Felt strong after dental surgery but not anymore?

Hi everyone,

You have all been very wonderful to me. I was reading my personal diary from February this year after my oral surgery where I was put under IV deep sedation and I was so relieved, hopeful, and confident that I could do future dental work without having the IV sedation. I was able to sit and get exams and checkups with NO FEAR and trust me prior to that I was such a mess.

Then my dentist's office burnt down, I began obsessively brushing/flossing, all of my teeth that have cavities hurt like crazy and I know I have a lot of extensive work that needs done in the back bottom molars.

I got through it before - became confident - then lost all confidence and am back to square 1 with fear.

I also do not know when my dentist/OS office will rebuild - they said they are in the process and only accepting emergencies til they are back in business which is fine but in the meantime I panic about it and my teeth hurt! And I had a panic attack at some other dentist's office - seemed to rekindle all of the bad memories from past bad experiences w/ other dentists.

The good experience I had with my surgery in Feb though, left me so confident mere months ago. Now I'm petrified again

What happened??

Could it be that you linked your newfound confidence to that particular dental office and now that it burned down, your "safe place" is gone? Just guessing.

The good news though is that if you were able to get rid of your fear one time, you're able to get rid of it again! So hang in there. The dental office will be rebuilt and so will your confidence.

Yes I think that is a big part of it. You hit it on the head but I feel there are other reasons.

I think a big reason is the time that has lapsed since my surgery and now has been so long that I "forgot" my confidence. And the office burning down just gave me a ton of insecurity. Plus, I saw another dentist, locally, and freaked out....and of course they are not for "special" cases like myself so I just chalked it up as another bad experience. sigh.

I believe I will get my confidence back but.... I wish I didn't have to have another breakdown before buildingback up again

That's a good point about the time lapse. It's really important to keep up the momentum in order to become desensitized, otherwise the pesky fear creeps back in.... you're right.

I know what you mean about not wanting to start over again, but because you did so well after that first time, you're not really going back to square one. I think you'll 'bounce back' so to speak, shortly after you go to your next appointment.

Good luck!