Huckleberries Online

Making Dentistry A Pleasure

Posted by DFO

Feb. 17, 2009 1:25 p.m. • 1 comment

Item: Relax at the dentist’s? That’s the goal/Billings Gazette

More Info: Get a little tense in the dentist’s chair? You can pass on the laughing gas at one Billings dental practice, where a certified massage therapist works on patients’ hands, feet and shoulders while her husband, the dentist, works on their teeth. “It’s really changed my idea of coming to the dentist,” said Judy Frank, a patient at Dr. Michael Stuart’s office, Legacy Smiles/Billings Gazette.

Question: Do you fear going to the dentist?

One comment on this post so far. Add yours!

Escapee on February 17 at 2:40 p.m.
I don’t know what I fear more about dentists, the treatment they provide or the bills they send out. That said, I’ve been to the dentist a LOT recently. Six upper teeth and five lower teeth pulled between December and now. You can’t imagine the sense of dread I felt. I had the upper teeth pulled and a Denture put in place…got used to that over the Christmas Season…then, in mid-January, the lowers were pulled and the lower denture was in place.

For 2-3 weeks after each set of extractions, the dentures clanged and banged around in my mouth…relines have been done, and finally I’m beginning to get used to them. It’s just INSANE, the fees that they charge. And any more, they all want to be paid ‘up front’. It doesn’t matter if you fear the dentist or not, really…my back was against the wall and I had to make some fast decisions, and had to put ‘fear’ on the back burner, although I almost freaked out the day before my lowers got pulled.

Do I miss my real teeth? Not really, although losing one’s teeth is a ‘marking point’ in one’s life. I do know I don’t miss the pain my real teeth caused. It’s awful to experience white-hot tooth pain and not be able to get it treated. Earlier in life, I had to beg to get cases of extreme dental pain treated. What an awful thing for someone to have to go through. Totally debilitating. It’s a case of some of the worst pain ever, and all dentists worry about is if they’re going to get their money. During one such tooth-ache event, I was literally sitting in the dentist chair in severe pain and the Dentist was actually lecturing me about bill-paying. I think, more than anything now, I’m relieved to know that tooth pain is largely a thing of the past for me.

Perhaps fear of dentists kept me from getting the treatment I needed, but dental pain did a wondrous job of chasing away that fear. Funny how life works like that…so there are two categories of people that give me the creeps…(that I know of)…Cops…and Dentists…apologies for the length of this entry. I’ll shut up now…

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.