Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Cavity 101






Yesterday I had my very first filling. Every time I spoke of it, the person on the other end would give me 'sad eyes' and then secretly smile to themselves. NO ONE spoke of what would occur during the actual filling. So here my friends is Cavity 101.




1. Numbing. A quick swab on the gums followed by 10ish shots near the cavity site. The good news is, you can only feel the first shot. The bad news is, you know they are still giving them because you can see the doc's hand pushing that needle in your gums!




2. Clamping the tooth. This is so they can prepare the rubber shield of death. Please pray your cavity isn't in the farthest tooth back, you could be in for some long-term gagging while the tech is placing the clamp. They tie floss to it in case it falls into your throat, that way they can pull it out. Nice of them, huh?



3. Rubber Shield (Dam of some kind) This isolates the tooth so that they can see it. If you make it past this point, you're home free!


4. Drill, drill drill


5. Wrap a metal strip around the tooth drilled so that they filling has 'contour'



6. Cram a wedge in between the filling tooth, and the two around it so that they can still be flossed.


7. Filling, Blue light, Filling, Blue Light, repeat



8. Bite test- to see if the filling is filed properly. Repeat at least 8 times, followed by more drilling.



9. Take everything out of your mouth. ( your top lip might still be numb)


10. Pay and schedule your 6th month check up.

3 comments:

  1. I hate the dentist! I swear that dam thing is to completely blocked the dentist off from any actual human being so they don't even remember they are working on a real person.

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  2. wow that doesn't sound pleasant! hopefully i never get a cavity!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The worst thing about the shots is how you can feel the liquid being pumped into your gum area and its freaky!

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