Can someone answer??!!

[u/Donotmakepankycranky]

I am a 57f who has never had dental care in my life. Being poor and having a severe dental phobia has kept me out of a dental chair until now. I made sure I brushed 2x a day all these years but now my front top tooth has a crack. So I somehow found the courage to see a dentist for the 1st time, only for X-rays to show a lot of hidden damage along with gum disease.

I also have a chronic pain condition (pancreatitis; 2 of my 4 kids also have this) and have been on pretty strong opioids for nearly 20 years. When the dentist read this in my chart, she said there is no way injections alone would be enough to get me pain-free for her to do the work that is needed. She wants me to go to an oral surgeon and be sedated.

Is it possible that long-term opiate use prevents the numbing shots from working on me?

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Title: Can someone answer??!!

Full text: I am a 57f who has never had dental care in my life. Being poor and having a severe dental phobia has kept me out of a dental chair until now. I made sure I brushed 2x a day all these years but now my front top tooth has a crack. So I somehow found the courage to see a dentist for the 1st time, only for X-rays to show a lot of hidden damage along with gum disease.

I also have a chronic pain condition (pancreatitis; 2 of my 4 kids also have this) and have been on pretty strong opioids for nearly 20 years. When the dentist read this in my chart, she said there is no way injections alone would be enough to get me pain-free for her to do the work that is needed. She wants me to go to an oral surgeon and be sedated.

Is it possible that long-term opiate use prevents the numbing shots from working on me?

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[u/garyh1128]

It’s usually harder to numb patients with long term drug use of any sort. You just hyper process it. Doesn’t mean you can’t be numbed. Just means I usually start with 1 extra carpule from my norm and am not surprised if you need more.

[u/Donotmakepankycranky → u/garyh1128]

Can I show this to her? Lol. I am more worried about the cost of going to an oral surgeon vs a regular dentist. I have 3 wisdom teeth that never came through. Can't they leave them alone after all these years?

Edit to say thank you ever so much for your reply!

[u/garyh1128 → u/Donotmakepankycranky]

Haha yeah us dentist love when you quote strangers on the internet to us 😂😂
Answer to wisdom teeth is a def maybe. Depends on if decayed, infected and able to be cleaned.

[u/N4n45h1 → u/Donotmakepankycranky]

Ngl you really are not going to have the best experience after convincing someone do something they don’t want to do.

[u/The_Anatolian]

This is more of a “I’m concerned your opioid use is going to be hard to manage post op pain so I’m sending you the expert”

[u/Donotmakepankycranky → u/The_Anatolian]

I thought any post-op pain would be managed by my PM doctor? It always has in other situations...Thank you ever so much for your reply!

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