.. Well, great so far! I have avoided dentists for 22 years after a serious of dreadful experiences and ineffective analgesia back in the UK. However, after a loose lower incisor morphed into an infection, that was it. I HAD to do something!
I researched dental surgeons in West VIrginia and discovered that Dr Skoretz is rated in the top 5% in West Virginia. He covers family dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, crowns, root canals, whitening, dental implants.. in fact everything dental!
Having expressed my fears (literally weeping as I emailed them!), I had a very kind and sympathetic response from Carla, one of the secretaries.. she set me up with an appt. as they had a cancellation. After X-Rays were done, I realised that, after discussing the results of those and the oral exam, that things were much worse than I thought. All my amalgams were broken, cracked and in one case, missing.. many of my teeth had chips or were cracked/broken too.. my bite was dreadful (I knew that anyway!) with badly worn-down teeth (6mm height loss..) etc etc. BUT that tooth had to come out.. it had super-elevated and I couldn't even eat! So, after a hefty dose of Nitrous Oxide and two EXTREMELY swift needles that I hardly felt.. and around a minute later, that tooth was out.. painless and astonishing for a serious dentiphobe such as myself!
I returned later for full dental impressions because having found someone who will do ALL the ""reconstruction"" work I need.. including replacing ALL the amalgam (mercury) fillings with white fillings after cleaning...then root canals, splinting, crowning, veneering.. and lastly but not leastly.. dental implants to replace my missing molars.. and doing it ALL under full sedation (I Thank God!!), in six long sessions.. there is NO way I would go anywhere else! For the first time in my life I am actually looking forward to the first session next week.. in the meantime, I was expecting a temporary""flipper"" for the missing tooth.. these normally take 48 hours to arrive. I phoned them yesterday, and discovered that it had NOT arrived, which threw me into a bit of a panic as I have a conference to attend this weekend. I was asked to go in straight away.. they were really apologetic.. but Dr Skoretz fashioned me a temporary tooth.. colour matched, filed and shaped to fit.. it was attached to the teeth either side and looked great. 3/4 hour later, I got out of the chair... and there was no charge! What a guy.. and what a great, professional practise!
more