appointment TODAY!

So, I took a Valium last night before bed. I was hoping it would make me feel different today, like more relaxed, but I still feel the same as usual.

I am supposed to take another one an hour before my appointment this afternoon, but I don't foresee it making a big difference. Now I have to get through all morning at work, worrying and stressing over what I perceive is going to be a painful appointment since I was already warned that I'm going to "feel it."

I am well aware of the gap in semantics between dentists and patients and phobics. If a dentists says something like "feel it" or "slight discomfort", then a patient knows it means "it's going to hurt." And a very phobic patient is going to hear "terrible pain that makes you regret you coming here in the first place."

I guess the only things I can do is dig my fingernails in and try to get through it, although I dread crying in there. I've cried in dentists' office numerous times, and it's always completely humiliating.

I find it very difficult to comprehend any dentist telling any patient, especially a very nervous one to anticipate pain! As I understand it there is no need for pain during any treatment. I myself have recently visited a dentist after many years of being too terrified to go, one of the main reasons was that I had always felt pain during injections and was terrified of ever needing an extraction, I had to go as i broke a tooth of near the gum. Just making an appointment was a major trauma but first i did a LOT of searching online looking at many dentists websites to find one that I felt would meet my needs and seemed caring. The one I eventually found was wondeful and actually guided me here too. When I saw her `just` to talk the 45 mins she booked for me turned into 90 mins and she never rushed as i sat and cried all over here when she comfirmed my worst fears I had to have the tooth extracted. To cut a long story short I had the tooth out under LA and I never felt a thing just a small sting (and I do mean small) when I had the injection. I am now not worried about visiting again, I have another extraction and a couple of fillings to have performed. I feel passionate now that there is the right dentist out there for everyone, one you can feel comfortable and confident with, you just need to find that one and I hope you can do this, when you do there will be NO pain and hopefully you will be rid of the awful fears which I know are so crippling .

Good Luck, if you have been to the appointment I really hope it went well, if not and you felt you couldn`t make it, please search for the dentist right for you

it's not until 3:30 this afternoon, so I still have 2 hours to stress over it. This is my 3rd appt. for fillings, and the first 2 went OK: barely felt the needle and no pain during or afterwards.
He warned me that since these fillings are going to be in the front of my mouth, that I was going to "feel it" (the injection) more, so of course I am imagining the worst scenario possible:

Huge needle, lots of pain, fingernails digging in my arms, crying, etc.

Like I said, I took Valium last night, and I'll take another one an hour before the appointment, plus I'm using nitrous during it. . .I took Valoum by itself when I was ateen and it had no effect on me, so far I still don't feel any effects after trying it for this appt, and so far the nitrous by itself hasnt had an effect either. I was really hoping that a "double whammy" of Valium and nitrous oxide could make me relax a little, but so far. . .nothing. . .

Hi. Just yesterday, I was exactly where you are - fretting and worrying and all worked up into quite a lather. It turned out to be for naught. I had 17 extractions with local anesthetic and I didn't feel a thing - only pressure, which is unavoidable, but NO pain whatsoever. The only injection that I felt only very very slightly - not enough to call pain - just a bit of a pinch, were the ones in the roof of my mouth. I had several other injections in different parts of my mouth and felt NONE of those at all. I also had nitrous, which didn't have a huge effect on me - I think it is largely due to the fact that I had myself so hyped up, I couldn't relax and let the nitrous take hold. I was looking forward to some kind of euphroic feeling that never came, but I'm sure it still had some effect because I did feel a bit more relaxed after it. After the dentist told me that he had already finished with one side, I relaxed even more. I thought he was working on one tooth all the while and he actually had taken 4 out! I'm sure you will be fine. I know, from personal experience, that you can't just tell someone to relax or not worry and that will do it. You WILL be fine! Sending hugs and warm thoughts to you!

shamrockerin,

I will be thinking about you and sending you good thoughts. I assume by the time of your last message (and what time it is where I am) that you are somewhere on the US East Coast. I am too -- so my good thoughts won't have very far to travel . I'm hoping that your dentist has worried you for nothing -- he may not have realized that giving you that bit of information (about being able to feel the injections this time) would send you into a tail spin of fear -- I know it would do the same to me. Everyone is different, so I think that some people want to know the worst to expect. They dentist may also think that if he presents the worst, than it can only be easier than you imagine it will. I would rather not know anything...

Could it be that the "feel something" that your dentist is talking about is just a SMALL pinch? If you didn't feel anything for previous injections, feeling something more than that could really be just a very small pinch that's over before you even realize what's happening. I know that, if I were in your shoes, I would be a wreck right now. So, I know that it's easier said than done to try to not think about it for the next 90 mins or so. Try to do something to distract yourself if you can. Maybe make some calming tea (no caffeine!). My hope for you is that you leave the appt thinking "that was so easy, I can't believe I was so worried for nothing".

Please let us know how it goes.

Hi everyone- thanks for the nice thoughts and support.

It really wasn't nearly as bad as I was imagining it would be. I asked the assistant beforehand how many injections there were to be, and where exactly, and as soon as I found out there wouldnt be any in the roof of the mouth, i felt a little less nervous.


I took the Valium the night before, and an hour before the appointment, plus they started the nitrous higher than usual.I still wasn't too affected by either one, and the dentist seemed pretty surprised that I wasn't feeling any effects. I said half-jokingly to him "You look very disappointed," which surprised him even more that i was talking and even having kind of a sense of humor!

He reminded me again that I would feel the injections (the first 2) a little more than usual, and I did. It wasn't nearly as painful as I imagined though. Just as i felt my eyes starting to well up a little, it was over.

Afterwards, he talked to me for a couple minutes and asked if it was getting any easier yet, and said i seemed a little less stressed that the past few times. he said maybe try taking 2 Valium pills before the next appt. to see if THAT works at all. (Apparently I have a very high tolerance for medications)

My next appt, on which they'll be working on the opposite front teeth, is over a month away and hopefully now that I know this one wasn't too bad, it won't be panic-attack-inducing.

FearfulInMA said:

I assume by the time of your last message (and what time it is where I am) that you are somewhere on the US East Coast.

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Yes! I live in New Hampshire! I just finished grad school at Simmons College in Boston.

shamrockerin said:

Yes! I live in New Hampshire! I just finished grad school at Simmons College in Boston.

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I'm in Boston! I know a number of people who went to Simmons for grad school (Library Science and Social Work). Congrats on your recent graduation! Nice to see another New Englander on here .

FearfulInMA said:

I'm in Boston! I know a number of people who went to Simmons for grad school (Library Science and Social Work). Congrats on your recent graduation! Nice to see another New Englander on here .

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i went there for Children's Literature! Many of my classmates were/are in the Library Science program.