My Time in the Dental Chair By Trainee Dental Nurse Lo!

One of the great advantages of working in a dental practice is that you are already on site should you have a problem with your teeth…. unfortunately, I have had one of those situations!

For a while I have been thinking that there was something not quite right with one of my back molar teeth. I felt small amounts of pain when eating… mostly my favourite things, chocolate and cake, which I try not to make a habit of! But sometimes self-control flows out the window and I can’t resist…

I decided that I shouldn’t leave this, as I know the consequences of leaving pain in teeth for too long. I got Sen (one of the dentists) to have a look at it. As I guessed, I needed a filling!! I don’t mind having dental treatment so it was not a huge problem; however, it is difficult getting a space in the diary. So while Sen had a gap and I was doing some admin, not nursing, we took the opportunity to do the filling. It was a lower tooth and it was a deep filling so I had to be numbed up.

I have to say in the past injections in my mouth have been fairly painful, yet this time I didn’t feel a thing!! Sen then placed a rubber dam, which is a small rubber sheet over the tooth to keep everything dry and allow the white filling material to set properly. After about 40 mins in the dental chair and feeling very, very numb, I had a shiny new white filling which you wouldn’t even know was there (unless you were a dentist)! Best of all though, I now have zero pain, which is great. I think I may have to exercise a bit more willpower in the future, though, if I don’t want any more fillings! :)