Dental drama, aka America sucks

[alfred russel]

Meh. Dentists make like ~170k a year after going ~200k into debt for dental school plus another ~40k for college. Good on them for making some money after spending all of their 20s in higher ed going into mountains of debt.

Good for them, not so good for those of us with teeth though.

It is good for you with teeth, because you actually can get your dental problems taken care of in a reasonable amount of time. If dentists didn't make any money then no one would go deep into debt and waste time in dental school.

Just like the rest of the medical system, it seems the rest of the world is making it work with a lot less cost involved.

[Josquius]

Wow.
And I felt annoyed enough paying 70 quid for a filling.  That's ridiculous.

[derspiess]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

[derspiess]

Meri, be careful going to Costa Rica-- you may not want to come back. 

[Valmy]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

I have two. They are not so bad. I mean presuming having people drilling into your jaw doesn't bother you.

[Barrister]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

I have two. They are not so bad. I mean presuming having people drilling into your jaw doesn't bother you.

I had one.  After digging around in my tooth for two hours, their crown making machine was busted, so I had to come back a couple weeks later.

I get there, and the dentist said "you know I'm not really happy with the job I did" so he proceeded to dig around in my tooth for another couple of hours.

ABout two years later that tooth had to come out in any event - the dentist had done a shitty job and the tooth was cracked.

Root canals are exquisitely uncomfortable.

[fromtia]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

Oh, I have had many. On two continents, both coasts of this one. My teeth are Jenna Jameson to those drills.

[DGuller]

Just went for my twice a year cleaning this morning. Had some pain in a molar, and my dentist is ending me to a specialist, thinks the molar might be cracked, potentially through, which would mean a root canal and crown.

Never had either before. It sounds....unpleasant.

It's not unpleasant at all if the specialist is any good, unless you already have an infection that would make it challenging to quickly and effectively numb the area.  I would say that regular cleaning is more unpleasant.

[DGuller]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

I have two. They are not so bad. I mean presuming having people drilling into your jaw doesn't bother you.

I had one.  After digging around in my tooth for two hours, their crown making machine was busted, so I had to come back a couple weeks later.

I get there, and the dentist said "you know I'm not really happy with the job I did" so he proceeded to dig around in my tooth for another couple of hours.

ABout two years later that tooth had to come out in any event - the dentist had done a shitty job and the tooth was cracked.

Root canals are exquisitely uncomfortable.

IMO you should always have an endodontist do your root canal, that's their specialty.  Regular dentists are jacks of all trades and rarely masters of root canals.

[Barrister]

I haven't had one, but given how comedians have always referred to root canals, they can't be good.

I have two. They are not so bad. I mean presuming having people drilling into your jaw doesn't bother you.

I had one.  After digging around in my tooth for two hours, their crown making machine was busted, so I had to come back a couple weeks later.

I get there, and the dentist said "you know I'm not really happy with the job I did" so he proceeded to dig around in my tooth for another couple of hours.

ABout two years later that tooth had to come out in any event - the dentist had done a shitty job and the tooth was cracked.

Root canals are exquisitely uncomfortable.

IMO you should always have an endodontist do your root canal, that's their specialty.  Regular dentists are jacks of all trades and rarely masters of root canals.

That is now my advice.  I forgot the same dentist also screwed up a root canal for my wife, forcing her to have to go to a specialist to have it fixed.

We don't see that dentist anymore.

Funny enough I had an appointment with the new dentist this morning for a cleaning / check-up.  I can't say I like going to the dentist, but I have to disagree with you - a cleaning if way milder than a root canal.

[derspiess]

I'm too lazy to do it, but I should switch dentists.  This dude is getting old and his equipment, while well-maintained, seems to be straight out of the 50s.  What's scary is how old his replacement is when he's on vacation. 

[Barrister]

I'm too lazy to do it, but I should switch dentists.  This dude is getting old and his equipment, while well-maintained, seems to be straight out of the 50s.  What's scary is how old his replacement is when he's on vacation.

For day to day stuff, cleanings, check-ups, and fillings, he's probably fine.  My new dentist is a bit older, but he refers out anything complex so I have no problem with him.

He did unknowingly send me on quite the detour through dental specialists though.  I commented to him that my bite is off - my teeth don't meet in the front, which can make say biting a sandwich a bit tougher.  So I got sent to a prosthidontist, who sent me to an orthodontist, then they both consulted with me in the room.  One wanted to do jaw surgery - break my jaw and re-set it so that my teeth would be aligned.  The other said he thought he could fix it with braces.  Both agreed though I needed to see a third specialist, an oral surgeon, to get the bad root canal tooth removed, before I could do anything.

After getting the surgery, I decided I would rather live with slightly harder to eat sandwiches than go through with that much dental work.

[CountDeMoney]

Just went for my twice a year cleaning this morning. Had some pain in a molar, and my dentist is ending me to a specialist, thinks the molar might be cracked, potentially through, which would mean a root canal and crown.

Never had either before. It sounds....unpleasant.

I had the same sort of scenario--pain in a molar, when I ate an untoasted, whole bagel  fuck, that shit is solid--and they wanted to go straight to the crown, so I got a 2nd opinion because, yeah, it sounds terribly unpleasant. 

X-rays showed that there could be "something" there, but he wasn't 100% convinced there was a crack.  And he's not the type to do procedures for the sake of doing them, so we didn't.  I haven't had any pain again for years.

[Caliga]

I had a root canal once.  It was fun.

I especially liked the part where the drill bit broke off in my tooth and the dentist couldn't find it.

[DGuller]

Funny enough I had an appointment with the new dentist this morning for a cleaning / check-up.  I can't say I like going to the dentist, but I have to disagree with you - a cleaning if way milder than a root canal.

Well, of course it is if you compare against your experience with root canals.  But in general, when the root canal is done properly and you don't have any abscess in the area, the only pain felt is during the first injection, the one done to make the real injection painless.  After that, if you're not bothered by the sounds and the pressure of the work done there, you'll just have to deal with boredom.