• Dental Phobia Support

    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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Faith Is Taking The First Step

I went to my appointment on the 20th to see the hygienist. It went better than I thought it would. They took some more x-rays and cleaned my teeth. They gave me nitrous oxide to help relax me while they did the cleaning, they also put a numbing gel in my mouth. I felt no pain during the cleaning, I was told my gums might feel sore afterwords but I felt no soreness whatsoever. I received some prescription toothpaste to help with re-mineralization. And I was told I need some fillings, luckily my dentist said she believes she can save my front teeth! I go back on January 15th for the fillings. She also said I need some root canals but they will do those after the fillings. Am I nervous? Yes I am, but I've come so far in facing my phobia that I refuse to give up now. Every time I go to an appointment I feel such a huge relief afterwards!
 
I am glad you are healing well and have had no problems. It is also good that with every appointment you are gaining confidence. Don't your teeth feel good after a clean. I hope your front teeth can be saved, WELL DONE YOU :jump::jump::jump::cheer::cheer::cheer::dance2::dance2::dance2::dance::dance::dance::respect::respect::respect:

Good luck for the 15th January :butterfly:
 
While I know my journey to a better smile is still a work in progress I do want to encourage anyone who is debating not going to the dentist because of fear to face their fears. I put off going to a dentist for so long to the point where I had a toothache that was almost unbearable. As you can tell by my journal entries I was scared so I won't repeat myself by retelling my story. But trust me when I say that once you go to that first appointment you will feel such a huge relief! Am I still anxious about future appointments? Yes of course I am but I think I always will be but I keep telling myself that putting it off is how I got in this situation.
 
While I am committed to continuing my dental journey and continue to deal with my phobia and new fear of sorts has been on my mind lately, the cost of the dental procedures. I have dental insurance, its not the best insurance but its what I can afford at the moment. I'm highly considering applying for CareCredit which is basically a credit card for health related costs. They have up to 12 months interest free payments and after that the interest rate is around 14%. I knew that going into my dental journey that it would be expensive but I know it is something I have to do.
 
Bad news, I don't qualify for carecredit not even with a co-signer. I'm considering changing dental insurance providers but I can't find any in my area that I can get. I don't wanna have to stop going to the dentist because I can't afford it but at the moment I don't see many options. :(
 
I am so stressed out right now! It's the holidays and while I should be enjoying the season instead I am worrying about how I am going to afford continuing to see the dentist! As I've mentioned before my dental insurance (Humana) doesn't cover much but its all I can get at the moment. I've tried to get CareCredit but since I don't have much credit I don't qualify, nor do I qualify for a personal loan from the bank due to me not having much credit history. I'm 21 years old so I don't know how much of a credit history they are expecting me to have. I'm just so frustrated, I really don't want to ask my parents for money because they are already pretty cash strapped right now with my moms medical expenses (she has emphysema). A friend mentioned I should set up a page on Give Forward, which is somewhat like go fund me but its just for medical expenses. But I don't know about asking strangers for money. It may be my only option though considering I have a $254 bill on my desk and they want $950 upfront for my treatment on January 15th. And I haven't received a bill from the oral surgeon yet but I probably will. I hate owing money but if I had it I'd pay the bill immediately.
 
Don't worry CrazyCrafter, will have made to through this much you will get through the rest of it too.
I feel very happy when I see people like this who take trouble to overcome their phobia..:respect: All the best dear..
 
Thank you Ann! I honestly think the hardest part of facing a phobia is the mind set, I spent so much time worrying about how bad going to the dentist would be that I pretty much put myself in a place where even thinking about going to the dentist would freak me out! But now I actually look forward to going, I'm still fearful but I love feeling that relief I feel after I've gone to another appointment. It's a long journey but its been worth it so far!
 
I have rescheduled my January 15th appointment for February 17th, this will give me a little more time to come up with the money to pay for my treatment. Since this is a new year my resolution is to continue with my dental journey, I know it will take time but I am so excited to finally be doing something about my fears!
 
Well done :jump::jump::jump::jump::jump: and Good luck :clover::clover::clover::butterfly:
 
One of the things I've learned while awaiting upcoming appointments is to not over think about it! I try to keep myself as busy as possible by doing things I enjoy like crafting, watching movies, reading, listening to music, and cooking. Because the more I sit and think about an upcoming appointment the more I obsess over every little aspect of it! And of course this forum helps me deal with my fears, its so great to read all of the success stories and one day I may have my own success story!
 
I haven't posted in a long time simply because I've been dealing with a lot of family issues, the biggest being the loss of my mother which pretty much threw me into a downward spiral of depression for quite a long time. We were extremely close and her passing left a huge void in my life. I let my well being fall to the wayside. But within the past couple of months I've regained my footing and I'm starting to get my life back on track. My dental health has to be dealt with and I believe I have come to the conclusion that I'd rather have all these bad teeth gone than to live in pain. I've been researching immediate dentures for awhile now and I think that might be my best option, I'll take that up with my dentist as soon as I make an appointment. I'll try my best to post more often about my journey.
 
So I've updated my dental insurance which will take effect May 1st so I'll have to make an appointment for after then. While the insurance will cover some of the cost I'm still stressing out over how I'm going to afford the out of pocket cost. I have a Care Credit card that I plan on using for the larger amounts but still I know it'll be a lot of money. I don't qualify for government assistance for medical costs, so I'm working on coming up with a way to help cover the costs. It needs to be done and I really don't want to have to delay getting the work done because of money, mostly because I don't want to live with tooth pain.
 
I called the dentist today and made an appointment. It's May 11th at 2pm, they told me the appointment would consist of a cleaning and routine exam and we'll go from there. I'm somewhat nervous mostly because it's been so long since I've been to the dentist, but I'm also a relieved that I've managed to muster up the courage to actually make the appointment. I really want to get this taken care of and not have to always be terrified of when tooth pain will return. I know there will be some pain involved with getting the work done but that pain will subside. I just hope I can keep this courage so I can get this done!
 
So it's one of those nights where I feel my fears more closely. I still plan on keeping my appointment for May 11th but I still have concerns and worries. But I keep telling myself I have to go and seek help and this time I cannot let anything stop me. I just feel like I've waited so long and I'm just ready to get this over with, I know it's going to be a long process but I want to get started. I do still fear all that work they will have to do. I personally would rather just have them extract all the teeth and get immediate dentures. Here's the current state of my mouth: I had all 4 wisdom teeth out in 2013 along with a few back teeth. Just about every tooth has a cavity of some degree and one in the back is broken a bit and one in the front is broken. Last time they suggested fillings and root canals but I just feel like that is a temporary fix given the state of my teeth. I just feel like eventually all of the teeth will need extracted at some point so I should just get it over with while I still feel brave enough to go through with it!
 
Last night I had a bit of a toothache but nothing too severe. Today I feel good. I've kept my dental journey quiet for the most part, seriously only like 2 people even knew. But for the past couple of days I've been more open about it. Mostly because I'm so tired of feeling embarrassed! Yes it was difficult to say that I have really bad teeth and need to go get work done and possibly have them removed and immediate dentures placed, but no one has ridiculed me or said anything that was hurtful. Instead I got well wishes! Also a cousin of mine confided in me that she also has a lot of dental problems and wanted my dentists contact info, which I shared with her. We continued talking and we realized we are both in the same boat when it comes to our dental health, we are just tired of dealing with all the pain and are ready to do something about it! Just that conversation with her made me feel less alone in this, while I am immensely grateful to all those here it was still nice to have a open and honest conversation with someone I'm close to without feeling completely awful about the situation I'm in.
 
I am so READY for my May 11th appointment! I know its just a cleaning and exam but still its the beginning of actually doing something about my dental health. I've been reading others stories here on the forum and it's got me feeling optimistic about going to the dentist. Right now I am having a mild to moderate toothache but it's not a severe one. I just hope up until my appointment I don't have any severe toothaches that pretty much are debilitating for me. Only about 20 days left until my appointment, yay!
 
Woke up with a toothache, took some medicine. It's barely taking the edge off. It's times like this when I am so eager for my appointment! I know it's only an exam but it's a start!! I'm so tired of being in pain! Sometimes the toothaches are so bad I feel like my head is going to explode! Any advice for biding my time until my appointment on May 11th?
 
Hi try giving them a ring and ask if they have any appointment sooner as you are in a lot of pain. If they haven't then ask if you could be considered if someone cancels.

I sometimes think it is a good thing if we suffer when an appointment is due so that we do go rather than backing out.

Sorry you are in such pain the only thing I can advise is to take pain meds at regular intervals to try to keep the pain down to a bearable level. If you take the pain meds four times a day or what ever the advised dose is on the box it will keep things calmed down a bit. A pain left to build up is a nightmare to get rid off.

Good luck and I hope you get help soon.
 
Thanks Carole! The 11tg is the soonest they have since my dentist has been out of town. So far between when I made the appointment and now I've only been in moderate to severe pain twice, I've been taking pain mess which seem to make it manageable. Thankfully they are not a daily occurrence, not that it makes them any less awful. But honestly this pain makes me even more determined to go to the dentist. It may sound silly that the pain motivates me to go but I keep telling myself if I don't go then this will continue to happen and only get worse! I appreciate your words of encouragement!!
 
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