Filling using no anisthetic

Louisc

I was at a dentist in outer Mongolia (of all places). I was on holiday there.
It was very cheap by western standards, about 10 times cheaper in fact.

I got 2 deep fillings and an extraction

The dentist was professional, and had all the equipment which you see in Western dentists. It was spotlessly clean, and I know for a fact that the dentist trained in Cuba in the communist times.

One thing which shocked me was that for the fillings, the dentist did not bother giving me an anisthetic. There was a minor drilling involved, it was a little painful for a couple of seconds.
She did use an anisthetic for the extraction (I was relieved)


My question is, would a Western dentist attempt a filling without an anisthetic ? Also the dentist didnt have a dental nurse, is this uncommon ?

I would go back, it's cheaper to fly to Mongolia than to go to an Irish Dentist if there is a lot of work to do.

georgieporgy

Are you sure the fillings were deep if only minor drilling was involved?
It is certainly possible to do small fillings painlessly without anaesthetic.
As for not having a nurse maybe her fees don't cover the cost of one.

Michael Moore in one of his films has been extolling the benefits of the Cuban medical system. I know that their (cuba) housing situation and automobile industry are suffering somewhat but that's no reason to suspect their dental facilities aren't top notch.:pac:

Big_G

Another possibility is that the tooth was already dead and that the dentist just filled a dead tooth. I've seen it done before.

BryanL

I have about a dozen patients that won't have any anaesthetic, unless they needed and extraction.
A few have had crown preps i did 2 bridge preps on my dad without LA, he hates feeling numb. He says it's not too bad once it's done fairly slowly( yeah , we still talk ,LOL)
Bryan.

Cheaper to fly to Mongolia.....:D

Louisc

BryanL wrote: »

I have about a dozen patients that won't have any anaesthetic, unless they needed and extraction.
A few have had crown preps i did 2 bridge preps on my dad without LA, he hates feeling numb. He says it's not too bad once it's done fairly slowly( yeah , we still talk ,LOL)
Bryan.

Cheaper to fly to Mongolia.....:D

Naturally I was joking about it being cheaper to fly to Mongolia ! It costs 7 or 8 hundred Euro or more to get there by plane, and the Visa costs a good bit too. And the dentists naturally don't speak great english.

I used the term deep filling, only because the cavities were in my opinion deep, the teeth were not dead, at least the nerves in the teeth were sending a strong pain signal to my brain during drilling

dufie

hi,

I had treatment years ago where my dentist used a mini tens machine. He stuck little pads on my gum either side of the tooth he was working on which were connected by wires to a machine I held. When he was about to drill I had to turn up the control. It felt like my head was buzzing. I didn't feel any pain, but was terrified and had the dial turned up as high as it would go. Don't know if he still uses it, but I haven't heard of anyone else having this instead of an anaesthetic.

flahavaj

Louisc wrote: »

Naturally I was joking about it being cheaper to fly to Mongolia ! It costs 7 or 8 hundred Euro or more to get there by plane, and the Visa costs a good bit too. And the dentists naturally don't speak great english.

I used the term deep filling, only because the cavities were in my opinion deep, the teeth were not dead, at least the nerves in the teeth were sending a strong pain signal to my brain during drilling

Probably the best possible reason not to have fillings without local anaesthetic I would have thought.:rolleyes:

Which is it? Did it hurt or not, because this contradicts what you said in the OP about the pain you perceived during the treatment?

Louisc

flahavaj wrote: »

Probably the best possible reason not to have fillings without local anaesthetic I would have thought.:rolleyes:

Which is it? Did it hurt or not, because this contradicts what you said in the OP about the pain you perceived during the treatment?

It hurt just a little, not a lot, on a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the worst pain a dentists drill could cause a tooth, I'd say for a few seconds, it was a 4.......I got over it quickly though.
I'd prefer in future to have an anesthetic for a filling involving drilling, although thanks to the replies on this thread, I know it's is not stricly necessary.

kaymin

I have been going to a dentist on Baggot Street for the past few years and he doesn't use anesthetics when performing fillings. I asked him about it and he said modern dentistry techniques mean they aren't necessary. I didn't find it particularly painful. For me, the worst part of visiting a dentist has always been the needle and the numbness afterwards so I was happy with his approach.