Dentists and Pain Management- A Rant

What is it with Dentists?

 About 2 years ago, I had root canal therapy in one of my molars.  My own dentist of 23 years couldn't complete it and referred me to an Endodontist.  The Endodontist completed the procedure, put a temporary filling on top of it and hopped a plane to Hawaii for his vacation. 

There was an underlying infection that wasn't apparent at the time, which erupted with the closing of the tooth with the temporary filling.  Enter excruciating pain.  Dr. Hawaii was obviously not someone I could go to so I called my Dentist and told the nurse I needed an antibiotic and something for pain.  She called me back and told me that Dr. had called in a prescription for an antibiotic but wouldn't give me anything for pain.  I was furious!  This wasn't the first time he had done this.  A family member (who also sees this Dentist) brought me some of their pain medication and it saw me through until the antibiotics kicked in.   I fired that Dentist and I told him that if he isn't going to care about the pain management of his patients, I wouldn't be one of them.

 Fast forward.   A couple of months ago I went looking for a new Dentist.  In the initial consultation with this one, I told that story and stressed to him that I couldn't be a patient of someone who didn't care about the pain that is inevitable with certain dental issues.  He told me that he understood completely and it wouldn't be a problem.

I have a molar that was cracked and a couple of weeks ago it cracked further, exposing most of the tooth.  This week, infection set in and included my ear and the glands in my neck.  The pain was unbearable.  I got through the night with 1/2 of a Percocet (Ocycodone) that a family member had given me.  Nothing else had worked.

The next day I spoke with this Dentist over the phone.  It was decided that the tooth couldn't be repaired and needed to be extracted and he referred me to an oral surgeon.  The infection needed to be dealt with and he was prescribing an antibiotic.  I told him that the Percocet had worked the night before and nothing else had and that is what I wanted.

The pharmacy called me about the prescription and I asked what Dentist had prescribed.  "Lortab."  AKA-Vicodin.  I told the pharmacist to not bother filling that prescription because I've taken Vicodin before and all it does is make me dizzy and nauseous and does nothing for pain.  I then called the Dentist.  He said he didn't want to prescribe the Percocet because he didn't like that drug.  I told him that HE didn't have to like it, he wasn't taking it.  He told me that he wanted me to "try" taking 4 Advil and 2 Tylenol at the same time and see if that works and that he'd prescribe an anti-inflammatory for me because he had been at a conference recently and someone told him this particular drug worked.  I told him that with the pain I was in, I didn't wish to be an experiment, I wanted the pain to STOP!  "If" his attempts didn't work, it was ME who would continue to suffer. 

He said he didn't like Percocet because it was a heavy narcotic and he didn't want me to become addicted.   I assured him that I wouldn't become addicted in 4 days.  He then told me that he wasn't really that familiar with Percocet.  He's totally against something he's not familiar with?  I explained to him that I've suffered from migraine headaches for over 30 years and I've taken most every narcotic known and I would actually have permission to be addicted!  The fact that I've never become addicted, don't even like narcotics and take them only when absolutely necessary, ought to tell him something!  The prescription is closed ended-no refills.  This drug worked to get rid of the terrible pain I was in, so, what is the problem giving it to me?  He refused.  I told him that I'd be seeking other services for Dental work.  I'm sure if I were an addict and had used up the medical community and was now in the dental tier seeking drugs, my name would be going around the community because of it.

I then called my personal Dr. who I've seen for 25 years and told his nurse what the situation is.  He wrote the prescription for Percocet for me and I went to pick it up an hour later.  It was an awful night and the following day until the antibiotics kicked in, but at least I could keep the pain at bay with something that worked.   I have 6 of them left and I'm now hoarding them for oral surgery next week so I don't have to go through this all over again.

What is it with Dentists and their inability to manage pain?  Surely, they must understand how certain dental problems or procedures will be extremely painful, but they'll tell you to "take Tylenol" or give you some lame pain medication that will not touch the pain, just to say they wrote a prescription!  Why would they want their patients in such pain when they could easily do something about it?  And they wonder why so many people don't see their dentist often enough?  People tend to gravitate away from traumatic experiences. 

*steps off soapbox*