I really do not enjoy going to the dentist. When I was little (~10 years old) I was rollerskating down a hill, holding on to a jump rope, when I fell and knocked out one of my permanent front teeth. My mom stuck the tooth back in my mouth (backwards) and drove me to the dentist. The dentist turned the tooth around and I remember going home with a popsicle stick to bite down on to keep the tooth in my mouth. My mom stayed up with me all night and she would wake me up when I stopped biting the stick so my tooth wouldn’t fall out again. Doesn’t that just seem strange to you?

Anyway. Long story short (or at least I’ll try) – I had countless root canals to try and save my tooth and braces for 5 years to fix my overbite. Since I was not wearing my headgear like I was supposed to, the orthodontist suggested I have one of my upper teeth pulled to help move my teeth back faster. The orthodontist took the brace off the tooth he wanted pulled and I went to a dentist I had never seen before (not sure why I went to a new dentist). When I went to have the tooth pulled the dentist looked at my teeth, read the orthodontist’s note and started taking a brace off a different tooth. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t quite sure what he was doing…plus, he’s the dentist. He should know what tooth to pull. Well he didn’t…he pulled the wrong tooth! That’s not even the worst part. After he realized he had pulled the wrong tooth, he put it back in my mouth and rewired my braces! He said that sometimes teeth will re-attach. Yeah right. The next day I went to another dentist to have it pulled out again. I think I had to be sedated the second time. I also had to have a second tooth pulled another time.

When I had my braces taken off, I had to have my front tooth pulled out because it was dead. By that time my parents found a wonderful dentist – in case you were worried. He recommended an oral surgeon to pull my tooth and give me an implant. The dentist and oral surgeon worked closely together. It took several years and surgeries but I now have “normal” looking front teeth.

So as you can see, I do not enjoy dentists. I get nervous when they are holding x-rays. I think to myself “are they sure they know what they are looking at?” Since the tooth-pulling-mishap, I have had one cavity filled and the dentist must have thought I was crazy when I asked him 100 times which tooth he was going to work on.

When I got married my insurance changed and my family dentist no longer accepted my insurance. I was very sad and scared to try another dentist. My husband suggested we go to his dentist. His family has gone to him for years and have really liked him.

Stay tuned for a post about my experiences with another new dentist.