a cavity?!?

[treevernal]

So I had a dental hygeine appt this morning and they told me I have a cavity...in a molar my ortho is planning to bond next week no less.  The tooth has some discoloring (which it's had for years) and they told me time and again that it's not decay but all of a sudden it's really deep/advanced?  Just 6 months ago it was nothing and now it's deep?  I take uber good care of my teeth and have a monk-ish discipline when it comes to cleaning so you can understand my frustration. 

Orthodontically ready for surgery and 2.5 months from surgery and now this.  Ugh.  I saw my dentists' associate today as he was out so I'm going to get the head dentists opinion soon.  I've been told I had tooth decay in the past that was confirmed not to be so at a fillling appointment.  We'll see what happens.  If it's a cavity it is what it is, I probably shouldn't be so annoyed but that's how I feel. 

[Antbee]

Sounds like you saw someone new who doesn't know your teeth. I went to a new dentist and they told me I had eight cavities! I went back to my old one and he said there was nothing wrong. I had a broken tooth that a lot of dentists freaked out about too but it wasn't actually deepy decayed even though it looked bad.

[treevernal]

That's what it sounds like to me too.  It just seemed so fishy...the hygienist (who i've seen for the last few years) was not getting a "stick" with the scaler but the dental associate who I've not really seen before was getting a strong "stick" which he said was deep decay.  Ugh...sometimes I just dont trust dentists.  I made an appointment to get it filled but I made sure it was with my regular dentist as he knows all about my mouth/plans for surgery, etc.  Unfortunately I have to wait 4 weeks for him.  In the meantime I'm gonna do some major at-home maintenance on that tooth; it's worked for me in the past lol. 

[CK]

id get it checked more just to be safe. cant have dental work for a year after surgery, maybe in extreme cases? why risk it.

[trigeminalneuralgia]

it seems like the more i learn about anything medical..the more subjective it really is.  scary!!

[Hellojoe]

it seems like the more i learn about anything medical..the more subjective it really is.  scary!!

Indeed. For me, it has been quite the eye opener reading and learning about jaw surgery and everything related.

[trigeminalneuralgia]

there was an article i read awhile back about how subjective mris are..and the docs are using this to make decisions about getting surgery.  whereas you go to another doc and they do not see anything. 

like there's a girl i talk to with eds and she said that you need a *special* person to read mris of people with connective tissue disorders, but this special person coincidentally is a neurosurgeon.  im sure he's a nice guy, but no thanks.

[treevernal]

Another weird thing, this dentist was really confused as to why my upper archwire was cut in 3 pieces between canine and lateral; I'm pretty sure it says I'm having surgery in my file, and he's a dentist so it shouldnt be such a mystery!...oh well.  I made an appointment with the other guy whom I trust, if he says I need a filling ill get one.

[CK]

Another weird thing, this dentist was really confused as to why my upper archwire was cut in 3 pieces between canine and lateral; I'm pretty sure it says I'm having surgery in my file, and he's a dentist so it shouldnt be such a mystery!...oh well.  I made an appointment with the other guy whom I trust, if he says I need a filling ill get one.

how often do you see your dentist? my dentist knew about my jaw surgery but didnt know the date. i doubt it was in her file because arnett/gunson don't interact with the dentist usually, im guessing. i had one dentist who said i had 8 cavities, another who said i had 5. then one that said i had 11.

i would get it looked at, seriously. youll have serious trouble flossing after surgery, like months and months after.

[treevernal]

Well, got back from my appointment with the head dentist and yup, I did have a cavity   but...he really went into detail taking photos to show me exactly where the decay was and how it happened.  Apparently, it was an internal cavity that wasn't noticed until the decay had created a hole in the outside of the tooth.  This tooth formed funny with a tiny fissue which allowed food to get trapped inside but with brushing and fluoride treatments, the outside hardened overtime so the cavity was able to hide beneath the enamel.  Fortunately, he was able to drill and fill it immediately. I was really disappointed to find out I had a cavity but I realized that sometimes even with our best efforts (in this case, excellent oral hygiene) things can still go wrong. In any case Im happy to have gotten it taken care of before surgery.