Christ Reynolds
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- May 6, 2002
- Messages
- 3,597
- Real Name
- CJ
i read through the dental threads here, there was some great info, but nothing specific for my situation. i'm in college, so i dont have any dental insurance. i have the option of joining the dental plan from my school (aetna i believe?).
almost 2 years ago, i needed a root canal on one of my upper teeth. being extremely short of money, a friend suggested i go to the city and use the services of tutfs dental school, where the dental students work on you under supervision of the dentists/teachers. to be honest, the actual students were fine, but the procedure did not go smoothly, mainly due to my lack of responsiveness to novocaine (or whatever numbing agent they use). it would work for a little while, and i would feel pain when they went deeper, so they tried to numb the hell out of me, but i would still feel extreme pain when they were drilling. they tried giving me dozens of shots all over my mouth , and none seemed to numb the area they were working in. eventually, the dentist said that since i wasnt responding to the numbing, they would have to inject the shot directly into the nerve. and i thought it was painful before...
anyway, the point of that was, i dont respond very well to being numbed. my dad doesnt respond at all; maybe it is hereditary. my question is...what are my options for sedation dentistry? from what i understand, there are a few different methods. i would prefer to be completely knocked out during the procedure. can i get it when i'm using the school's discount plan? is sedation dentistry significantly more expensive? also, what are my other options besides the school plan? are there private plans that provide better rates? perhaps i have been subconsciously avoiding the dentist, but i am at the point where i can no longer do so.
i tried looking around the internet for a dentist search, but most sites seem to be bloated with ads, and offer no real content. if there are any reliable dentist search sites, i havent seen them yet. thanks for any help/info you can give.
CJ
almost 2 years ago, i needed a root canal on one of my upper teeth. being extremely short of money, a friend suggested i go to the city and use the services of tutfs dental school, where the dental students work on you under supervision of the dentists/teachers. to be honest, the actual students were fine, but the procedure did not go smoothly, mainly due to my lack of responsiveness to novocaine (or whatever numbing agent they use). it would work for a little while, and i would feel pain when they went deeper, so they tried to numb the hell out of me, but i would still feel extreme pain when they were drilling. they tried giving me dozens of shots all over my mouth , and none seemed to numb the area they were working in. eventually, the dentist said that since i wasnt responding to the numbing, they would have to inject the shot directly into the nerve. and i thought it was painful before...
anyway, the point of that was, i dont respond very well to being numbed. my dad doesnt respond at all; maybe it is hereditary. my question is...what are my options for sedation dentistry? from what i understand, there are a few different methods. i would prefer to be completely knocked out during the procedure. can i get it when i'm using the school's discount plan? is sedation dentistry significantly more expensive? also, what are my other options besides the school plan? are there private plans that provide better rates? perhaps i have been subconsciously avoiding the dentist, but i am at the point where i can no longer do so.
i tried looking around the internet for a dentist search, but most sites seem to be bloated with ads, and offer no real content. if there are any reliable dentist search sites, i havent seen them yet. thanks for any help/info you can give.
CJ