Dentists

[AmazingGreatAunt]

why do they insist on cold air and cold water on your teeth?

Because

1. The nerves in your teeth interpret temperature as pain.
2. we do not have the facilities to magically warm the air or water.
3. we need to dry your teeth to examine them
4. we need to put cold air on your teeth to test for a healthy response.

Also because small pipes that carry air and water can be prone to biofilms . That gets even worse if the water is warmed . Special disinfectants are run through every day and are in the water , but this would not work in warm water.

Ok, I can accept the hygiene reasons. I will just have to grit my teeth ;-)

For the above reasons. And they're sadists...

I know this is supposed to be a “funny comment” but can you appreciate how hearing this repeatedly might affect someone who is in a caring and very stressful career? That research has shown that a nervous or stressed patient has a physical effect on a dentist raising their blood pressure , heart rate , cortisol levels , musculoskeletal skeletal tension , so therefore it’s in a dentists own physical and mental best interests in keeping a patient as comfortable as possible.

@Lollygaggle I totally get your point but as a former nervous patient, I am now aware how variable the level of care is and your attention to a patient‘s needs is not a given.

Years of ‘you’re numb it can’t hurt’ to a dentist actually listening to me and numbing me properly. Apparently my very high palate affected some of the nerve physiology? I don’t know.

The point is at least 4 dentists treated me like an annoyance and my current one listened to the point I am undergoing complex orthodontics at 48 because I’m finally not terrified.