So, yeah, I think this qualifies as insane

[trinityvixen]

I haven't ranted about work in a while, and it's overdue for a long rant. I'll keep it short though. Basically, this place blows when it comes to my dental plan. Had I paid an extra $13/month for the Columbia Dental Plan, I think--think, mind you, not know--I would be covered for a trip I need to make this week. I am going to look up the exact numbers, but essentially, when I was hired, I was told that support staff get GHI dental automatically, a system whereby you pay nothing per month, pay upfront for any dental service, then get reimbursed. Could be a pain if you really needed the say $100s you might pay on an expensive visit, but 25% would come back to you with this plan, and I wasn't planning on needing anything above and beyond the call of the hygenist.

Well, life is a funny old twat, innit she? Not only do I have to go to the dentist, I'm not covered by this plan after all. It turns out that the plan is only for after one year's worth of being employed. Sigh. Okay, not soooo bad, I guess, but I'm not going to the dentist. I'm going to the oral surgeon to get these wisdom teeth taken out. I got a referral from the people I went to for cleanings and such at home, which is happy, and got told to pay upfront when I get there to the tune of anywhere from $200-400 (god knows if that's per tooth), which is less happy.

I wish when my benefits said 'after waiting period' they could be a tad more specific. Health kicks in 4 months after effective hire date, why the hell should dental take so fucking long? Worse, I have to use up a sick day to get the teeth removed because the only free day they had this week was Thursday, so I get to recoup then go back to work Friday. Double damned-if-I-do, this GHI plan, when I was trying to look up oral surgeons, seems not to have any in the state of New York, and I'm not kidding. What a crap-ass plan. I may switch over to the Columbia plan and then get the other two wisdom teeth removed just because I'm going to be paying too little too late to get the ones that are actively hurting me taken out now. Stupid fucking teeth.

In good news, Lisa told me to take tylenol for the ache, and it seems to work. I don't know why it is, but I always assume that pain-killers that are over-the-counter type stuffs are for headaches only. Or really bad cramps the first day of that time of the month. It really just did not occur to me yesterday at all to take anything. Mostly, I admit, it was because I wanted to believe it would go away. I'm not dentist-phobic, I just knew it would be a pain in the ass to arrange all this, and it has been. If the teeth would just go back up into my jaw, preferably not hurting, I'd greatly appreciate it. The other good news is I may have only one adult tooth to be removed. Serendipitously, the side with the aching teeth is the one where I still have a baby tooth (in my family, we have this weird genetic thing where a couple of molars just never had adult teeth below the babies--I have just one, but my older sibs had two, and my dad might have more than that....or had, as he has the worst teeth of all of us). In that case, I may inquire as to whether or not they can deep-six the baby and I can keep one wisdom tooth. I'd be getting a new tooth for grinding and losing a visibly smaller and used tooth in the process.

Are oral surgeons like car dealers? Do they take trade-ins? Also, local or general? Who's had the teeth out and wants to tell me? I'm leaning towards the general after remembering how Carrie was (and she was definitely not out of it, so I assume it was local). Suggestions? Opinions? I'll have my mom with me to take care of me either way, so that's not an issue, really, just one of pain vs expense, if there's a difference.

Comments

Pain Killers

[slackwench.livejournal.com]

My experience is that ibuprofen (eg Advil or Motrin) is better for jaw pain than acetaminophen (Tylenol). I remember Tylenol being only semi-effective when I had braces, but Advil helping a lot.

[fairest.livejournal.com]

The local isn't that bad, honestly; injections in the gums are unfortunate but not worse than the needle for drawing blood. The one thing that really hurts is the injection in the palate. It *is* brief, but it is a very very painful brief. That said, would it honestly be enough to warrant the general? Probably not.

Something else to remember is that in my case, I had an extreme infection compounding the removal of the teeth in the first place, and the painkiller wore off before we could get to the drugstore to get medication. The second set of teeth, which weren't infected, was quite manageable in comparison. So relative to general anasthesia, the follow-up pain is probably about the same--please don't rule out local because of my specific case.

As to expense, I can't say for sure, but I would tend to think the general anasthesia would be more expensive just because of the hassle. Local is simple and quick, and it's not as big a production, particularly if they gas you first and you float on through it. It does feel pretty strange, though--just weird. I would probably choose local again (although in my case general isn't really an option; it makes me very sick) if the option arose. But really, you should speak to the dentist himself, since he'll be able to give you a better idea of your options.

[(Anonymous)]

This is what happens when you erode your teeth with slurpees and grind them by chewing ice and scrape pens across them!!!!!!!!!

[teneda.livejournal.com]

Price not being an issue, I would choose the general, simply because I don't want to be conscious for all of the pulling/drilling/other-shit-they-do in order to get the teeth out. When they gave me the crown on my front tooth, I got a local, I prolly felt nothing, but imagining all of the sounds and their causes drove me batty.

I have the CDs of Inyuyasha, btw. Whenever you want to arrange to get them, let me know.

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

I had general. One minute I was having a conversation with the nice nurse-lady. The next minute I was in a different room, lying on my side, I could hear my mother's voice, but my eyes wouldn't work.

I think I woke up enough to point out some apartments that we drove by on the way out. (My family was already planning to move in strange directions at that point).

All told tho the general worked quite nicely for me. I hate being conscious for dental work; listening to it and anticipating the pain that might come if they push just a little too hard or if the anesthetic wears off too soon or something winds up making me feel a lot of psychological pain (ie terror), and novocaine don't do nothin about that, now.

Good luck with it all. Dental care sucks, and doubly so if you're uninsured. (And, er. Well, it's a really really bad idea for you to go back to the lab on Friday while still on pain meds. But you have to do what you have to do I suppose.)

[viridian.livejournal.com]

No power on this earth would get me to have local anaesthesia for having teeth ripped out of my head. I've never had it done, but here's a vote for general. Will cost matter? I mean, won't your parents help you out with the cost since it's a medical thing and not really your own fault that you have no insurance?

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Local should be fine, unless the idiot dentist doesn't use strong enough anaesthesia, which happened to me last time. (Then again I went to a low-rent Queens dentist, so I quess I had it coming.)

One benefit of dental work, though, is that they'll give you some shit-powerful pain-killers you can save for the next medical disaster.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

I don't like locals for serious work because I don't like the sound, smell, or vibrations of bits of me being worked on with power tools.

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

aww poor baby :( *hugs*


when I had my wisdoms out it was a general -- I think you cn ask for a general if you want.... dunno much about dental sugeons lol except that mine was really patronising.....

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

I had a local, and I was fine, but I also like knowing exactly what the man with the power tools will be doing to me before he does it. The thing to consider is cost, and also, it is possible to wake up, all of a sudden, from general. The injections weren't pleasant, but they're over real quick.

[neo-leviathan.livejournal.com]

*Hugs* Ouch!
Wisdom teeth can be taken out with general Or local, though some people obviously find the local rather weird, ie, the dentist reaches in with a nasty implement, pulls out a tooth, and you feel no pain in the process ;).

Have you ever had local anaesthetic in the mouth before? If not, be careful, you could be like myself and my dad, local doens't work for us, we get numbing in the area, but it doesn't do anything to the pain receptors. If you still feel pain after a shot or two of local, TELL THEM!!
I ended up with four injections into the gum (this was for *cleaning* a tooth prior to a filling, but the cleaning was going to reach down towards the root etc), and it didn't numb the pain at all, so I just had to bear it. I nearly tore the arm rests off the chair.

*Hugs Again* I'm sure you'll be fine, though if you are even a little squeamish about dentists, I'd recomend general anaesthetic.

[mephistakitten.livejournal.com]

I still have mine, they are happy, so no experiences to share about their removal. There are things like NO and various other sedatives that make you out of it and not caring about/remembering what goes on but not entirely unconscious either. Although you might just fall asleep.

Don't forget... codeine is your friend. It is likely that you will be rather out of it from pain drugs for a while after your teeth go away. As in, working on Friday will either not be productive at all and people might feel sorry for you and send you home, or you might be too tired from them to get to work.

Good luck with it! And don't forget to post whilst high on drugs! =)

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

I still have my wisdom teeth, but I have had EVERY SINGLE FUCKIN BABY TOOTH removed by the dentist and have had oral surgery more than once. Without insurance.

I've always used local. And watched what was being done with either a mirror or a monitor, because I am a freak like that. Even though I have Fear of the Dentist.