When I was younger I went to a pediatric dentist that was pretty nice but there was always this thing she did before she could get to filling cavities or anything
after the q-tips with like the numbing stuff had mildly numbed my mouth, she’d spend like 20 or 30 minutes playing this game with the anesthetic needle. She’d use the needle to draw shapes in my cheeks and I had to try and figure out what she was drawing. like it wasn’t just injections, she’d drag the needle around and carve shapes in my cheeks. it would leave me really really sore, especially after the anesthetic wore off.
I awlays just assumed it was normal dentist stuff until I went to other dentists later in life and they didn’t do it and I wouldn’t walk away so sore for so long. I hadn’t thought about this again until recently when I was trying to remember why I was so scared of dentists. it hurt bad enough for me to tremble at the thought of having to go to the dentist after the first couple times.
is this a normal thing? I don’t want to jump to the radical conclusion that it wasnt
Comments
No, that’s not normal. In fact, I’d say your former dentist or hygienist was a sadist
“This professional tortured me when I was a kid. Is that normal, guys? Guys?.”
Uhm no.. That is not normal, at all. Dentists are trained to minimize pain and trauma, especially for children. What you described is incredibly unprofessional at best and at worst, it’s a serious violation of medical ethics and your trust. You should really talk to someone about this and report that it happened.
She sounds like someone who really loved her job… too much.
I’d almost like to assume that you’re misremembering, and that they were using something that wasn’t a needle to distract you while the anesthetic was taking effect.
Because if they were carving into you with a needle, I’d think parents would notice the scars and excessive bleeding.
No. That is not normal at all.
Not normal, extremely unprofessional and unhygienic.
Uh, definitely not normal. Finding cavities to fill where maybe there aren’t any for a bigger payday certainly happens, but what happened to you was abuse.
Our kids’ pediatric dentist was AWESOME! After falling and pushing her two front teeth way up to who knows where at age 2, by the time she was for, they had come back down, and our daughter needed a root canal on each.
Her dentist was GREAT with kids! When they had to give them “happy air,” they let them pick out the color of which “piggy nose” they wanted.
I can’t help wondering if your pediatric dentist used a syringe and needle with the cap on it to distract you with the little game, and desensitize you to the sight of the needle.
The day after our four-year-old to root canals, we ran into a friend, and when she asked what we had done yesterday, she gave my daughter a a hug, and said “oh, you poor thing, the dentist had to give you shots in your mouth”
Daughter responded very indignantly, and shocked at the very idea that HER doctor so-and-so would ever do such a thing, “SHE DID NOT!”
Our ped dentist would be very distracting and say “I’m going to use this to put a bubble in your mouth”. The dentist lady told me she had given my daughter four injections, and the kid didn’t know she had even had one!
My daughter was nervous even just getting her teeth cleaned, although they never had cavities, so hadn’t experienced any painful dental work. During one cleaning one November, our hygienist rushed out into the waiting room, pulling me aside from the other parents and kids, and whispering to ask me what my daughter was getting for Christmas.
After they had finished with her, , the hygienist brought her back out to me saying that Vivien was SO good that Dr. X called Santa. I found out later that in the middle of the exam, which my daughter was not happy having, she asked her hygienist to get Santa on the phone. This was a recorded phone within reach of the dental chair. The doctor got on the phone and said, “hello, Santa, this is Dr. X, and I’m here with so-and-so. I want you to know she has been SUCH a good girl that I really think you should bring her that Barbie limo she wants for Christmas”.
All of a sudden knowing that her beloved dentist was buddies with Santa ALSO got our daughter over her tremendous fear of Santa!!
I used to joke with Doctor X that I was going to bring the kids back to her when it was time for “the talk”. Lol
When I was about 13, my mom finally switched me from my pediatric dentist to hers. At one point I mentioned to the dentist that he was nicer than my old dentist, because he waited and double-checked that the Novocaine kicked in. He kind of sat back, and asked who my old dentist was? I told him, and he said “oh yeah, that guy. He’s notorious with the rest of (us). But really, a lot kid’s dentists are sadists. They know they can get away with it because the patient’s parents will assume they’re exaggerating.”
This was 40ish years ago, hopefully things have improved.
Wouldn’t your parents or teachers or siblings have noticed if there were actual scratches/”carvings” on your face, and said something? I hope you, as a child, probably felt little tracing on your face, probably with a capped needle, as “hurting,” just the same way I thought I was dying when I was a kid and got a paper cut! When kids are nervous, everything seems magnified. I’m not trying to put down your feelings, and I certainly wasn’t there so can’t tell you you are wrong, but I sure hope it wasn’t really as it seems to have been!
i’m a ped dental assistant! when we are drilling the cavity we usually tell the kids were painting or drawing on their teeth to make it less scary. i bet you’re remembering the drilling part. the needle numbing part is super quick usually only takes 30 ish seconds drilling takes 10-20 mins! idk if you had fillings or silver crowns placed but crowns notoriously leave you sore for a bit as the gum tissue around heals. same with nerve treatments or “baby root canals”. fillings can be sensitive if it’s super big.
I assumed dentist kept the cap of the needle on while drawing. I know some Dr’s (never a nurse) doing similar things because they said it distracted and helped ease the fear of the needle. Imo, get it done and move on. Don’t play with my emotions haha
Was the joker your dentist?
My dentist does something similar to see how numb you are before stabbing you to see how numb you are. Maybe it was like that?
I’m guessing the game was so they could tell the numbing was working. Once you couldn’t figure out the shape, they knew they could start the work without hurting you. This wouldn’t be necessary to do on an adult.
There are many possibilities. One is that your memory is correct and this was simple abuse. Another is that your young mind was dealing with a situation which you were prepared to be afraid of (dentists in media are scary, it is common knowledge that dental procedures are painful, fear of needles is a common fear). It sounds like it could be desensitization. 20 or 30 minutes is quite long, as topical numbing agent only takes a few seconds to start working, but I can see the few minutes it takes for it to work, not leaving you alone and getting you accustomed to the very long needle before she has to stick it into the back of your mouth without you moving sharply could be a good practice. As for the lasting pain, if it was on your cheek that’s clearly abuse, but if it was generally from the mouth area then it’s most likely attributable to the dental procedure.
I was never good at the dentist. I was 20 when I learned that if you can feel the procedure you should alert the dentist and they’ll administer more numbing agent. But the dentists who did work on my teeth when I was young must have been idiots to not notice I was in pain, and the quality of their work was so bad that I had to get corrective dentistry as an adult. Some dentists are very bad.
That is not normal. I also had very bad dental trauma, until just recently. I found a fantastic dentist just by chance asking about happy gas to get work done. I don’t need the happy gas anymore because the dentist and staff listen to everything I say. If I’m in pain they stop and give more numbing.
You may have felt the curette? It is sharp and occasionally or a lot of the time can strike the cheek area. The q-tip could be topical numbing or used to spread fluoride treatments. 30 minutes is a long time.