Score one for 1800 Dentist. I always scoffed at the commercials because, seriously, I had a major phobia of the dentist. When I was about 14 my dentist hired a new hygienist. Now we all know a good hygienist or nurse are worth at least a billion times their weight in gold. Doctors & the actual denists are iffy, it matters, but not so much as they would like to think. The nurses are the ones that give you the shots, draw your blood, and make sure you have every prescription slip you need. Hygienists clean your teeth, take x-rays, make sure you get enough gas (as a fearful patient) that you can relax & let them do their job, and basically everything that the actual dentist get’s credit for. Generally, people’s fear does not come from a bad dentist (because they barely talk to you) it comes from unfriendly dental hygienists.
I had a bad one. I have a condition where I loose the enamel on my teeth far quicker than normal wear & tear. It’s not because I don’t brush or floss or mouth wash (which I do religiously) it’s just something I have. Now you should note that I have never had a dental fear before this, but miss new hygienist decided that she knew more than I did (or my chart) and began trying to scrape away “the tarter” on my teeth. What she was trying to scrap away was the diffrent layers of enamel, with out any sedative. My mouth hurt for a week and my dentist had to actually fill in places in my teeth where she had worn down past the enamel.
Nice huh? This is also the same lady that told my mother that if she didn’t quit loosing her crowns they would have to rip out all her teeth & give her dentures. My mother was a union carpenter in Minnesota for 30 years. The first woman union carpenter. If you have never been on a job site you may not know what you breath in. You may not have experienced blowing your nose & having it come out black. I have, and your mouth becomes gritty. Dirt & sand particles get in there & wear the hell out of dental work. Every guy I worked with dealt with this. It’s not like she was going in at night & trying to rip out her damn crowns. I still hope that woman was fired.
Thankfully while living in Ohio a coworker refereed me to her dentist and it changed everything. This man would sit me in his chair, slap the gas on me & leave for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes of laughing gas you don’t CARE what they do. Then he would shoot me up with 2 shots of Novocain to make sure I didn’t feel anything at all & was done in an hour. I saw him about 3 times before we moved & am basically over my fear.
Last night I cracked a tooth. *Damn you curly fry! Why do you thwart me?!* and desided that I had to be adult enough to get this taken care of right away. Trying to call my inlaws dentist all morning resulted in 5 calls to an answering machine. Screw you. So I called 1800 dentist. Crazy. They found me a dentist that is close to my house, is open saturday (SATURDAYS!) and is skilled with high anxiety patients (which means they use gas 
). This makes me incredibly happy.
I get the same satisfaction out of a completed dentist appointment as I do getting new tires for my car. I feel strangly and proudly adult. Car mantinence in any form makes me feel this way but if you met my stepdad you would totally understand.
Why do I write this? Because I know I’m not the only one who has issues with the dentist. One of my co-workers has been schedualing & canceling dental appointments constantly in the 3 years that I’ve worked with her. Sometimes it just takes one great person to get the ball rolling and a fear to subside. I thankfully had a great dentist in Ohio and I’m thinking this one in Ventura is going to be good too.
