I love going to the Dentist.

....Actually, no I don't. I'm pretty sure most people are not excited or happy to be going to the dentist.

This is my experience with the many dentists I had visited in the past. If you would like to skip it all and go down to some recommendations, scroll to the bottom.

I'm not sure how many people have had bad luck with dentists, but I figure I had to visit about 5 or 6 different dentists before I finally found a good one. My teeth were perfectly fine until about grade 7, when people referred me to a dentist that used to go to our church. There was a good amount of people that went to him, so we figured let's go to him from now on. Plus he wasn't too far away from home.

We'll call him Dr. A. The first visit, he says I have perfect teeth. It was mostly assessment and what not. The following week I came back to have cleaning done. Lo and behold, Dr. A says I got 7 cavities. Holy damn what? 7? How the heck did I get 7 cavities in less than a week? I didn't even eat any candy that week. But as a patient, you trust your dentist's judgment right? I had to go multiple times to fix those so called cavities. I later found out this dentist had pretty much lied to us. I didn't have any cavities actually. But instead, he used that excuse so he could buff all my teeth. When I mean buff, he buffed all my enamel out. Basic tooth anatomy 101: Enamel is the white layer on top of every tooth, the outmost protective layer of a tooth. If that thins out, your tooth is more susceptible to cracks, damage, cavities, and that could lead to more problems in the future. This dentist was a freaking crook. Took advantage of our insurance.

Anyways great, now that all my enamel is gone, my teeth became super sensitive to touch. Hot and cold liquids, and chewing food. Sensodyne for life now. I switched dentists to see if I could somehow fix this problem, but every dentist I went to assumed I was grinding my teeth at night. So 2 of them gave me a night guard for use at night. I used it for a while and then got lazy so I stopped using it.

Late 2008 was the beginning of a tooth nightmare. I had gone in complaining of sensitivity and pain in my left molar. The new dentist I went to (we'll call him Dr. B) did a thorough assessment and found a huge cavity hiding in the back. It was hard to tell by xray but it looked like the tooth could be saved. It wasn't touching the pulp, or so we thought. Cavity was taken out and the area was cleaned, then sealed. And off I went. In the next few months, the tooth was way more sensitive than before. Sensitive to everything, even air. I kept telling them something was wrong, but I was told it was normal to feel a bit of sensitivity. Ok, fine I'll just suck it up and deal with it.

About 10 months later, 6 days before I went to write my licensing exam, there was a dull pain in my jaw. It came and went, nothing too significant. I didn't think too much of it but figured I'll keep an eye out. The next day (5 days before the exam), the pain came back and stayed. But it was bearable. On the third day, that's when all hell broke loose. The pain became excruciating that I could not stop crying. This time, the pain went from dull to sharp, and was hitting my entire jaw line, up to my head, giving me the worst headaches. Headaches that went past 24 hours. It would not go away. I knew the origin of pain was from that molar, and I just wanted to rip it out so the pain would go away. It was pain mixed with feeling itchy in that area. I hit up the emergency room, and the nurse gave me a Tylenol regular. I take it but it does nothing at all. We wait about 3 hours before being called in, and then another hour before the doctor actually comes to see me. The MD assesses and says my gums are swollen red, and says it's infected. No sh*t Sherlock.

He says there is no dentist on call at the hospital. The only thing he can do is write a prescription for an antibiotic, and take some Advil for the pain. I said the nurse gave me a Tylenol 500mg. He tells me it's not a NSAID so it wouldn't help. Hello, I know that, your nurse gave it to me. Shouldn't you be prescribing me some Morphine? This isn't some normal tooth pain or arthritic pain. Advil and Tylenol will do no good at this time! So I waited 4 hours to be given an antibiotic prescription. Lovely.

The following morning, we called up dentist #3. We'll call him Dr. C. We told him what happened the previous night, so he pushed all his appointments for the day to accommodate me first thing in the morning, as it was an emergency case. And this was my first root canal. I had no clue what to expect, but I can tell you that it hurt like a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch. It was probably very painful at this point because whatever was going on inside the tooth, it was already infected beyond repairing/saving the pulp. The pulp is the part in the tooth where there is blood supply along with nerves to keep the tooth alive, so to speak. When a cavity becomes deep enough that it touches the pulp, the pulp becomes inflamed. The longer it remains inflamed, the harder it becomes to save the tooth and leads to an abscess. Infection occurs and when it is not treated, it travels into the blood stream, and then you'll have way bigger problems. The last thing you want is for it to hit your brain.

During the procedure, Lidocaine was given, but in my opinion, not enough because I felt everything. I kept signaling to give me more, which I believe I was given 4 needle shots in total. But while he was pulling out the pulp/roots, I could still feel it. It's hard to describe, but it's like when you hit your funny bone very hard. And you get that painful weird sensation for a while. Yeah, it's like that. Except it's in your mouth. To get to the pulp, the dentist or endodontist drills into the tooth from the top, removes the pulp, nerves, and any bacteria or debris and a thorough cleaning is done, before the area is filled. If you feel any pain, ask for more freezing. The most difficult part about root canals on the molars is that molars have more nerve endings than the rest of the teeth. The average is about 3 nerve endings/roots. So it will take quite a bit of Lidocaine to numb everything in that area. I was told for this specific tooth, there were 2 dead nerves and 1 live nerve, hence why I was feeling lots of pain.

Finally after about an hour, it was all done. After a root canal, you get a temporary filling. Eventually you'll have to go back to the dentist after a couple of weeks at least, to get the permanent filling done. And then finally, a crown to be put on top of that tooth, so it won't shatter when you eat. Now that there is no nerves or blood supply going to that tooth, there should not be any sensation left.

I had pushed the permanent filling to be done later on when I received insurance from work. At that time, I just graduated and was no longer under parents' insurance benefits, so I had to pay everything out of pocket. Root canals these days cost about $800-1,000 depending on which tooth. Molars are the most expensive because they take the longest time and contain the most roots, along with bigger pulps. Permanent filling would cost another few hundred. And a crown would cost about $1,000, depending on material. Most common these days are porcelain laced with gold inside.

About 8 months later, I had a part time job but no full time, so there was still no insurance. I still pushed to wait. And that's when problems occurred. At this time, the temporary filling fell out, and the tooth got infected once again. I was put on a course of antibiotics again. This time I was referred to an Endodontist, a specialist dentist. We'll call her Dr. D. She did an xray to see what was going on, and found that there was an extra nerve ending that was not taken out. 4 roots in total?? The initial root canal was not done properly. So here I go, another pulpectomy but it wasn't as bad as the first one. So finally, another temporary filling was done. This time I was warned to not wait so long for a permanent filling. So I said ok, screw it, let's do the permanent filling and get a crown.

I go back to dentist #3 to get the permanent filling and the crown done. Once again, all this was paid out of pocket due to having no insurance. Pricey as faaaaackkkkkkk. This one tooth took about a year and a half to properly fix. Plus a couple grand to fix in total. Could've bought a purse.

Fast forward to 2015. I had a problematic tooth once again on the opposite side, a molar. That tooth had cracked previously and was fixed twice. It had cracked again and part of the tooth fell out. I could tell it was not in good condition so I scheduled to see dentist #3. He cleaned and filled it once again. But it was still super sensitive. He didn't think I needed a root canal because he fixed it. I also had another tooth on the opposite side that was aching for about a year but I didn't really bother to get it checked out because I'm stubborn like that.

A family member had talked about another dentist (dentist #5, Dr. E) and so I was referred there for my second problematic tooth. She did an assessment and said it was a deep cavity but the tooth can be saved. So it was cleaned and filled. Problem is, this tooth became super sensitive than before and it hurt. She told me it would be sensitive for a few days. Well, over a week later it still hurt. So I knew this was not a good sign. That's the thing with dentists. Even if it looks pretty bad, they would still try to fix and save the tooth, and still take a chunk out of your insurance money. Thank God for full time status and benefits.

I remember the Endodontist had told me of a tap test to check for sensitivity and pain. Just knock on your affected tooth/teeth with your nail or with a metal utensil. If there is pain and it lingers, it means the pulp is inflamed. Another test is the cold touch test. Take a Q-tip and put cold water on the tip. Put the tip on your tooth and remove when you feel pain. If the pain lingers, the pulp is inflamed. Not a good sign at all. The pulp cannot be saved. So I knocked on both of my teeth. Lo and behold, they both lingered.

I asked for a referral back to the same Endo that had done my root canal a few years back. The plan was to do one root canal that day on the molar. However, I had told her on the spot about the other tooth that had lingering pain. And she made the decision to do two root canals in one sitting. TWO?! Well, there's always a first for things. But having 2 root canals done in one sitting is not something that anyone would dream of doing.

Once again, the big molar had 3 roots to remove, so lots of Lidocaine was needed. I counted about 5 shots to that area, plus 1 shot to the second tooth (which only had 1 root, so 1 shot of Lidocaine was enough). So in total, 6 doses of Lidocaine. The procedure took about 2 hours. Can you imagine sitting in a dentist's chair for 2 hours straight with your mouth open non stop? Yeah, it's not fun.

2 hours later, the procedure is done, and I look like a swollen chipmunk. It takes about 2 weeks to fully recover and for the sensitivity to go away before permanent fillings are needed, and then crowns being fitted. The cost of having 2 root canals? $2,000. The next bill is for the permanent fillings and two crowns, which is going to cost....I don't even want to know. Paying out of pocket it would be about 3 grand. Thankfully with insurance, at least there would be coverage.

Some lessons to be learned:

1) Any tooth pain is not normal. Get it checked out.

2) Don't skip going to the dentist. No one likes to go, but a check up every 6 months, even for teeth cleaning, is worth it.

3) If you don't like pain, avoid root canals.

4) If you've been told your cavity was deep but it wasn't touching the pulp, pay attention for the next few weeks. If it becomes more sensitive than before, do the tap test. If the pain lingers, it means the pulp is inflamed, and is not a good sign. The longer it lingers, the worst it gets.

5) Regular dentists can do root canals. I would recommend Endodontists because they specialize in those and, in my opinion, do a better job. So get a referral there if you need to do a root canal.

6) Crowns are recommended for molars, as they do the most work in chewing food. You can skip out on it if it's canines (front) or bicuspids (front-side); usually a permanent filling is sufficient. With molars, it's highly recommended that you get a crown to be fitted on top of the affected tooth to protect it for many years to come.

7) Avoid drinks high in sugar. Even if you dilute your drink with water, you will still have 35 grams of sugar in that particular drink. All that sugary stuff is left behind in the small crevasses between your teeth, and over time it will become a cavity.

8) You'll have a higher chance of getting a root canal done if you suffer from the following:
     a) No enamel left, leaving your tooth highly sensitive
     b) Your tooth had previously cracked
     c) Constant work done on the tooth (cavities, cracks)
     d) Deep cavities
     e) Tooth decay
     f) Trauma to the tooth

9) Before brushing teeth, try rinsing out your mouth with salt and warm water. You could actually use coconut oil as well on its own. Take a mouthful of coconut oil and let it simmer between your teeth and gums. In 5-10 minutes, spit out and brush.

10) Brush your teeth and floss regularly. There is no set amount of times you should brush (although most people brush in the morning and at night), but I would recommend brushing after each meal or any time you eat something. Technique is also important as well with brushing. Up and down motion is preferred to get rid of any plaque between the teeth. Scrubbing side to side will not clean much.

11) Marry a dentist. They'll fix your teeth for free.

So there you have it. Take care of your teeth.