Hi minymo,
My goodness, you too have had an awful dental experience and no doubt it has left you feeling unsure about alot of things!!
I am not familiar with dental treatment in the Netherlands, but it sounds to me like there may have been some miscommunication or misunderstanding between you and the dentist. Or at least I'm hoping that's what it was and the dentists really don't practice with that type of mentality!
It is so hard for people to understand dentistry because the dental profession has kept SO much of it secretive (for lack of a better word) and for the most part has not encouraged people to ask questions. SO the average person has really no clue what to ask and has difficulty understanding what they are bein told. I am just guessing, based on my experience, this is somewhat your situation based on what you have written here.
It is true that people can live without their 2nd and 3rd molars because the majority of food is actually chewed up to the first molar in each quadrant. However, it is always easiest to have a full set of teeth! Perhaps that is what the lady dentist was trying to explain to you?
I'm assuming that the teeth she suggested to remove were badly decayed? She may have felt that it was not in your best interest to try to retain these teeth in your mouth by doing root canals since the long term prognosis was not in your favor. It's important to understand that root canals do not "cure" an infected tooth even though that is the term used most often by conventional dentists. Root canal procedures are done in an attempt to "retain" a tooth for an uncertain amount of time. The tooth never becomes healthy again and new strains of infectious bacteria build up inside of the tooth due to the lack of blood supply that has been permanently cut off during the root canal procedure. This new bacteria eventually makes it's way out of the tooth into the surrounding jawbone......... thus causing a jaw bone infection. It is the same principal as when a tooth becomes abcessed. The infection starts from inside the tooth and proliferates to the jawbone.
When a person has periodontal disease, an infection can begin in the deep pocket around the tooth below the gumline and work it's way into the tooth through the small blood vessels and nerves that intimately attach the tooth to the jawbone. In this situation, both the tooth and jawbone become infected.
Our bodies are amazing things because we have the capability to fight chronic infection for such a long time before our immune system becomes over worked and we develop signs or symptoms that something is wrong. The problem with this is that while we are fighting the infection, our organs are working overtime and who knows what the long term affects of all that fighting will be....??
I am truly sorry that you had such a horrible experience. I hope that you are eventually able to accept the loss of any teeth that were unhealthy by realizing that you really did your body a favor by not trying to retain them. I know this loss is difficult to accept, but in the long run, your immune system will be healthier for it!!
I wish you much more pleasant dental experiences in the future~!!~
Bryanna
Quote:
Originally Posted by minymo
Hi Bryanna,
I am sorry I startled you by the way I expressed myself. I will be more careful from here on.
Yes, I meant a root canal. There is no problem with my immune system or anything similar, and the only reason stated for pulling instead of trying to cure was, as I said, that I don't need it anyway. Also she said it would be needlessly expensive if the cleaning up did not work and I had to have it pulled anyway. I only need the small molars right behind the canines, is what they told me. I am not used to these holes in the back, now I chew in front a lot and sometimes I embarras myself because the food nearly sticks out.
I have a cousin who is a dentist, I spoke with him because I felt deeply shocked that the dentist coerced me into having the tooth pulled. I had been in a lot of pain for five days with the jawbone infection and her assistant told me that if it did not work and the pain became unbearable and I decided to have the tooth out anyway, she would make me wait at least another five days, she would not make an appointment with me quickly. The first two molars they urged and urged me to have pulled before I went for plaque removal around all my teeth. So this was the third tooth pulled I did not want.
Anyway, my cousin also told me that this is the prevalent point of view among dentists in The Netherlands. I do have a total coverage health-and-teeth insurance that I pay a lot for. I feel I am entitled to the best I can get and to make my own choices. This dentist did other things I disagreed with, I was real fragile at the time, and I have been in shock for weeks, very unsure whether I was in the wrong, and crying a lot, feeling betrayed and threatened. She had done painful things to my other teeth for 45 minutes before she bullied me into having this one pulled. And the pulling only took 2 minutes. If it had become an emergency, it also would have taken only two minutes. I could have waited for the anesthetic to work outside.
|