I have a lot of black spots on my bottom molars. I have had them for years. A year ago I went to the dentist with a black spot that was causing me some sensitivity. He looked at it, looked at my x-rays, shoved that stupid-dentist-poker-thing in and around it, and told me that it was not a cavity, it was a "phantom tooth." He even told me about an assistant in his office that had a similar "phantom tooth" that caused her pain every once in a while. Well, that phantom tooth was still bothering me when I saw a new dentist on Friday for my cleaning, so I mentioned it to the dental assistant. I actually hoped that it was a cavity so I could just get it filled and viola, "phantom tooth" fixed.
Now, I must mention that it HAS been a year since my last cleaning. Perhaps it's due the fact that Rob was gone all year from 7am-9pm, and I had no sitter. Or maybe it's because I was pregnant that I excused my way out of my six month cleaning. These are both very valid reasons, but the truth is I just plain hate the dentist's office(but I obviously used reasons one and two when talking to the assistant). So she proceeded to clean my teeth and then told me that I had done a very good job of keeping my teeth cleaned, and that there was hardly any build up on them. I was praising myself for a job well done when the dentist came in to do the final exam. I opened my mouth and he noticed the dark spots on my molars. Instead of poking them with that stupid stick, he waved a magic wand over all of them that apparently measures the tooth to see if it's decaying. Yes, phantom tooth has a cavity. Hooray. But he doesn't stop there...SEVEN cavities later, I'm unbelievably red in the face. I guess they are all very small cavities, and the dentist said that I've had them since I was 12 or 13, but because of bad technology they've gone undetected. So now I have to go back to my FAVORITE place a few more times to get those little holes fixed up. Seven. HOW EMBARRASSING. Perhaps this explains why I keep having dreams that my teeth are breaking and falling out.
4 comments:
Yay for the dentist. I get to go have 4 filled tomorrow. I on the other hand don't hate the dentist. I have actually fallen asleep at the dentist getting a root canal. Sorry to hear about all your cavities though. Have fun.
oh my gosh! That really sucks. especially for them to not catch it since you were 12! However, you're talking to the SIX root canal girl, here, so I totally understand your pain! I actually dont mind the dentist because I went in every two weeks for like 2 months. At least they're just cavities and they arent root canals, eh? ;)
But how lucky that you finally found a dentist who knows what he's doing, right? Maybe you should break the news to that other dentist's assistant that phantom teeth aren't real.
No worries! It was not uncommon for me to have 13 cavities when I visited the dentist. Now, most of my teeth are crowns. YUCK!! The more you go, the easier it becomes.
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