I just went to the dentist for the first time in 25 years over the past 2 week as I have had a major toothache which has given me a headache for the last month.
Times have changed since the last time I went and I have found a great dentist.
The full checkout was an hour and a half process, they took lot of pictures of me first and of my smile. They then took about 18 xrays in my mouth. It was all instant so I saw the xray picture on the HDTV in front of me instantly after they took each pic. then mirro and put it in my mouth and took pictures of my mouth looking down and up in the mirror.
They used some plastic things to pull my mouth open and took more digital pictures of my smile. then the dentist came in and took this device that loooked like a later pointer and put it in my mouth and he took a picture of each tooth.
Surprisingly my mouth was in very good shape for not being in a dentists office for a long long time. Although a lot of my fillings I had when I was a kid were cracked and will need to be changed... but they have neat teeth colored fillings so I can get rid of all this silver crap in my mouth... I am looking forward to doing that.
They found my problem I have one tooth in the back that is cracked, and one on the front (thats the one causing the pain) the pain is in the root. They are trying to figure now if the tooth can be saved or if it needs to be pulled. He would rather do a root canal lfor it and put a post in it and crown it.
My next appointment was for a full cleaning, and times have changed there as well, they basically use a pressure washer to clean all the plaque off. Didn't hurt at all and they gave me headphone and the remote for the HDTV and I watched the price is right which she worked.
Today I go in and they are going to figure out what to do with my problem tooth... I know I need three teeth out already (The cracked one in the back and two wisdom teeth that just started coming in and they are coming out sideways instead of down...)
This way if I need the front one out they can do it when I am knocked out and they are doing the other three.
So far I have been quite impressed with the Dentist, we are the same age (I am 2 weeks older then him) and hes a really nice guy and runs a hell of a practice.
I got to leave work early as they gave me soome sedation pills I need to take an hour before I go in as they will be digging around in my gums seeing what can be done with the bad front tooth.
Dont know how I will be feeling later, so if I am not around now you know why.
If you have been scared about going don't be the technology has changed a lot. The key if finding a good dentist, and that might be the hard part.