Should She Trust This Dentist?

I am going to be completely upfront and say the situation I am in is my fault. I tend to avoid the dentist because of the anxiety I have. My experiences at the dentist have not been pleasant. I hope you won’t take offense at that, especially because I am going to ask you for advice! Haha. OKay, so I’ve had the pain that comes and goes for a couple of weeks but when it is there it hurts like the dickens. I looked up emergency dentist so I could get in right away. This dentist did an x-ray and found a cavity on a tooth that already had a filling. He said the cavity is so large that only 10% of the tooth is viable. He’s scheduled me to have the tooth extracted and then wants to do a dental implant. This idea terrifies me. Would it be stupid to get a second opinion? By that, I mean am I just putting off the inevitable? Or, does it make sense to get a second opinion?

Lydia

Dear Lydia,

I actually think a second opinion is a good idea here. The diagnosis the dentist who you saw gave you is suspect for a couple of reasons. First, if you had decay that significant, your dentist (or you) would not need an x-ray to see it. In fact, your filling would have fallen into the cavity and there would be a large gaping hole. Additionally, a tooth that far gone would have started hurting months ago, not a couple of weeks.

When you get your second opinion, make certain you don’t tell the second dentist anything the first dentist said or even who he is for that matter. This is called a blind second opinion and will protect you from one dentist trying to cover for another one who is a friend.

A Word About Your Dental Anxiety

The anxiety you feel at the dentist is quite common. The good news is I have a solution for you. I’d like you to find a dentist who offers dental sedation. This will allow you to have positive experiences at the dentist. You can get your work done both anxiety-free and pain-free. If you need a lot of work done, which you might if you’ve avoided the dentist for a while, the best option is oral conscious sedation. This will allow you to sleep through your appointment while the dentist gets a lot of work done. Before long, you’ll be all caught up and find that the dentist is not so scary after all.

This blog is brought to you by West Seneca Dentist Dr. Carl Embury.