I went for an eye exam today. What's worse:

[yonder]

Waiting for the dilation stuff to wear off while the peepers get back to normal,

or

waiting for the Novocaine to wear off after having dental work done?

I don't care for either. At all.

[brokephibroke]

1. Dilation stuff

No contest.

[Skittles]

13. agreed

[hlthe2b]

2. Novocaine. You can shut your eyes to avoid the dilation impacts, but that feeling in your mouth

is there regardless until it wears off.

[Phoenix61]

3. I haven't had my eyes dilated in years.

The last time I did it took several days to wear off. Until they tell me there’s a real reason to dilate them other than “it’s standard procedure” it ain’t happening.

[sarge43]

4. Novocaine

While it's wearing off, good chance you bite your tongue or the inside of your cheek.

However, I'll take the novocaine. Two words: root canal.

[yonder]

5. I can't figure it out except I'd rather have the Novocaine when needed, without doubt.

The wear-off part drives me nuts for both.

I've read Atropine? might have some risks - my wife goes to an eye doc that doesn't use it. I've a couple of eye issues and the ophthalmologist insists.

[unblock]

6. I never get Novocaine.

It ruins your whole day. And what's the point? The shot itself is more painful than anything else the dentist is doing. Never mind the drooling and the bit tongue later on.

No thanks. I'll take my 20 seconds of pain over the course of five minutes and when I hop out of the chair I feel fine and am completely done.


I do have a few advantages I know a lot of people don't have. One, I don't flinch in response to pain. So if the dentist nicks something painful I don't jerk and potentially make it worse. Second, I get chronic migraines, so the dentist's drill is not even close to my most painful experiences.

[yonder]

10. If there was a bow-down-on-bended-knee smiley thing

this is right where it should be used. Until then, the wee man with the hat tip will have to do. I have no idea how you do that.

With all respect:

[yellowdogintexas]

12. I take it you have never had a root canal.

That is a whole other category of pain and longer than five minutes of drilling. We are talking about drilling the entire nerve out of the root of the tooth which is already painful due to whatever is going on in there.

[unblock]

16. Correct. Just cavities and crowns.

[VOX]

15. Had my first root canal last year. Praise be to local anesthesia.

I too went for a long time without the “local” the dentist gives you.

I take great care of my teeth, but one of my lower molars cracked for some unknown reason. It called for a root canal and a crown.

My dentist is very skilled; he applied a bit of the anesthesia topically BEFORE using the needle, and thus the shot was completely painless.

The root-canal is another experience. Very little harsh pain, as such, but there’s a lot of tugging, grinding, wincing, all while 3 people are hovering over you at once, most with their hands shoved in your mouth— and my “Achilles Heel” is claustrophobia. It’s not the pain, or the anesthesia, or its wearing-off time that bothers me. For me, it’s all the crowding around the chair, and the inability to just get up and leave (with half a root canal?) that’s bothersome.

[unblock]

7. As for the eye stuff, no. I can't tolerate it.

Though I have no flinch reflex in response to most pain, I do have an uncontrollable flinch response to eye irritation. So getting drops in is next to impossible.

Then when I finally do get it in one eye, I'm so nauseated that I can't lean my head back for the other eye.

[cos dem]

8. The novocaine wear-off is much worse for me.

But, I have a secret for the dilation issue. I get my eye appointments in the winter time (speaking of which...), and in the late afternoon so it's dark by the time I'm leaving. Without the sun out, it doesn't bother me so much.

[virgogal]

9. The eyes,definitely.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Worse would be getting them mixed up.

Imagine waiting for your mouth to close.

[Leith]

14. That's easy

I have never had any kind of reaction to having my eyes dilated at all. I could even go without sunglasses on a sunny Mojave Desert summer afternoon afterward. This was after my surgery to repair a damaged retina, not just a simple eye exam for glasses.

Novocaine, though - damn. There has never been a time that I didn't have excruciating pain even when the numbing was at the strongest point. I hate sounding drunk when I try to talk. Then it wears off and the pain comes back full force. That's why I'm working hard to never get another cavity again in this lifetime.