I've just got home from the dentist and I'm really upset about what happened. Looking for advice from any dentists/dental nurses or anyone who knows about these things.
I'm in my 40s and only have one filling in a lower molar. Because of the experience of when that was done I've become a nervous patient but good experiences in recent years (including having the filling replaced a few times) have eased that anxiety. However I feel like I'm not back to square one after today's experience.
About 2 weeks ago, I broke part of my tooth that's filled by biting on popcorn. I booked in a few days later for an emergency appointment, at which point a tiny bit of additional filling material was added to fill the little fracture that was next to my filling.
Four days later, the additional filling material fell out. I booked back in for an emergency appointment again.
This time, the dentist said he could do a similar repair, but he'd need to drill a little bit of enamel off first. He said I wouldn't need an anaesthetic.
He started drilling: pain. I told him and he decided to use an anaesthetic. I haf to tell him I always have the adrenaline-free anaesthetic (it's in my notes). He then numbed the tooth with one injection in the buccal gum and one in the lingual gum.
He started drilling again: still painful. I told him this. He hadn't checked if I was numb before doing this.
He then gave it a poke with the probe: still painful and he seemed shocked by this. I said although my lip was numb my teeth all felt normal.
He's now booked me in to have the whole filling redone tomorrow but I'm now dreading it. I've got a temp filling in the hole he drilled (and the broken bit).
I'm an NHS patient so I end up getting whichever dentist is around and just have to suck it up. Not seen this dentist before (other than for the initial repair).
What should I do?
Is what happened normal? I don't feel it is.
I'm anxious anyway but I'm now scared that he'll cock it up. Help!