"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Most of my fearful patients tell horror stories of when they were kids.
Some never had anesthetic. Some were slapped around for crying and
squirming. One patient told me that his dentist charged extra for
novacaine. When he was little and diagnosed with 6 cavities, his mom was
so
mad, she made him get them done with no anesthetic. No wonder everybody
is
afraid of the dentist!

When I first went to the dentist, mid-1950's, novacaine was optional. My
folks
didn't have a lot of money. I never had
novacaine on my first few "filling" appointments.....and before we added
flouride to the water here in the 60's childhood cavities were pretty
common.

Upside is that you learn a lot about pain at a very young age. You can
develop
some small skill for getting around (some of) it mentally. When I go to
the
dentist these days, I often just tough it out without anesthetic. I have a
good
dentist. Most of my roots are dead, and that helps a lot. It's toughest on
the
dental assistant, she often remarks "It hurts me just to think about
what's
going on in your mouth! Sure you don't want a shot? If not for you, for
me!"
I'd rather put up with 5 minutes of extreme discomfort, and maybe even a
few
instances where it feels, for a few seconds, like a super heated electric
shock
running through a tooth than to walk around all day with half my face numb
and
one eye swelled shut. :-)

If half your face is numb and your eye is swelled shut for most of the day
after a dental appointment, you need to find a new dentist. ;-)

On a serious note, however...
I do much better quality dentistry when I know the patient can't feel
anything and is relaxed...because then *I'm* relaxed.