• Dental Phobia Support

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Fear i wont have teeth

R

rkl3

Junior member
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
1
Hi, i am a 22 year old male.. ive been an on and off brusher for the past 6-7 years but the past 2 years ive brushed and flossed twoce a day. i have had 5 fillings done in my mouth so far (most recent the dentost said if it falls out hell have to pull the tooth) 2 teeth extractions and from what i can count 5 cavities. now im not a rich person who can afford to just replace every tooth will an inplant. i am just so worried to the point i have periods where i worry so much my face goes numb and i feel light headed and sick.. i often find myself crying even if its just a tear that i have to hold back. sometimes have suicidal thoughts which i know are selfish and stupid. on my last visit to the dentist i asked about my teeth being thinned by erosion and he just said no and saod they just need a clean.. now i know hes a professional but my heads telling me he was just rushing me out the door.. or whatever.. my head is in such a whirl i cant explain i feel lost and i feel alone. my partner says im overthinking it and so do my family. but its my mouth i feel as if i know what im talking about. i dont know what to do or how to feel.. any words of encouragement or any stories that can help me feel better?
 
First of all, I'm sending you a big long distance hug. This stuff can make your head such a mess with worry.

You're right that it's your mouth and it's the way you feel personally. I just went through a pretty traumatic experience myself and the worst part of it has been and still is allowing myself to feel the way I do about it without shame or doubt.

Sometimes knowledge is power. Go do some reading about cavity fillings and see how they work and how honestly not that serious they are almost all of the time. Once they're done, they can last for years and years. Before I finally had to give in and get all my top teeth pulled, I went through probably 15-20 fillings (more if you count the ones on the bottom), three root canals (the decay was so deep that a filling wouldn't work), a few extractions, several teeth that just broke on their own, and a partial. I am not by any means trying to make light of your worries, but I think you need to reset your understanding of the seriousness of what you currently have going on. Sometimes it sounds a lot worse than it is when you don't have anything else to judge it by. 5 fillings are truly not even anywhere close to losing teeth. Even if you lose the one they are talking about, it's truly something you can easily adapt to. I think we always tend to think our teeth are far worse than they actually are. If I had the big bucks to do crowns and bridges and root canals, I wouldn't even have had to do the denture I just got. Dentists can do downright miraculous things to fix teeth and a lot of the time it isn't even as high priced as we think it will be. Guess what? As horrible has having an upper denture sounds, and even though mine doesn't fit right yet, I LOVE IT. I love that my teeth on top will never hurt me again, ever, and that they are straight and pretty and I can smile without covering my mouth. So see there? Even the worst case scenario has a silver lining.

Also..not to try to sound like I know more than your dentist..but why would he have to pull your tooth if the filling falls out? Why couldn't he do a crown? And..if you are not happy with the way this dentist is treating you, by all means FIND ANOTHER. Keep going until you find one that understands you.

Take a big breath, know that a sappy old lady far away is thinking of you tonight and sending you a hug. And please, please PLEASE talk to someone, let someone know that you are having thoughts about harming yourself. Talking to a therapist might not be a bad idea regardless, because it sounds like there is something deep in your heart that is really gnawing at you. Honey, it really is NOT worth that and these are things that can be fixed. If the world were to lose you, that can't be fixed.
 
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