dentists, do you judge patients?

[lilacsinspring1244]

This is a question for dentists.
I've booked an appointment for a check up tomorrow to see a dentist for the first time in four years. My teeth need some attention. A crown fell out in lockdown and a rear molar cracked about two months ago. I have an awful awful gag reflex and that's why I'm very very scared to go. I'm not scared of pain or the drill etc. My teeth have several fillings and I seemed to become more prone to cavities after being diagnosed with hashimotos (underactive thyroid). My teeth are clean and dentists in the past have always said I don't need to see a hygienist but I'm worried that this young 30 something dentist with a perfect smile (although mine looks fine on the surface) is secretly thinking my teeth are shit because I have several fillings and two cracked teeth.
Do you judge or feel repulsed by some patients?

DH is a dentist and yes, they do judge and they‘re only human. However not always the way you imagine. Many people have shocking teeth (total decay, gingivitis, bad breath etc) so dentists are pretty desensitised to that. That‘s just daily business for them, the same way nurses don‘t judge patients‘ lifestyle choices even though it might be killing them. Gag reflexes are also common so they won‘t be fazed by that.

DH‘s pet peeve are children with extremely bad cavities. It‘s often clear that the parents have no interest in brushing their teeth and toddlers/kids have no way of understanding the importance of that. So it‘s borderline abuse to allow kids teeth to rot to the point they will need multiple extractions and prosthetics by the time they are young adults. Losing adult teeth (eg getting one pulled due to pain) may not seem like a big deal but it is. You will never get it back and it has significant knock on effects on the entire jaw and bone structure.

DH will often rant at home when he saw kids with terrible teeth. It‘s also the parents job to ensure kids do not acquire a phobia of the dentist so smaller cavities can be fixed in time. But many parents fear the dentist themselves and have dodgy oral hygiene so there‘s no easy fix.

Could not agree more.

I'm scared of going to the dentist I have very sensitive teeth and find out even the examination as painful. I find them impatient, condescending and rude. I'm on my 5th dentist and not found one who can even be polite yet.

One thing that might help (but not with the rude dentist) is to take pain relief before the appointment. Paracetamol or co-codamol.

My dentist recently referred me to another dentist to have the remnants of a tooth removed. Apparently my normal dentist didn't have the "machinery" (her word) to do the job as there was so little tooth to grab on to
I was scared as a previous tooth removal (by my dentist) had been quite brutal. But the dentist with the special machinery was brilliant. I was in the chair less than a minute and didn't even know she had removed it.

I had that done. It didn't work. My wisdom teeth are still only half-out at the age of 49, jammed up at angles against the adjacent molars. All my back teeth are jammed together so you cannot, e.g. get dental floss between them, whereas the front ones are horribly gappy and uneven.

I feel really pissed off that I allowed those perfectly healthy teeth to be removed with no protest and for no good purpose.

@ButtonSister thank you

I have been to judgemental telling off dentists but recently found one which has been fantastic considering one of My teeth snapped and some are decayed badly I went with a toothache I'd had for days which was unbearable dentist could not have been nicer honestly