My dental dilemma is still going on.

Right off the bat, I’ll apologize for burdening you with post {I won’t be offended if you skip it because quite frankly I am sick of hearing about this, too.} I just need to sort through my options and see for myself what choices I really do have–and since my blog is personal, and all about me, this is where I am choosing to do it.

Dentist 1: My General Dentist
- He has been treating me, and several family members, for a long time. He understands my deep fears of the dentist.
- He has always “bought me time” by placing large fillings into teeth that needed work, as opposed to sinking loads of cash into the teeth
- Now I am at a crossroad where several teeth are crapping out and his biggest recommendation to me is to get the dental implants, which is still not an option that is sitting well with me
- His reason behind this recommendation is less time in the chair for me vs. the cost of all of the other procedures and hours I’ll have to spend in the chair getting other solutions to the problems done

Dentist 2: My Oral Surgeon/Family Friend
- This man is totally approachable, lovable and trustworthy, not to mention a phenominal surgeon. I feel very safe with him.
- I went for a consulatation with him the other day, and he immediately said I had options and that it’s always best to keep your own teeth rather than pull and replace.
- He validated my concerns about the implants by saying that I had every right to be concerned, which is a lot more than anyone else in my life has validated these concerns, even if some of them are far fetched.
- His recommendation: Second opinions are the healthiest option. See another dentist.

Dentist 3: The Peridontist/Implant Dr.
- I felt instantly comfortable with him, and he spent a great deal of time with me outlining my options {which was a relief to me because I was certain he’d say my only option was the implants.}
- He said that, aside from the implants, I could go through crown lengthening, root canal treatment and crowns on all of the bad teeth.
- Pros: Keeping your own teeth is the healthiest option and he would feel safe to say it’ll last me over 10 years, if not more with excellent care. Cons: It’s a long process in which all 3 procedures have their own success/failure rate. Could we get 2 steps in to learn that the implant is the only option? It could happen.
- I left his office with an appointment for extractions and 2 dental implants. Still not 100% certain, though, but since the appointment was two months away, I figured it gave me plenty of time to make my decision.

Or so I thought.

Here I am today with a throbbing tooth and a nagging decision to make. I scheduled the extractions for Monday. As I was coming to terms with that choice, my phone rang and it was Dentist 2. He said that he doesn’t think I should get the teeth pulled and wanted to know if I got a second opinion, which I have not. I asked him that if I wasn’t so scared of the implants and didn’t have the concerns that I had, would he say to go ahead with them. He said No. Flat out No. He said that there are options to keep my teeth and that it’s the safest thing on many levels. He stressed that no one has addressed my concerns {he said suggesting the implants are a quicker solution is not addressing the concerns I have, which he also says are valid and true}.

So….back to freakin’ square one. Except, unlike a month ago, my tooth is actually bothering me.

Tomorrow I am going for a consultation with my parents dentist, who they both love and highly recommend. I am scared. I hate “news.” I am always afraid it’s going to be worse than it is/was. That he’ll say, “really? 2 bad teeth? No, sorry, there are 4 bad ones.” But knowing that I am following the advice of Dentist 2 {and my girlfriends who have been suggesting this for a month now!} I am going to go for a second opinion.

You might be wondering why this is such a big deal to me–why so much drama about this decision? All I can say is this…I am scared to death of the dentist. And the only thing I fear more than the dentist is death. I feel as if I am facing my two biggest fears at once.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 4:27 pm and is filed under The CEO's Notes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.