Why I won't return to my dentist.

[Pete Geither]

Went to the same dentist for over 30 years and he was always the best. A little over a year ago one of his sons was doing a root canal on me and hit a nerve in my tongue with the novacaine and it was like an electric shock. It numbed half of my tongue for over 6 months, and took me close to a year to fully recover. It was just one of those "dentist deals" I'm sure and I don't really have any bad feelings toward them,,,,, BUT, I can't bring myself to go back there again. I really don't ever want to see a dentist again, but know I better find one soon. I just keep thinking that in my 58 years, I have never had one minute of pain from my teeth because I didn't go to a dentist, but have had months of pain at different times because I did. This is all backwards from my perspective.

[elau]

Consider the odds. One mistake in 30 years is not bad. You may not have such luck with your "new" dentist.

[MTI]

If we applied that reaction to our cars, we'd never darken the door of any service bays . . . I'm not sure if there's a DIY dentistry forum.

[super SEC]

I had the same thing happen to me when I got my wisdon teeth pulled. The dentist should have sent me to an oral surgeon. After around three hours and using a cheater bar, he managed to get two of my wisdon teeth out. I couldn't eat solid foods for a month and I couldn't feel half my tongue for over 1 year.

[kerry]

A few years ago, Letterman had a guest who did his own dentistry with a dremel tool. If he could do it I'm guessing a lot of people on this board have the skill to succeed.
At my last root canal, the Novacaine was not working. The dentist ended up injecting directly into each root canal in the tooth, directly onto the unanethsetized nerve.

[Hatterasguy]

I'll pull or drill any tooth you want, $20 and I run a half price deal on the weekends! I might even wipe the oil off of my tools before I start, don't worry if I don't, it is Mobil 1 so it will lube everything up nicely.