Posts

Dental Dread Infographic

Would You Rather? Dentist’s Needle Edition

/0 Comments/in /by

Having now shared two dental dread stories already, I decided to turn the tables on my readers and ask them what things they would rather do than get a freezing needle from their dentist. I kicked it off by saying that I’d rather change 100 dirty diapers than get another needle in my mouth and then the answers started pouring in. Some I couldn’t use for family friendly reasons (shout out to the guys in the Heathcliffe Cup hockey pool), and other answers were surprisingly in support of getting the needle.

So, without further ado, let’s find out what my readers had to say about having needles poking around in the gums!

“I’d rather pluck out leg hairs one by one” ~ Julia from Just Me, Julia

“I’d rather listen to Nickelback” ~ Daniel from Post Post Modern Dad

“I’d rather wear a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey than…. No I’ll take the freezing needle.” ~ Justin from Life in 140

“Honestly don’t mind the needle! Is that weird?” ~ Karma Brown, author of Come Away With Me (PS – Yes, it’s weird)

“I’d rather change my phone number… (which I have) to avoid my dentist altogether” ~ Jen from Ninja Mommers

“I’d rather get my vasectomy for a second time as my vasectomy was a walk in the park compared to visiting the dentist.” ~ Jay from Inked Up Dad … (Yikes!)

“Clean poop off the floor when my 5 year old decides she doesn’t want to use the toilet” ~ Angele from Domestique Manager

“I’d rather get a nipple ring than get a freezing needle from a dentist.” ~ Devan (Ouch, bro!)

“Spend 5 months creating, then rewriting then scaling back then adding then rethinking then reskinning then restarting then repositioning then reediting then resubmitting then recreating again…a deck presentation.” ~ Pamela S.

“I’d rather listen to every Mini Pops CD loudly while drinking Kale and Dandelion smoothies in a room full of cigar smoking climate deniers and Fox News on a 4K TV showing 24 hr Donald Trump stump speeches and reruns of the Apprentice.” ~ Eric from Enviro Dad

“I would rather listen to a room full of grade three students play recorder” ~ Maureen

“I’d rather babysit my neighbour’s kids pet snake.” ~ David

“Get a vasectomy from a blind surgeon…” ~ Jason from One Good Dad (There’s that V word again!)

“I’d rather read the Canadian Dad blog than get a needle. Nothing more painful than that.” ~ Ouch, Mike! That cuts deep!

Hard to disagree with any of these, except maybe the people who said they enjoyed the needle… And, of course, hockey pool Mike! Sadly, the freezing needle is a reality for most patients who require extra dental work and while you can’t replace the needle, it is nice to know that you don’t have to deal with the extended effects of the freezing anymore. There are options available that reverse the unwanted lingering numbness after routine dental procedures where local anesthetic was used so that you can get back to your day to day activities faster than ever before!

Check out this promo video from Septodont and see if you can recognize any of the symptoms of that lingering numbness. Thanks to everyone for your answers and for everyone else, please feel free to leave your own “What Would You Rather Do” answer in the comments!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post.

Dental Dread

The Time the Dental Freezing Didn’t Work #DentalDread

/1 Comment/in /by

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, however the painful details within are unfortunately 100% true.

If you are one of the lucky ones who has never had to get major teeth work done you will have no idea what I am about to share with you, and you are extremely lucky for it. I used to be one of those people who brushed when I remembered and only pulled out the floss before a dentist appointment. Spoiler Alert, the dentist knows if you are trying to pull a fast one on them.

While the past few years have been kinder to me in the dental department, it is only because I was scared straight by too many root canals and fillings. One of these visits in particular was especially dreadful and I wanted to share that with you today.

Imagine you are 26 years old and in the prime of your young life. Good job, beautiful wife and lead singer of your very own super cool band (coolness of said band may be exaggerated for story effect), when you realize you haven’t been to the dentist in a while and decide to book an appointment. The dentist informs you that you are well past the cavity stage and will need multiple root canals over the next few months. Awesome, right?!

The first couple root canals went great, so long as your definition of great is multiple needles being pressed into your gums while also keeping your mouth open wide for very long periods of time. Somewhere in the middle of “Operation Mouth Rebuild” something horrible happened that still gives me nightmares to this day.

The dentist administered the freezing needle into my gums, (yes, I keep writing that so you will think about how painful it is) and fired up his drill to get to work. The only problem is that the freezing hadn’t worked where it was supposed to so I felt every ounce of the drill plunging into the middle of my tooth. To say I jumped out of the chair would be an understatement, as they had to pry my screaming body from the ceiling!

After getting refrozen and calming myself down, everything worked out well but the freezing took even longer to wear off. Anyone who has ever had their mouth frozen knows how rough it can be to wait for hours for the freezing to wear off while you unknowingly chew on your frozen lip. Luckily for patients nowadays there are products from Septodont, which reverses unwanted lingering numbness after routine dental procedures where local anesthetic was used. After 6+ dental procedures, I wish there had been something like this for me.

Finally, I wanted to share a funny video that anyone who has ever had their gums frozen can relate to! Feel free to share your Dental Dread stories in the comments!