kitkat
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Have you ever been caught off-guard by a dental procedure? How did you cope? Share your experiences here.
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Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.
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I totally agree with what you have said, I hate being surprised, especially of the dental kind. I think sometimes on the spot treatment is in one way good, because as you said you don't have time to stress. But I worry all the time about what if this tooth broke or this such and such happened. It drives me mad.
I was glad he had done it there and then and in an odd way I can't explain. I was glad I didn't know before I went, because I had all on coping with the thought of the rct.
I so understand how you feel. I noticed you also answered my thread about re-living things as well.
This is such an interesting thread, as you are right it brings up issues of our control and how much we feel we lose that in the dentists chair. Often the poor dentist is just there actually trying to get on with concentrating on their tricky job, and it doesn't occur to actually keep nattering away to those of us who need to know about every minor tool change LOL MMmmm, I'm going to think further about this one.......as you have got me thinking about if it is better to know or not know in advance. Oh gosh I'm confused now....
I never realised before, but when I read that kitkats dentist doesn't ask for tools by name, I don't recall mine asking for anything. The only thing I know is when he says he will just use the hand piece to remove a little bit of old filling etc... and talks to me.
I don't know what he does, and I don't hear either him or his assistant moving about for anything either. Strange I will have to try take notice next time I go. It might be that I am concentrating that hard on breathing that I don't notice. His assistant is very quiet and just smiles a lot, it is the dentist that does all the talking and dealing with me. Stranger and stranger.
Sometimes things are presented as a choice, but it is actually just asking for consent isn't it. Not quite the same thing as having a choice; which implies you have an alternative course of action which you are informed about. Saying that, if my consent is asked for, or I am offered a choice I tend to say yes in the dentists' chair - but not anywhere else !!!My problem is even when presented as I choice, I still feel pressure to say "yes" when caught off guard so even though I'm deciding, I'm doing it reluctantly.
I would have nearly died too. I do shut my eyes, also my dentist gives me these big orange glasses to wear as well so you can't see clearly through them anyway, which is perfect for me.
Sometimes things are presented as a choice, but it is actually just asking for consent isn't it. Not quite the same thing as having a choice; which implies you have an alternative course of action which you are informed about. Saying that, if my consent is asked for, or I am offered a choice I tend to say yes in the dentists' chair - but not anywhere else !!!
AND....I would happily have a mirror held to my face to see what it going on. Aren't we all so different, Carole with her eyes screwed shut and us trying to see everything we can.
I bet you are one of those people who look up procedures on the web beforehand so there are no surprises too.
She's found a way to satisfy my curiosity by directing my attention to less intimidating tools; for instance, if she's holding a mirror and an "excavator" or a syringe she draws my attention to the little mirror first before following with the more intimidating tool out of my line of sight. There is a lot of "slight of hand" tricks involved in dentistry! Who knew? lol Another thing she does is focus more on describing the sensation produced than the tool itself which usually works well for me.