I just got back from the dentist, and I remembered something that has always bugged me. I thought I'd see how others felt about it.

I don't know if this is common to all dentists, but it's happened as far back as I can remember. Whenever I'm having dental work done (like a bonding, or a cavity being filled) the dentist and hygienist will have a conversation about their personal lives. What they did on the weekend, troubles with potty training, you name it. I've got to say, I really don't give a damn what they do in their spare time, and I'd rather stare at the ceiling in silence while getting needles jabbed into my gums than listen to them babble about their meaningless exploits.

So, do other dentists do this, or am I just lucky enough to have one that does? Does it bother anyone else, or am I just easily annoyed?

my dentist is pretty cool.

he talks about interesting stuff.

last time i was there he was going on about a white stripes gig he went to.

I've never had any extensive work done, so it's the hygenist cleaning my teeth, then the dentist comes in to look at the X-rays.

My dentist is pretty cool. He's a huge NBA / NCAA / NFL fan. He goes to Vegas every year to gamble on the games.

I don't mind conversation, but I really hate when dentists ask you questions while they are drilling in your mouth. How the hell am I supposed to respond?

I would imagine the point is to draw attention away from the procedure. Better to have an annoyed patient than one scared out of their wits.

My dentist asks me questions while he's drilling around in my mouth, then he asked them a few seconds later like I'm avoiding his question or something.

"So, what did you do this summer?"

'MMmhgnhngnhnm"

My uncle is a dentist and he told me that they do this to take the attention away from the procedure and or pain.

Yeah my dentist did it when I got a few cavities filled, however I was too stoned on “laughing gas” to remember what they said.

I was at the dentist once and a fish jumped out of his aquarium and landed on the dental tools.

i dont have a dentist

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was it called nemo?

I knew that everyone in Eurpoo has bad teeth, but I never knew why.

Mine left my tooth half drilled to go talk on the phone with someone to about his pool. It took him about 20 minutes (the only thing I had to watch in the room was a clock) to get back to me and my numbing stuff started really wearing off. Needless to say, I found me another dentist.

Mine usually talk to me and ask questions that I can't answer because my mouth is full. This one time I tried to be talkative to a non-talking lady, and she misinterperted a comment I made about my teeth being 'straight.' She never said anything to me again...

Also, you can't tell them to shut up. And if you try, they jab you.

The last few times I had to have fillings put in, they were pretty quiet. Both times though, I had a headset with the radio on, but I could still hear them, and they didn't say much.

Odd, I was thinking of this not long ago. And yes, it is terribly annoying. The same with the dentist talking to the hygenist, too. I mean seriously. Talk about these things some other time.

Yeah, the dentists around here do that a lot. Then again, around here the conversations have mostly been related to strawberries or something.

What pisses me off is when they try to talk to you and get pissed off when you move.

BUT ******* YOU ASKED ME A QUESTION YOU ****ING JERKOFF. Jerk. Jeez.

I don't have a dentist any more since I started uni, when I went to sign up with the local hospital I was one of the last in the line with a surname of Wallace. Turns out they'd used up all the available NHS dentist slots they had. They'd also run out of mumps vaccinations and within a month we had an epidemic.

My old dentist didn't say much; he'd just shove a needle in, wait a few secs and then pull out some pliers and proceed to yank teeth out of my mouth (had 4 removed for a brace).

I also get annoyed when my dentist asks me questions while I've got sharp instruments in my mouth, but it doesn't happen too often and if it does he's got the sense to wait for me to reply when he takes said sharp instruments out of my mouth.

The conversation thing also happens from time to time, but I don't mind it. It does take your mind off what's going on by listening to other people hold some mundane conversation. However, when I had my six wisdom teeth (yes people, SIX ) being removed, the surgeon had the Jackson Five playing in the background and was holding consistent conversation with the two nurses. He had this really funny dry humor though and supposedly was extremely-skilled as an oral surgeon, so I liked and trusted the guy, but that was all a bit nerve-wracking, literally, as one false move removing one of my wisdom teeth could have cut a nerve in my mouth.

EMO, anybody??? Ha ha, just kidding. I think your dentist takes conversation to new heights with the potty training thing... My dentist isn't bad.

No you retard, it was Gill.

I just don't talk... I'll answer questions or maybe continue the conversation with a quick remark or my point of view but other then that, I want to get out of there as fast as possible! I hate going to the dentist. It's roughly twice a year yet when the time comes I'm like "WTF I JUST WENT TO THE ****ING DENTIST!"

I hate when they ask you a question or say something that requires comment but you can't reply because they have their hands in your mouth.

Thread reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry wakes up and supposedly sees a nurse buttoning up her shirt, and then thinks he had his shirt tucked in and it wasn't when he woke up.

[QUOTE=Double Helix]EMO, anybody??? Ha ha, just kidding. I think your dentist takes conversation to new heights with the potty training thing... My dentist isn't bad.[/QUOTE]
No kidding, today (had to get two cavities filled this week) she was talking about how it's been a long time since she got a massage, and how her chiropractor told her to walk for a while instead of running because there's something wrong with her shoulder, but she ran anyway. What a rebel.

The thing is, I'm not about to switch dentists over this. She does nice work, is one of the top dentists in Canada when it comes to cosmetic bondings (of which I have four), and really is a nice lady. It's just this one annoying habbit that she seems to have. Oh well, I'll live.

As to having to answer questions when they're working on you, I think the hygienist has done that to me before, but my dentist hasn't. At most she'll say something like "How you doing there?" or "Is that okay?", stuff like that that you can easily mumble "yeah" or "no" to.

My dentist is a rather attractive female with long blonde hair and, I'd guess, 34 C's. She enjoys wearing relatively low-cut dentist shirts. I am a bit tall, so she has to bend to get near my mouth. She usually talks about the weird/exciting things she did during college. I enjoy going to the dentist a bit more than most people, but it' still a bad place to be.

My dentist has a rhythmic whistling from his nose when he breathes.

What I've always found funny with some dentists is when they try to ask you questions while they are working on your teeth. Do I look like I can answer something with all that dental crap in my mouth???

At least with your dentist, you don't have to worry about too much bleeding since all your blood flow is being redirected elsewhere...