Drill'r
Toms River, NJ
Male, 63
I was in private general practice for 30 years, taught at UMDNJ and NYU College of Dentistry, and was a US Navy Reserve Dental Officer (Fleet Marine Force). Suffice it to say, I know a thing or two about teeth! Ask me anything.
No we find it very efffective - but as you intimated it is a process which is most effective on younger patients ( and of course In$urance will pay for it to prevent decay but not in adults unless they are on Chemotherpy, or have some other debiltaing oral condition, etc) When the secondary/permanent teeth erupt into the oral cavity in childhood the Enamel is susceptable to the bacteria in the oral cavity(see ans. above). The Flavored Gel/Fluoride Treatment "hardenens" the enamel surface and prevents tooth decay/caries. It is so effective that we are slowly preventing ourselves out of business when it comes to the most common routine procedure we as dentists performed in the past, ( we also prescribe fluoride vitamins depending on your drinking water supply)Hence "marketing" has entered the profession to $uppliment lost dollar$.
Toothpaste has all the fluoride you need as an adult .
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Yes between patients and after hours it's great. Oh do you mean on Patients? Yes it's a wonderful adjunct to local anethetics , especially with chilren .It acts as a mild hypnotic and amnesiac and young patients can tolerate most procedures without "novacaine" when introduced to Laughing Gas (nitrous oxide analgesia). Additinal training is required and it is more time comsuming so some dentists don't use it because it is not cost effective. I never charged addtionally for the "laughing gas"(nitrous oxide) and it was a practice builder.
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BECAUSE WE CAN..... all kidding aside it's basically to distract from and inform you of the procedure being performed. The sound and vibration of the "drill" resonate and vibrate through the bones of the jaw and skull and are quite unsettling. Add to that all the psychological factors tied into the oral cavity (scroll up to first Q and A) most patients welcome the distraction. Plus we can expound upon or politcal views, family interactions, etc and your not going to disagree. I wouldn't with a diamond "drill" turning up to 500,000 RPM milimeters away from your tongue. And , it's great therapy for the Dentist...Thanks for listening. PS: it's when we're no talking is when you should be concerned-most procedures are routine but when we stop talking the procedure is more critical or difficult. and if you hear OOPS!!!!! then start to worry
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Yes, Billing ---------. I think that early on in practice anterior or palatal (roof of the mouth) injections were very painful for the patient but I soon go over any trepidation. Dentistry is relatively painless today with the use of local anesthisia and anagesia. The majority of patients realize that and those that present in pain can't wait to be "numbed"
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You should taste it without the flavoring. I don't recommend Fluoride mouthwashes for adults (assuming you are an adult) unless there are special circumstances,such high caries index, or preriodintal disease, "dry mouth" (xerostomia) from cancer treatments or medications, and other such conditions. If you are not one of these special catagories then brusning with a fluoride toothpaste before bed and upon rising is suffient.
I suggest to patients if they want additional fluoride treatments to apply toohpaste to your finfeiger and rub it accross your teeh before showering or bathing and rinse after bathing this is long enough if done daily and inexpesive. Another suggestion is to buy an inexpensisive self-moulding "football" mouthpiece and after following the instructions fill it with a small amout of toothpaste again before you get in the shower or bath and brush away residual after removing the mouthpiece , same effect as mouthwash and in some cases better.
The bacteria and enzymes start ther diigestive process --see above-- and the acidic resulting saliva decalcify the Enamel surface of your teeth the fluoride bonds with the remaining calcium matrix---- Ca-Ca + acid = Ca--- , add Fl then Ca--Fl = stronger enamel surface . Very, very simplistic explaination but I think you'll get it.
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It took some time to answer this b/c there is nothing thaCasanova thinks of or find that satisfied your parameter of 100% wrong. There have been procedures , armamenterium, and medications that have changed or modified ans improved by what came b4. In the USA medications and procedures have to satisfy a medical and legal standaoff of care
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There are so many possibiltities it is hard to answer with a limited ability to diagnose your condition. First of all there is nothing "normal" , but there are routine procedures. It can happen that you may need a "root canal" (endodontis treatment)but as you susupect "normally" there is some indication prior to having the filling, but there are exceptions. I'm not hedging or defending ( I spent some time as an expert witness in the past) but it is really hard to determine and give a definitive answer without more information. If you r not happy with your dentist move on. Get back to me with more info.
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