Health

Dentists Share Horror Encounters with Disgusting Teeth

7. Cavities can be really bad. A Redditor, huphelmeyer, shared a horrific patient encounter saying: “I am not a dentist, but I am a dental hygiene… Trista - August 27, 2021

People have their fair share of horrifying dentist stories; it’s one of the most common fears in the United States. But what happens when it’s a dentist spilling their dirtiest patient stories? Most of us have established a good dental routine, but sometimes things go amiss. Sometimes, somebody’s home or socioeconomic status can get in the way of good oral hygiene. While other dental worst case scenarios are simply created from bad habits. Here are a few of the worst dentist horror stories we could find. And it may even send you running to the nearest toothbrush.

28. Bleeding gums is a sign of poor hygiene.

A dentist, SamK2323, shared his horror encounter with a patient, saying: “So, I’m a dentist. Shock, horror, I know!! Two cases jump to mind. The first case is heavily based on poor hygiene. When I was a student in dental school, we worked on an emergency clinic once a month on a rotation basis. A man, middle-aged with no relevant medical history, came in with the complaint of sore gums. When he opened his mouth, his gums were blood red (not a good sign) and were weeping blood as I sat there. While performing a periodontal examination (checking for gum disease using a blunt-ended probe), I must have burst a pocket of infection underneath the gum as this wash of pus ran down his teeth, onto his tongue, and he threw up there and then. Fun times.

My second case is a bit more standard. It is the usual cause of a patient who comes in with a huge facial swelling, and you have to do something about it. The usual case is extracting the offending tooth; however, it isn’t always obvious (if the swelling extends across multiple teeth). The patient cannot physically get numb (due to anesthetic not working as well in a heavily infected environment). With the help of a senior dentist in the practice, we attained surface anesthesia with something called Ethyl chloride (think liquid nitrogen, could spray that freezes) and incised this swelling and sucked the pus out. No sutures and no anesthesia for two main reasons. Another weird experience.”

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27. A cockroach living in your gums.

Oral hygiene can be maintained by flossing with fluoridated water or by brushing with fluoride toothpaste. A Redditor with the name Sprinksies92 shares his story saying: “My dad is a dentist. These are the two stories that stick out for me. He went to dental school in a major metropolitan city in the south. Being in a big city, there were tons of homeless people around that the students practiced on. He got a woman one day who came in with what appeared to be an abscess.

He begins working on her only to have a cockroach come running out of it, down her cheek, and onto the floor. She said she slept outside a lot and that it probably crawled in her mouth while she was sleeping. The other story happened fairly recently but isn’t directly related to oral hygiene. A woman came into his office with some sort of beehive hairdo. As he was working on her mouth, he kept seeing movement in her hair out of the corner of his eye. Once again, roaches. Luckily, they didn’t spread about the room or office, but he had to fire her as a patient after that.”

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26. Always get Novacaine, if possible.

A Redditor with the name donaisabelle shares his awkward story explaining: “When I got my wisdom teeth out, my dentist gassed me to sedate me. Before putting in the IV for anesthesia, my loopy gassed-up self noticed him flicking a syringe. I asked what it was, and he said, “Valium.” I groggily said, “You’re giving me Valium?” and he said, ‘No, honey, this is for me.’ My dentist was the best. If your dentist is good, getting a cavity filled should not hurt a lot. They give you a shot of Novocaine beforehand, so despite having drills and such in your mouth being awkward, it doesn’t hurt.

If it does all, be sure to stop your dentist and let them know – they’ll give you more Novocaine till you don’t feel it. My dentist now, who is sadly not the same dentist in the story above but is still very great, does fillings so efficiently that it takes longer for the Novocaine to set in than it takes her to do the job. Your dentist may allow you to bring in some sort of music player and headphones and listen to something during the work, although I would suggest making sure you don’t listen to a funny podcast or something because laughing during would not be good.”

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25. Getting wisdom teeth removed… in Japan!

A Redditor shares his encounter with a dentist. However, it was not a standard visit. He was getting his wisdom teeth removed. Wisdom teeth are the third molar teeth which can be removed by an oral surgeon. After surgery, it takes 2-3 days for healing. However, there was one more key factor this Redditor was dealing with: he was in a different country when it happened. What would you do if you were overseas and needed emergency surgery on your teeth? Listen to his story here:

“I just went to the dentist in Japan for the first time! Yes, I was terrified, as I’d been going to the same family dentist since I had teeth back in the USA. I was SO SCARED, but the procedure (a wisdom tooth removal) was super quick and painless (until the meds wore off later, of course). He did call me a chicken afterward. Even though there was a major language barrier, I was so surprised it was so easy!”

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24. A patient’s veneer tooth fell out, and she used French manicure nail superglue to keep it in place.

Some people opt for veneers for various reasons. Sometimes it simply has to do with cosmetic reasons. Other times, they become a medical necessity due to bad oral health. Catty_Mayonnaise, as a cosmetic dentist, shares a story saying: “General/Cosmetic dentist here. I once had a patient come in complaining about a lost veneer. It turns out what she had done is buy a box of plastic stick-on French manicure nails and superglue the tips to her teeth.

She had been re-sticking them for years, but she finally got tired of it and wanted me to use some of my ‘dental glue’ to get them to stay on more permanently. When I refused and instead tried to get her to let me clean off the layers and layers of crusty glue and food and plaque, she was mad and stormed out screaming about how I was only in this for the money and how dare I not help out a poor mother. The thing is, from a distance, they didn’t look all that bad. Up close, a rotting disaster, but from afar, I was pretty impressed with her ingenuity.”

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23. Inflammation in gums can be big trouble.

Gum inflammation is a periodontal disease in which gums get red and cause irritation. It is treatable but may take months to recover. But the condition can be pretty messy, considering that the gums are all swelled up and red. A dentist’s brother crkhtlr shares a weird encounter that his brother had with a patient. He explains: “Not a dentist – but my brother’s dentist said this was the weirdest thing ever. My brother had been having serious jaw pain for weeks. He said his back teeth hurt as well.

“He thought he was getting in his wisdom teeth because he had never noticed this particular tooth before, and the gums around it were inflamed. It made sense to him – the tooth was just breaking thru the skin. Then it got infected. His gums swelled up, and he said his mouth always tasted like chicken soup. So, he goes to the dentist (like a month or more after the pain started) and the dentist is shocked. Because it’s not a wisdom tooth. It’s a chunk of chicken bone. My brother has no idea how this could’ve happened.”

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22. When you find maggots in someone’s mouth.

“I worked in a dental clinic for four years,” RadicalOptimist explains, “Oh, the stories. But the ones that stick out the most are: When I was in training to do cleanings, we had an instructor that told us she had a patient that had a calculus bridge behind her front teeth on the roof of her mouth. A calculus bridge is essentially plaque that has been there for so long, it hardens, and the only way to get it off is to get a cleaning by a professional. The bridge part of it means it stretches between multiple teeth, creating a ‘bridge.’ Anyway, she’s doing her work breaking apart this thing, and she removes a piece and notices MAGGOTS underneath this thing.

She has to leave the room before she gets sick and has to come back to finish the cleaning—pretty fricking horrible. The dentist was working at a clinic, and an elderly man was brought in to get his denture repaired. (For those who don’t know, dentures are to be taken out and cleaned EVERY DAY) This poor guy, who was under nurses’ care in a home, hadn’t had this thing removed in 10 months. The dentist removed his denture, and the most intense smell of rotten food and infected gums was released. Food had been impacted under his denture for so long, it had deformed his gums, and his denture didn’t fit anymore. The dentist took the liberty to go to the home and counsel every single nurse on how to care for their patient’s dentures.”

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21. Just the shell of a tooth was left.

A Redditor, Charliesixx, shares a disgusting experience he had, saying: “General Dentist here. In dental school, a colleague and I were asked to help get 30 patients ready for the 2nd year denture program by doing full mouth extractions. Since they all needed dentures, you can imagine what the teeth of these people looked like. However, a few managed to stand out. A patient came in saying he felt like it was time to get his teeth out since the ones remaining were mobile, and he had a ‘small hole’ in one of the molars, and it was starting to hurt. I took a look. 2 cavities had combined to take out pretty much the entire inside of the tooth. Somehow the shell was intact, and he was still using it to chew.

Amazingly when we did the extraction, it came out in one piece. Another patient had a whole bunch of radicular cysts that we could see on the X-ray. Sometimes, when you extract the infected teeth, the cysts come out with the tooth. If not, you must get an instrument called a spoon excavator and scoop it out. These little sacs of joy are filled with creamy white pus that often ruptures while you are doing this. After the 5th one, I was getting a little disgusted. But gut checked and made it to the 6th and final one on the upper lateral incisor. This one was saved for last because it was the biggest. I extracted the tooth, but the cyst was left behind.”

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20. Don’t be embarrassed; just go to the dentist.

Cracked teeth and gums cause the entry of the bacteria inside the body. This can cause a bacterial infection which is very painful. Tooth extraction and replacement sorts out all the gums problems, and then the patient lives a happy new quality of life. A Redditor shares his story, explaining how difficult it is to keep a straight face. Not because the situation is funny, but because it is gross, and smells. Nevertheless, stop feeling embarrassed. He said:

“I haven’t found anything particularly weird, except for the usual super-loose teeth, passing abscesses, and big blocks of calculus. Patients are often ashamed of their oral health if they haven’t been to a dentist in a long time. I usually calm them by saying that I’ve seen much worse. But sometimes, it is among the worst I have seen (or smelled), and I have a hard time keeping a straight face. Those are the patients I feel bad for, but also whose oral health I have a good opportunity to improve and to help them gain a new quality of life.”

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19. When a toenail gets stuck in your teeth.

Deep cleaning of teeth is a process used to remove the tartar and plaque from teeth, which reduces pain and inflammation. A Redditor with the name 4ThaLolz shared a story saying: “I was a dental assistant and assisting the dentist with a deep cleaning. She was scraping at the gum line of a back molar when she thought she chipped off a large part of the patient’s tooth. It was long and kind of crescent moon-shaped, so it didn’t go right up my suction tube and got stuck across it.

“While the dentist was apologizing profusely to the patient, she noticed the tooth was smooth and wasn’t chipped at all. The 3 of us further examined what she scraped off, and the patient said, ‘Oh, that’s a toenail.’ It was disgusting. I didn’t say anything, but the dentist did say it’s not good to bite your nails, especially on your toes, because there is the risk of the foot to mouth disease. She had an amazing bedside manner. I just wanted to throw up.”

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18. It’s food, it’s gum, it’s …

Denture technologists make crowns, bridges, and braces for the teeth that improve patients’ oral health and help in chewing. They don’t normally come in direct contact with the patients. hippytech42 shares a disgusting experience he went through, saying: “Not a dentist, but a denture technician. We get some good stuff back in the lab now and then, but this one sticks out.

One day we get a denture back in the lab to remove the soft liner (which must be ground out using a lathe). I can see a dark spot under the liner, which usually means it was loose and food has collected underneath and prepare to smell a smelly smell. Upon hitting this spot with the burr, I get the normal horrific smell of rotting food, but there is something else. Something moving. I kid you not. There was a small collection of maggots there. Maggots that were living in the patient’s mouth. And that is the story of how I vomited at work.”

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17. Gross things happening in dental school.

A dentist who interprets radiographic images to know the condition of a patient’s teeth and what is affecting them is known as an oral and maxillofacial radiologist. TheRevMrGreen shared a strange experience with a patient saying: “Oral and Maxillofacial Radiologist here. I have been WAITING for this question around here. First, let me just preface this by saying that dental problems are never any fun, but the good news is that most of them can be easily prevented. Brushing twice a day, flossing daily, eating properly, and regular dental checkups are essential in preventing dental problems.

Let’s just say that being a dentist is cray-cray. I’ve got stories you would NOT believe. I am talking about serious levels of demineralization and destruction of the hard tissues of the teeth. Stuff that no number of dental sealants or a dietary modification could ameliorate. But if you want to know the strangest thing I’ve come across, well, it was once in dental school. I walked into a room at a party where someone was taking a crap on a glass coffee table, and someone was underneath it is watching and taking pictures.”

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16. When bad teeth have to be pulled out.

Teeth extraction or removal is done by an oral surgeon to relieve tooth pain. It takes 7 to 10 days for healing and costs up to $100 – $400. Teeth extractions are performed for various reasons, some of which include: dental trauma, periodontal disease, tooth decay, and more. A Redditor with the name OneGoodRib shares a story saying: “I’m not a dentist, but once at a free healthcare thing, I was sitting next to a woman who, over time, had the majority of her teeth extracted and needed almost all the rest of them out.

“I’m not sure what her history was, but she was one of those people who got dealt a bad hand by life. She was perfectly nice but was bummed about having to go through all the stuff to have all of her teeth removed to get dentures. She was maybe 50 or so. It was sad.” Hopefully she is doing better today? But it is really hard to say these days.

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15. She never brushed her teeth, and it was obvious.

Did you know that an Orthodontic Dental Assistant assists Orthodontists? They ensure appointments, sterilize all the tools, and manage the clinic. They are the ones who usually have to deal with gross patients who don’t really care about hygiene. A Redditor, Tumbleweed425 shares his story saying: “I work as a dental assistant at an orthodontic office. So, we deal with gross teenagers who don’t care about hygiene, including their oral health. And things get a lot nastier because they have braces, so stuff builds up pretty quickly.

We see a lot of patients with plaque caked on their teeth. The worst I ever saw was moldy. At least that’s what we assumed it was. It was black, all over his braces. So gross. Also saw a little girl who ended up with an infection throughout her whole mouth due to lack of brushing. She had sores all over her mouth and plaque everywhere. It was even built up on the roof of her mouth.”

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14. When the patient leaves in the middle of the procedure.

Imagine that you’re dealing with your patient, and he just leaves in the middle of the process. That is completely strange. What if it happened during tooth polishing? Tooth polishing is a procedure used to remove all the germs from the tooth, removing dental plaque and stains. A Redditor with the name lewata2165 shares his strange encounter with a patient who just ran away in the middle of the procedure.

“I was in the middle of polishing this patient’s teeth, and he got up (the chair was laid back) and said, ‘yeah, this isn’t working,’ and legit got up and left the office. No idea why, lmao! I was almost done with his cleaning, and he was sitting in the chair for about 35 minutes. He just got up and left! We never saw him again at my office!” Maybe it was an awkward position or he was just uncomfortable in general. Whatever the case might be, it was unexplained!

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13. Having this many wisdom teeth isn’t very wise.

Wisdom teeth are the three molars that usually appear in the early twenties or the late teens. People usually have one, two, or even three wisdom teeth in their mouths. However, more than three can be strange. A Redditor, DrRam121, explains one such scenario. “Well, let us see. I had a guy come in with seven wisdom teeth one time. For those counting, that’s three more than usual. I have had people with genetic diseases my instructors and I have never heard of (Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome).

“I have tons of people that want to blame everyone but themselves and their poor diet and oral hygiene for the state of their teeth. The best story came from one of my classmates, though. Guy came in who wanted to close his diastema (Michael Strahan style gap). Now, this guy was in his 50’s, and that’s an unusual request at that age because most people have gotten used to the look and even like it by that age.”

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12. Dealing with braces is never fun — or hygiene friendly!

Dental braces are used in orthodontics for straightening and aligning the teeth and also for enhancing dental health. A Redditor with the name c0LdFir3 shared his side of the story as a patient when he had a weird encounter with a dentist. He says: “As a kid in 3rd-4th grade, I once had a ‘bridge’ that was just a rectangular metal bracket that went around two teeth to help them straighten or whatever. It was always kind of ‘loose,’ but my dentist didn’t find it to be a concern.

“I woke up once several months later with the thing snapped in half and stabbing through both parts of my tongue and my gums, both bleeding profusely. It ended up being an all nighter in the emergency room. Needless to say, I never went back to that children’s dentist. Unfortunately, though, it also swore me off dentists as an adult, so now my teeth/gums are pretty awful. I do what I can to take care of them on my own, mind you – no ‘calculus bridges’ over here – but I wish I could talk myself into going more often.”

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11. Plaque and tartar build is pretty gross.

Tartar, also known as calculus, is the calcium deposition on teeth, which forms a topcoat on gums leading to the formation of plaque. Everyone gets a build up on their teeth after eating and drinking. However, that is why it is essential to brush your teeth after feasting; or, at least twice a day. If not, you already know your teeth and gums can suffer. Not only that, but tartar and plaque can be pretty nasty if not treated for a long time. A Redditor pumpkinrum shares his experience with a patient with poor hygiene and tartar.

“I’m not a dentist, but a nurse. I had a patient whose teeth were so dirty and unwashed that the tartar build-up made it look like two solid rows. The patient was hard of hearing, too, so you had to stand close when you had to speak. It smelled awful. Tried to help the person with hygiene but was almost violently told to f— off each time.”

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10. Periodontal disease is a problem for this patient.

Periodontal disease is a wide range of dental issues. From gingivitis to bad breath, temporomandibular disorders, tooth decay, and dry mouth – all of these are considered periodontal disease. A Redditor describes his experience, saying: “My dentist told me I have periodontal disease. He wants to inject some antibiotics into my gums, and it costs $900, and insurance doesn’t cover it. As for the price, I haven’t done it. My friend also told me that that was BS because she had the same issue, and “scaling” cost much less. So IDK, I don’t trust dentists much.

“Edit: I probably should have mentioned this, but a large part of my not getting treatment (yet) is that I’m someone who doesn’t have a lot of money to spare. $900 is a large chunk of my wallet. I’ll admit that I haven’t exactly prioritized it, but a small part of it has to do with the fact that my parents (who won’t pay for anything) simply think the dentists are scamming me. While I don’t think they are, I guess their thinking made me downgrade the severity of the issue. I’ve already contacted a second dentist in regards to a second opinion, but I never got around to forwarding them my x-rays. I’m going to get to that. And I guess if I have to, I’ll take the financial hit.”

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9. Braces can be yucky — and painful.

A Redditor shares his dental experience saying: “The dentist is my friend. I’ve had all four wisdom teeth pulled at the same time 3 or 4 years ago and a root canal last year. I was put to sleep for the teeth extraction. The healing was pretty good. It kind of sucked with eating soft stuff for a while, and I was not a happy camper when the pain meds wore off, but it was so worth it. I was in pain for years before that because I was afraid to have them removed when I was a teen before they became a problem. Now to last year, I had two cavities but not the money to take care of them. I let them go, and the pain was excruciating. I could hardly chew, and some nights I would stay up just crying.

“All it took was for one to become infected, and I had to be rushed to the dentist. My whole cheek puffed up. I still could not afford it, and now it went to collections, but that tooth is all better after the root canal. The other cavity is now big, but the root is curved, so it’s going to be even more expensive since I have to go to a specialist. It surprisingly doesn’t hurt, but after I eat, I have to rinse my mouth immediately (dentist-recommended act mouth wash) to get the food particles out of the tooth. I’m terrified it’s going to get infected, and I’ll be in trouble. If you have a cavity, don’t wait if you don’t have to. Go to the dentist and get it taken care of early. Every dentist I’ve been to throughout my life has been pleasant and just wants to help.”

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8. Dealing with excruciating gum pain.

Gum pain occurs due to many reasons like brushing too hard, wearing braces or dentures, and in women, it is mostly due to hormonal changes in pregnancy or periods. It can be worse for some people, as montanagrizfan explains: “I used to be a chairside assistant in Montana. We had several older patients that would winter in Arizona and go across the border to get cheap dental work. I remember one person who came in complaining of gum pain around their new ‘gold’ crown. The tissue around the crown was all puffy and inflamed, and discolored.

“It wasn’t infected as much as it was irritated. I could tell just by looking at it that the crown was not gold. It was a weird bright yellow color, more like brass than gold. We removed the crown by cutting it off because, despite its strange color, it fits quite well. The patient wore a temporary crown for a few weeks just to make sure everything settled down before a new one was made. Once the crappy crown came off, the tissue went back to normal fairly quickly despite some recession. We never could figure out what the crown was made of, even had our lab guy look at it. Whatever it was wasn’t gold, and it wasn’t biocompatible.”

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7. Cavities can be really bad.

A Redditor, huphelmeyer, shared a horrific patient encounter saying: “I am not a dentist, but I am a dental hygiene student. I recently had a WTF moment. Just a little background. I work in a low-income clinic. Most people that come in have little to no oral health care knowledge and have never been to the dentist, so they have something called Periodontal disease (Perio) and cavities. The worse pernio gets, the worse your breath gets… So fast forward to the moment.

“Luckily, I have some essential oil that I put in my mask for that exact reason, so I put some on, and then I had the patient rinse with Listerine, and the smell got 10x worse. I began the cleaning, and even with all the water and rinsing, I felt the smell was just getting worse (usually it gets better). So, I excused myself again and sat in the back for a minute, and I just did not know what to do. I can’t just excuse the patient for bad breath, but I did not want to finish the cleaning. Not a huge story, but it left me dumbfounded. TL; DR: Pt had monster bad breath, and after all the remedies I could think of nothing worked and I just about vomited.”

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6. A nasty dental plate.

A dental plate is a hard acrylic plate that fits around the teeth and gives them a symmetrical position. A Redditor with the name transemacabre shared his mother’s experience (as a dental assistant) with a having loose upper plate. “My mother was a dental assistance WAY back in the ’70s. She tells me they regularly had people come in with teeth so jacked up. The dentist had to pull every last tooth in their mouths. I think the worst I’ve ever seen was a man who had some sort of dental plate on his upper palate.

“It had come loose and flopped around when he spoke. He had only a couple of teeth left. I don’t know what this condition is called or why it had gotten that bad (aside from him probably not being able or willing to pay to fix it.” Luckily today people can have better procedures. Not only that, but they better understand how important oral hygiene is. That way, they can prevent having to get dental plates in the first place, much less fixed!

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5. Pus in the mouth is never a good thing.

“Not a dentist, but a dental office manager. We’re used to seeing bombed-out teeth, which cannot be saved by root canals or crowns, can usually be addressed with extractions with grafting and implants. So, what can be assumed as a ‘worst’ case is fairly common in this industry? The worst I can think of is advanced pernio disease. Pus coming out of gum tissue if you poke at it, exposed dentin, teeth wiggling around. I don’t care much for the gooey aspect of dentistry, which is why I prefer to stay at the front desk. I did see an unusual case the other day, though. A young girl (pre-adult dentition) came in complaining of pain. She was on vacation with her family and was in town for only a couple of days. We followed protocol and took an x-ray, nothing particularly unusual at first glance.

“So, the doctor advised mom to take her daughter to a dentist ASAP once they get back home to follow up. I called them later to check-in, and mom said on the 10-hour drive back to their home state, the daughter was feeling intense pain in the same area. She had a “tooth within a tooth,” with the interior tooth inside the erupted tooth and being upside down. This is very rare! So, this harbored a pocket for infection to develop, and an abscess formed after we took the x-ray (so my Dr. could not see it at the time). She ultimately had an extraction done and got a flipper until she is old enough to get an implant. The oral surgeon who did it said it was extremely unlikely our office could have caught it because of the way the inner tooth was positioned.”

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4. Discovering severe gum disease after a nasty fall.

There’s a reason why dentists emphasize taking care of dental health. Not doing so might result in severe gum diseases, including periodontal disease, bad breath, tooth decay, or trench mouth. A Redditor mdp300 shares his story saying: “A lady comes in, she had just tripped and fallen, and the browns in her front teeth had fallen off. I take a look, and her front four teeth were all connected together with crowns.

“The roots of the two middle teeth were sticking out of the crowns – those whole teeth had fallen out. The other two teeth broke off at the gum line. I look in her chart, and she’s been in every six months for cleanings. At every visit, she’s been told she has severe gum disease and needs treatment or else she’s going to lose all her teeth, but she never did anything because nothing was hurting her.” Well, the moral of the story is to not only brush your teeth. That is a given. But if you lack in oral hygiene, make sure you are cautious with your clumsiness!

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3. Tooth decay can be common, but it is still gross.

The main cause of tooth decay is eating sugary and sticky food and drinks as well. These things weaken the gum and lead to tooth decay. Charliesixx shares a patient story saying: “24-year-old guy. All of his teeth were decayed to the gums except 2 – his lower canines – that still had the retainer bonded to the back of them. The only pieces of enamel left in his mouth were underneath that bonding.

“All that time, effort, and money straightening those teeth… I asked him what he thought contributed to his rapid decay. He replied that he had consumed at least a 2L of Coke a day since he moved out on his own. I spent 12 hours (4 – 3-hour appointments) pulling the 32 roots out of his head so he could get a set of dentures made by some dental students. I will never forget this case because it was also the case that started the chain of events that led to my professor getting fired from the dental school.”

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2. The gums swollen over the brackets and bands.

Right after your first braces, your gums may swell due to tightened wires, and as a consequence, you might suffer from gum diseases. A dentist under the name UnicornCumParty at Reddit shares a story saying: “Had a patient come in at age 15 to get braces on and their parent never brought them to another visit after the first one. Years later, the patient shows back up randomly, now age 18, and wants the braces off.

“The parent was in the waiting room screaming and losing their crap, trying to say we could not do anything without their consent, and trying to control their now-adult child. The patient demanded the braces off, and we did it because they were the age of consent. Their teeth were ruined under the braces due to lack of care. Gums swollen over the brackets and bands; one front tooth even crumbled due to decay. We found a large fingernail back in one of the gums. It smelled awful. And while we were working, the parent continued to freak out and had to be escorted out. Wild times. I felt awful for the patient.”

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1. Finally, a great dentist and patient.

A Redditor Select_Wonder5744 shares a story saying: “Getting a wisdom tooth pulled from my lower jaw that had grown in a horizontal position facing forwards. I was preparing myself for an ordeal and had even prepaid for 3 hours of parking beyond my appointment time. I entered the clinic at 8:55 am and was ushered directly to the surgery and chair. My dentist was the clinic’s ‘wisdom tooth guy,’ a big young redhead with a shock of hair, freckles, and paunch. He reminded me of someone you’d sit down and eat 5kg of BBQ ribs with. A happy, cheerful guy. He injected me within Novocaine by about 9 am and started at about 9:10 am.

He informed me that he planned to cut the tooth in half, remove the cap, and hopefully, the root system would slide forward and that I would hear some nasty crunching sounds. I was seriously mentally prepared for a tug-o-war, closed my eyes, and steeled myself. I heard the crunch as he broke the cap off, followed by a moment of silence. Then he asked me to bite down on a cotton pad. I thought, ‘OK, part 1 wasn’t so bad,’ and opened my eyes. He said something like, we’ll just leave that for a moment for the bleeding to stop, and I realized it was over. I mumbled, ‘is that it?’ to which he said yes, and I couldn’t hold back a laugh. A few minutes later, he changed the pad, wrote a prescription for painkillers, and I was let go. I paid at the front desk and walked back to my car.”

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