For Dr. Jeff...some dentist stoke!!! Add yours..

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

When I think of dentist, I think of Steve Martins role in Little Shop of Horrors..and AZ's own Dr. Jeff so here is some dental stoke for Dr. Jeff and any other dentists lurking..

 

[drjeff]

one of my true favorites (I'll go gory later )

 

[Paul]

I just had a rear molar re-constructed today.

Dentists, w0ot!11!!!111!!1

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I just had a rear molar re-constructed today.

Dentists, w0ot!11!!!111!!1

Was it cracked??? Since joinging AZ...I haven't gone more than 8 months without seeing a dentist..thanks Dr. Jeff....weren't you in an after-school special..lol

 

[Paul]

Was it cracked??? Since joinging AZ...I haven't gone more than 8 months without seeing a dentist..thanks Dr. Jeff....weren't you in an after-school special..lol

Completely shattered, lost the filling too.

 

[wa-loaf]

 

[drjeff]

Completely shattered, lost the filling too.

Cool. Major construction projects are almost always WAY more fun for those of us that hold the drill than simple, minor ones!

 

[Mildcat]

Cool. Major construction projects are almost always WAY more fun for those of us that hold the drill than simple, minor ones!

And it pays for more skiing.

 

[drjeff]

And it pays for more skiing.

Shhhhh!

 

[hammer]

One crown left to go and I am done for the year .. 13 crowns total .. Doc did a great job and I happy to have spent the dollars and the time needed in the chair to get the work done .. implant next year..

13 crowns in one year? :-o

You must have a very generous dental plan or a lot of extra cash...

Just had a cleaning a few days ago...no cavities (never had any) and no gum problems.:razz:

 

[Glenn]

No cleaning until December. But they do keep calling me about getting a filling replaced. Maybe my dentist has a place up North.

 

[drjeff]

No cleaning until December. But they do keep calling me about getting a filling replaced. Maybe my dentist has a place up North.

DON'T get the filling replaced quickly, if that sucker is cracked, you'll get some decay going under it, which can rapidly spread, and then your dentist migth get to talk about a root canal and a crown instead of a simple filling Then your DMD/DDS will get to fund his/her pplace up North

 

[Glenn]

He told me it wasn't a "needs to get done yesterday" kind of deal. I'll throw some more $$ in the ol' FSA and get it taken care of first quarter of 09.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

One crown left to go and I am done for the year .. 13 crowns total .. Doc did a great job and I happy to have spent the dollars and the time needed in the chair to get the work done .. implant next year..

dang what was wrong with your teeth??? With your new grill all the old ladies on match.com will want to makeout with you..

 

[Geoff]

My favorite movie dentist scene of all time:

 

[noski]

classic, classic Harvey & Tim.

 

[drjeff]

One crown left to go and I am done for the year .. 13 crowns total .. Doc did a great job and I happy to have spent the dollars and the time needed in the chair to get the work done .. implant next year..

They look good in your avatar pic!

BTW, the implant is a REAL (and painless) thing to go through, and I'm speaking not just as a dentist now, but as someone who has one of those wonderful pieces of titanium in my own jaw

 

[ChileMass]

Dear Doctor Jeff -

Need your professional opinion. My wife (Mrs. Chile) just had a nasty experience with a root canal from our local dentist. We've been using this guy for several years, and he's been just great until this episode. There have been 2 procedures to date (kill half the root each time) and the dentist used some kind of bleach-like or other sanitary solution during the procedure that left my wife with big open sores in her mouth that took over a week to even close up and she was MISERABLE. She acted more upbeat after she gave birth, for Chrissakes. Plus, the guy leaned on her mouth to the point that her neck and face were sore. And, the huge load of novocaine he gave her left her chin numb for almost a week - she says it still doesn't feel right (and it's been 3 weeks). She's got to go back to have the crown done (another 2 lengthy procedures) and she is really hesitant to go back to this guy.

The dentist is right off the boat from Russia, but again - he's been terrific to date, and I'm really surprised this happened. Do they do dental procedures differently over there? Is this typical? I've never had a root canal, and I can tell you if I need one, this is not the guy I want to do it....

????

Thanks -

 

[Trekchick]

Wow, that doesn't sound normal.

My husband had some extensive dental work done a little over a year and half ago, and he had nothing like this.
Of course the dentist we go to is called, High Tech Dentistry. He lives up to his name.

 

[drjeff]

Dear Doctor Jeff -

Need your professional opinion. My wife (Mrs. Chile) just had a nasty experience with a root canal from our local dentist. We've been using this guy for several years, and he's been just great until this episode. There have been 2 procedures to date (kill half the root each time) and the dentist used some kind of bleach-like or other sanitary solution during the procedure that left my wife with big open sores in her mouth that took over a week to even close up and she was MISERABLE. She acted more upbeat after she gave birth, for Chrissakes. Plus, the guy leaned on her mouth to the point that her neck and face were sore. And, the huge load of novocaine he gave her left her chin numb for almost a week - she says it still doesn't feel right (and it's been 3 weeks). She's got to go back to have the crown done (another 2 lengthy procedures) and she is really hesitant to go back to this guy.

The dentist is right off the boat from Russia, but again - he's been terrific to date, and I'm really surprised this happened. Do they do dental procedures differently over there? Is this typical? I've never had a root canal, and I can tell you if I need one, this is not the guy I want to do it....

????

Thanks -

Here goes for you Chile!

First off, getting license in the US as a dentist can occur one of 2 ways.

#1 attend and successfully all 4 years at an accredited US dental school, or

#2 if you're an already licensed foriegn trained dentist, you need to attend an successfully complete atleast 2 years of dental school at a US accredited dental school (typically its the last 2 years of dental school which is the clinical portion of dental school. Some foriegn trained dentists may need a 3rd year, if it's deemed that their basic science education is lacking compared to US standards.

Then in either case upon gradustion from the US accredited dental school, you need to pass the US dental boards (which has a didactic based and covers both basic science and clinical dentistry) AND then pass a regional or state board exam. Upon all of that, then you can get your license and DEA number and go out and practice dentistry. So if this dentist has a US license, then they've gone through one of those sequences.

As for the root canal portion. This is where what is sounds like happened, while not the typical occurrence, does fall within the realm of normal. First off, multi visits to first remove (deaden) the nerve and the finish the root canal at a later date is quite common especially in situations where the nerve is dead from the beginning. The bleach like substance, well is exactly that, bleach, or in it's technical term as some of my type of folk will say to sound all fancy "sodium hypochlorite" Me personally I just tell it like it is to my patient's and say that I'm going to squirt some chlorox in your tooth to help with the sterilization process. The use of bleach is typically done MULTIPLE times during the procedure, and can indeed cause a chemical burn if prolonged contact with unitended tissues of the mouth occurrs Typically, but not always, we as dentist will place a latex barrier (rubber dam/dental dam) around the tooth were doing a root canal on to catch the spill over water spray and/or irrigants we use, although sometimes if there is very limited remaining tooth structure a dental dam can't be used.

Bruise like sorenss for a few days afterwards, will occur about 1/3rd of the time. Between keeping one's mouth open for an hour plus, and then the injection site(which sometime will cause swelling under the skin/tissues of the mouth which can cause soreness), and then just the physical manipulation of the tooth via the instruments we use in a root canal, inflammation and soreness can most definately be present afterwards. Typically though in all but the most inflammed of cases, this soreness is what I like to call "advil sore" - meaning that regular old advil/motrin/ibuprofen every 6 hours will handle it.

Lingering numbness, most liekly injection related. Ask your wife if she felt something like an electrical shock when the novacaine was administered - this is usually the case in lingering numbness. What happens, is most of the time when we get someone numb, we DON'T hit the nerve. Even a large nerve isn't much bigger than a piece of thin spaghetti, and were aiming at it through an inch plus of gum tissue/muscle fibers/fat pads, etc, etc, etc. So basically, most of the time, the novacaine gets deposited in the area of the nerve, and then does it thing and gets one numb. Every now and then though we hit the proverbial bulls eye and when the needle hits the nerve, most folks get an electrical shock type sensation and get numb very quick. This needle to to nerve can cause extended, and in some cases even permanent anesthesia of the area Usually though if senstion atleast begins to return within a few months, then most, if not all sensation will return eventually, but nerves heal SLOW!

If she still has significant pain a week + from the completion of the root canal, the 3 most common causes are #1 - lingering infection/nerve tissue - that requires removal of the root canal filling material and a recleaning of the root canal anatomy - usually this will have associated temperature AND pressure discomfort. #2 the filling material that was place in the hole that was cut in the tooth is too large and as a result the biting pressure on the tooth is much greater than usual and the bone the tooth is held in gets basically bruised - this will usually have just pressure discomfort or #3, the "worst" one. The tooth is fractured somewhere below the gumline, this can often be the initial causative agent required the tooth to need the root canal in the first place. If this is the case, best case scenario is some minor gum surgery can be doen to bring the location of the crack above the gum line, and then the crown can be placed and the tooth will be fine, worst case scenario, the crack is in an unsaveable position and the tooth has to be removed- this scenario usually just has SHARP pain when you bite on the tooth a certain way, but asside from maybe a little gum tenderness, the tooth is okay the rest of the time.

Hope that helps