21st Century Dental — Friendly Dallas Dentists

I’ve been working full time for RD2 since the summer and prior to that I worked for myself. And, at the time, I gave myself benefits, though they were largely of the in-case-I-get-hit-by-a-bus variety. I didn’t give myself dental benefits and so it had been about three years since I had last seen a dentist. But, now that I had a full time job with benefits, I thought that I should have things checked out at a dentist. I hadn’t felt any tooth pain or other obvious signs of tooth anomalies (otherwise I would have gone to see one earlier) but I didn’t know what they’d find either.

There aren’t many things which I fear, but dentists are probably one of them — I’m the kind of guy that winces at the sound of hearing a dentist’s drill on tv (really). So, wanting to educate myself, I Googled around for new dentistry techniques on repairing tooth decay on the chance that there might be something which could be used in lieu of a drill (on the off-chance that I had a cavity after all). And, I came across a technique called air abrasion which, in simplest terms, is like microscopic sand-blasting on your teeth:

Air abrasion works by blowing a stream of powerful dry clean air, mixed with minute abrasive particles of aluminum oxide onto the surface of the teeth. Air abrasion uses the kinetic energy principle, in which particles bounce off the tooth and blasts the decay away. […]

Air abrasion procedures are virtually painless eliminating the need for an anesthetic injection. Air abrasion systems produce no vibration and no heat from friction. The technology can’t harm soft mouth tissue and they operate very quietly.…

“Ah, that sounds good&rdquo, I thought to myself. Of course, I didn’t know if I had a cavity at this point, but I knew that I wanted to go to a dentist that offered air abrasion on the chance that I did have a cavity. The next step: search for dentists and air abrasion in Dallas. I looked through the first few links and 21st Century Dental seemed the most promising. I think I was hooked from the introductory sentence in which they described themselves as a “dental spa”. Among other things, they tout televisions in every room, massage mats on the patient chairs and fresh fresh Otis Spunkmeyer cookies.

So, I scheduled an appointment with them which was earlier this month. Laurie was my hygienist and she was very friendly. One of the first things she did was to take my pulse (with one of those automated arm-cuff machines) and she remarked that mine was a bit high. I commented that I “wasn’t really a ‘dentist person’” and that I may have been a bit nervous to which she replied “I don’t think anyone’s really a ‘dentist person”. And, after a few seconds pondering, she added “… well, except for me” with a smile.

She took x-rays of my teeth with digital x-ray which then displayed the images on an overhead LCD monitor hanging from a multi-jointed arm. And, once she got to cleaning my teeth, she handed me a remote control which set the LCD monitor to television duty. As she worked away, I flipped through the channels and settled on CNN Headline News. Not that teeth cleaning really hurts, but the scraping sound can sometimes be a bit disconcerting; and, watching tv helped get my mind off of the sharp tools in my mouth.

After the cleaning, she called in Dr Roy — Jeff is his first name — who examined the x-rays (back on the LCD monitor, so that I could look over them as well) and informed me that I had a cavity. Well, I wouldn’t say that I was pleased to hear this, but it’s not something that was completely unexpected either (considering how long it had been since I had last been to a dentist).

So, I scheduled another appointment to get the cavity filled, and that appointment was yesterday. And as I drove there, I wasn’t too nervous; but, I was a little uneasy by the time I got to the waiting room. However, the waiting room, to their credit, includes at least one hanging waterfall which actually helped a great deal. Soon enough, Michelle called me back to one of the dental chairs. And, right off the bat, she asked whether I would like laughing gas to help me to relax, to which I readily agreed.

She placed a nosepiece over my face and started the gas. And, after a little while, I did feel a bit more calm. Then Dr Roy came in to anesthetize the tooth (one of the upper-left molars). He used a machine with a jointed mechanical arm which delivered anesthetic to just that tooth (and it made kind of a purring sound in the process which I suppose is one of the better sounds a dental machine can make). However, they needed to wait a few minutes for the anesthetic to take effect. Both Dr Roy and Michelle walked out but, before leaving, Michelle asked if I wanted anything to drink while I waited. She named a few drinks including Diet Coke which is what I settled on.

She brought back a chilled can of Diet Coke and then left me to wait. Really, this wasn’t that much fun. Sure, I had sugar-free refreshment at hand, but I could only ponder the upcoming cavity-filling. I sipped the soda and looked out the window, trying to think of anything but stuff related to teeth. Fortunately, the lights in the patient rooms are always kept dimly lit — about what might come to mind if you were to think of the lighting in a stereotypical web development shop (and the hygienists and dentists use those overhead mouth-spotlights for light when they’re working).

Dr Roy and Michelle eventually returned, about 10-15 minutes later, and they reclined my chair. I asked if I’d be getting an air abrasion filling or a more traditional filling and they said that it would be a regular filling. I was aware of that possibility as not all cavities are suitable for air abrasion; still, I just reminded myself that I needed the filling and that I would just have to stick through it.

Before Dr Roy and Michelle began the procedure, Michelle offered me a variety of Internet radio stations which were listed on the LCD monitor. I asked for some jazz with the provision that I didn’t want “any of that smooth jazz”. She flipped through a few of them and I settled on a jazz classics station. And, after having chosen that, I noticed a browser window in the background which I recognized as DigitallyImported.com. I briefly pondered what it might be like to get a filling with Euro Dance pulsing in the background but thought better of it.

There was some drilling, of course, but it wasn’t as bad as I had envisioned. I was pretty relaxed from the nitrous oxide in ways that I hadn’t anticipated (not that I’m complaining). I could hear the sound of the drill but it was if I was just listening to someone’s cordless drill — my brain wasn’t making the connection of “hey, that’s a drill I hear… in my mouth!”. And, after they finished digging the hole in my tooth, they filled it with a tooth-colored resin.

When it was all done, I felt less bad than I thought I would. I had some numbness but it was mostly just that one tooth which they had anesthetized. And, my jaw was a bit stiff from having it propped open while they worked, but nothing really hurt. I walked back to the main desk and, before I left, they offered me a milkshake in a choice of vanilla, strawberry or chocolate. I asked for strawberry and they brought one by shortly. They also motioned towards a plate of the warm chocolate chip cookies under a glass lid and I helped myself to one of those as well.

I still don’t know if I’d call myself a “dentist person” but this was almost pleasant, all things considered. I found Dr Roy and his staff very down-to-earth and that really helped put me at ease. Everyone was very friendly and not once were they condescending (which is probably my number-one pet peeve of dentists). I have a follow-up appointment on Tuesday and, while I can’t say that I’m looking forward to it, I’m not fretting about it. And, if anyone needs a dentist in the Dallas/Irving area, I can’t recommend these guys highly enough.