knp

I have gone through so much with dental work during my life. It's unbelievable how much I've endured. I'm now 52 and had been told several years ago that my teeth were all drilled way too deep after my braces were removed at age 13. What has resulted has been numerous root canals, retreatments, extractions, apicoectomies, implants, and so on. My latest experience which was two weeks ago was called by my prosthodontist "the uncovering" which was something I'd never heard of. It's a laser procedure around the gum line where my two implants are. It was one of the most upsetting and painful experiences of my life.

I was given the shot of novocaine and asked a while later if my lip felt rubbery. I replied that it did not, so was given another shot. I immediately felt I was slipping away, sinking. I thought this is what if felt like to die. I had previously been chatting with the doctor's assistant, suddenly became very quiet and I couldn't answer her questions. She asked if I was OK, and I said no. I fought to keep my wits about me, and tried not to close my eyes.

I still felt my lip was not rubbery, worried that I wasn't numb, but couldn't relay this to the dentist. He began lasering and I felt EVERYTHING. I didn't want to ask for more novocaine because I felt it almost killed me, so it was futile. I couldn't believe how much pain I had to endure. It lasted about 30 minutes or more, horrible. Tears were pouring down my cheeks.

About my experience, the dentist feels I'm one of the few unlucky ones to have my nervous system wash the novocaine quickly out of my body. He had no response to my reaction to the novocaine making me woozy.

Can anybody answer these two questions for me??

1. What was this weird reaction to the novocaine about?

2. I've had trouble getting numb before, but this was by far the worst. The
fact is, I almost always get numb quite efficiently and don't feel anything.
I have to wonder if it's really a matter of the dentist missing his target??

Thanks!
Karen