A long time in the chair

What is the most work anyone has has in one go and what did you have done?

I one had a tooth extracted and 3 amalgam fillings placed in on session. It was supposed to be two appointments but the dentist asked if I was ok to carry on and just did it all in one go. It took about 45 minutes.

I remember once many years ago at the dentist when their was a problem. It was taking some time and was arranging for me to go into a dental hospital but then managed to complete the work without having to do that. I was most releived!!

For an actual procedure about 2-2.5 hours. This was when I was college aged and had skipped on dentist for 4-5 years and had a slew of cavities in my back teeth. She did them in groups on each side and the left side had a very large cavity in the upper left molar (so big she was unsure she'd be able to salvage to the tooth) as well as two smaller ones on the lower back teeth.

I volunteered at a dental hygienist clinic as a patient this past year and while not one procedure it included a lot of time in the chair. Was told appointments would go for about 3 hours and would likely need multiple appointments per appointment cycle. Person I was assigned too often stretched those out with the longest being a 4 hour stay in the chair as she kept trying to improve her calculus detection and below the gums cleaning. When I went back later in the year she needed to pass her anesthesia test and asked if she could numb one side of my mouth for my cleaning to pass that part of the exam, and I was like sure. The whole experience was interesting but very time consuming since the first series of appointments took three days with 3-4 hours in the chair at each visit. Certainly the most thorough exam / cleanings I've ever had really.

Similar to pfd7007 I also skipped the dentist in my youth and paid for it later with a dental appointment that revealed I had 10 cavities in my back teeth. I had the fillings done in two sessions lasting about 2 to 2.5 hours each time. The lower wisdom teeth had extensive decay, to this day I'm surprised they offered to fill them rather than extract them.

I also have volunteered as a patient at a dental hygiene clinic. My longest appointment was about 6 hours. The student working on me performed a large variety of exams and then spent about 3 hours cleaning my teeth above and below the gum line. I had been with a DMO based dentist for a few years at that point and had been getting 15 minute cleanings twice a year so there was quite a bit of calculus hiding under the gums that had been there a while or had been "burnished" in further by poor/clumsy scaling from previous clinicians.