Worst actual experience:
I was pregnant with my first child and went to great lengths to try and deliver her when a particular OB was not on call. He had a reputation for his wishy-washiness and, to top it off, he was one of my psychiatric outpatients (and I didn't need him down there, doing that!). When it became apparent that I was going to have to be induced, we picked what we thought was going to be a good day. Well....27 hours of labor later, my patient waltzes onto the labor deck, he had agreed at the last minute to cover for one of his sick colleagues. Just my luck. Anyway, this guy let me push for two hours (after already laboring more than a whole day), then tried to deliver me vaginally. When it became apparent she wasn't coming out easily, he used a vacuum extractor (it is what it sounds like and attaches to the baby's head to keep it from slipping back up the birth canal). Well, he allowed that thing to pop off her head twice. The second time, blood flew all over him and the room. I'm screaming "is that my blood or the baby's?!" (I've never wanted to be told that it was my blood flying over the room before, but I was praying that would be the answer!). This numbnuts tells me he "doesn't know." Then he decides to try forceps. At this point, I look down at him (I'm sure I probably looked like I was about to fly off the table and choke him), hurled a few curse words at him and told him there was no way he was using those things on my baby and if he didn't do a C-section NOW I'd make sure he never practiced medicine again. He looked like he was going to pass out. So, they prep me for emergency C-section and when he cuts me, it turns out I only had patchy anesthesia (that means most of me was numb as death, but I had an area about the size of the palm of my hand, low and on the right-hand side of of my belly, where I felt EVERYTHING. I screamed that I could feel the cut, the OB looks over the curtain and says "really? you can feel this?" (as he sticks me again with the scalpel). He just looks at me like a deer in the headlights. I looked up at the anesthesiologist and start screaming "you've got to put me under NOW" and that's the last thing I remember until I was in recovery.

It was traumatic and I will never ever forgive that idiot for adding to what was already a difficult labor by his indecisiveness and ineptitude.

 

[Ark-Tider]

Most inept physician: Worst actual experience:I was pregnant with my first child and went to great lengths to try and deliver her when a particular OB was not on call. He had a reputation for his wishy-washiness and, to top it off, he was one of my psychiatric outpatients (and I didn't need him down there, doing that!). When it became apparent that I was going to have to be induced, we picked what we thought was going to be a good day. Well....27 hours of labor later, my patient waltzes onto the labor deck, he had agreed at the last minute to cover for one of his sick colleagues. Just my luck. Anyway, this guy let me push for two hours (after already laboring more than a whole day), then tried to deliver me vaginally. When it became apparent she wasn't coming out easily, he used a vacuum extractor (it is what it sounds like and attaches to the baby's head to keep it from slipping back up the birth canal). Well, he allowed that thing to pop off her head twice. The second time, blood flew all over him and the room. I'm screaming "is that my blood or the baby's?!" (I've never wanted to be told that it was my blood flying over the room before, but I was praying that would be the answer!). This numbnuts tells me he "doesn't know." Then he decides to try forceps. At this point, I look down at him (I'm sure I probably looked like I was about to fly off the table and choke him), hurled a few curse words at him and told him there was no way he was using those things on my baby and if he didn't do a C-section NOW I'd make sure he never practiced medicine again. He looked like he was going to pass out. So, they prep me for emergency C-section and when he cuts me, it turns out I only had patchy anesthesia (that means most of me was numb as death, but I had an area about the size of the palm of my hand, low and on the right-hand side of of my belly, where I felt EVERYTHING. I screamed that I could feel the cut, the OB looks over the curtain and says "really? you can feel this?" (as he sticks me again with the scalpel). He just looks at me like a deer in the headlights. I looked up at the anesthesiologist and start screaming "you've got to put me under NOW" and that's the last thing I remember until I was in recovery.

It was traumatic and I will never ever forgive that idiot for adding to what was already a difficult labor by his indecisiveness and ineptitude.

I feel better about my experience now. Geez. Did you continue to treat him?