• Dental Phobia Support

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Hesitantly on my way

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lilyflower

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2017
Messages
22
I've been dental phobic my entire life and am finally starting treatment. I'm 40 and have only had 2 cleanings in my life - at 15 and 30. Amazingly my teeth aren't covered in tartar, at least above the gum line (below may be a different story lol), but that doesn't matter. I have gum disease and some bone loss, mainly because I used to smoke. I find that to be worse than cavities. Gum disease is incurable and eventually causes death. At least cavities can be filled or teeth extracted. Because of my anxiety I'm convinced I'll drop dead of a heart attack at any minute because of gum disease.

I have other anxieties too - I get paranoid that two of my molars with deep fillings will fail and need root canals, even though the fillings have been there for about 17 years lol. I get paranoid that 3 of my 5 fillings are poisoning me because they're mercury. But I'm too chicken to ask for them to be replaced because one is deep and I don't want to anger the tooth. I can't stand nerve pain. It gives me panic attacks.

I have a hard time getting numb at the dentist. I've had bad experiences in the past where I could feel them drilling. I've had experiences where I haven't felt pain either but I still sat in fear waiting for the pain. Because of gum disease my teeth are very sensitive and even room temperature water bothers them. Therefore I can't stand even the scraping, water hose, and air hose at the dentist. It sets off the nerves in my teeth which equals panic attacks. Last time I had them cleaned when I was 30, I had them numb me and could still feel the water hose. Ugh.

So basically I hate everything about the dentist - the noise of the instruments, pressure on my teeth even if it doesn't hurt, the air & water hoses, drilling, everything. I hate condescending dentists like the smug prick who once told me all of my teeth would fall out. I hate dentists that tell me I need a deep cleaning and refuse to do it one quadrant per visit so I can afford it, and push me to make an appointment and pay them with money I don't have right then and there. I hate judgmental dentists who treat me like some sort of abusive mother because my teenage son needed a root canal when he never even complained to me once that his tooth hurt. He had some rapidly progressing cavities a few years ago, and I'm not a freakin mind reader, so how would I know unless he spoke up before a dentist caught it?

Lately my remaining two wisdom teeth have been causing me jaw pain that radiates up into my ear. They've had cavities forever and it's time for them to go. Because the orange idiot in the White House has decided that Americans should die if they're not rich enough to pay cash for medical treatments, I decided to get as much dental work done as I can before Obamacare is repealed. Time is running out and it's now urgent. I fear my government more than the dentist, so much that it motivated me to finally act. That's pretty sad lol. But that is what's started me on this journey.

I've done two appointments so far. The first for the bitewing xrays. They didn't even check my pocket depths at that appointment. They'll do it in September during my cleaning. This is bothering me because I've mentioned my gum disease and how my gums hurt and my teeth are sensitive. They look at me like I'm nuts for saying it's painful and a reason why I don't like having my mouth touched. It's probably because at a glance everything looks ok due to my good oral hygiene, but nonetheless there is major gum recession and my gums hurt. I want them to stop hurting and don't like being looked at like I'm a lunatic.

Nonetheless I don't mind this office. They're nice. They're typical in that they expect me to toughen up through the treatments. They didn't send a prescription for Valium to the pharmacy like I asked despite saying they would. I have to be aggressive in reminding them and I'm not an assertive person. So I went the alternate route and got it from my doctor instead. I have hypertension and tachycardia, and both go sky high at the dentist. My doctor gladly prescribed me Valium yesterday because she knows my mental distress is dangerous to my physical health.

So on that note, I recommend people see their doctor if their dentist drops the ball. They're usually willing to pony up benzos for dental work. Sometimes they'll even prescribe a beta blocker for people with anxiety if it causes tachycardia and palpitations, or if people are sensitive to epinephrine in anesthesia. It helps because they slow the heart rate and make it beat less forcefully. Usually they're only prescribed to people with heart and blood pressure issues, but sometimes off label for anxiety or reactions to things like epinephrine. It all depends on the individual and it never hurts to ask a doctor about it if it's a concern for some people at the dentist.

Wednesday I went and had a filling in a premolar. I was terrified. My blood pressure was 169/126 which made my anxiety so much worse. But I soldiered through it. It was a small cavity so he only drilled for like 10 seconds a couple times. I popped in my earbuds so I wouldn't have to hear it. I still heard whatever instrument made my whole head vibrate. But I didn't feel a thing. Yay. My tooth was angry into the next day but I took ibuprofen and it's peaceful again. Bite feels perfect.

I go back next month to get my chipped tooth fixed. The cleaning and wisdom tooth extraction consultation are in September. I'm dreading the cleaning even though there's not much to do except a little on my bottom front teeth. I'm actually hoping they refer me for a deep cleaning so I can get it over with and get the gum pain addressed. At least those can be done under sedation. My goal is to eventually not need to go to a dentist for anything but a cleaning, and hopefully not need to have my teeth cleaned at those cleaning appointments because I'm so anal about my oral care at home lol.
 
Since my last post I had a tiny cavity filled, a filling put on my chipped front tooth, and a cleaning. All minor procedures. I didn't take any Valium for the first filling or the cleaning. I did for the chipped tooth even though it was totally unnecessary.

The cleaning was yesterday, and while it went fine, I'm upset that they didn't recommend a deep cleaning. I need one. I've been told by multiple dentists in the past. I feel this office is under treating me. I can feel tartar below my gum line when I scrape plaque with a scaler and my gums have sore spots.

I suspect it wasn't recommended because most of my pockets are 1-3, and my deepest pockets are 5 around my molars, but they were worse a year ago. I reduced them myself before I started going to this office by using Uncle Harry's products. Plus it's my understanding that any pocket over a 3 requires a deep cleaning and anything above 5 means bone loss. Those 5's were 8's last year and I was told I have bone loss by another dentist at that time. I'm not sure how to proceed in getting a deep cleaning unless I switch dentists and I like this office.

Next month I go for an oral surgery consultation to extract my wisdom teeth. They also do periodontics so I'll ask for advice how to get my dentist to give a referral to them for a deep cleaning.
 
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Wow.. seriously good for you having this work done and the courage to do it despite the past bad experiences and jerk dentists.. I totally get that!! Sounds like you are facing your fears and making progress!! despite the anxiety and fear.. that is courage at its best.. when we don't want to our scared but do it anyways .. I hope the oral surgeon and perio that is helping are decent and treating you well!! and everyone else..

I hope that for all of us that we get people that really treat us well and help us through the anxiety and not be jerks.. :)..
 
Thanks! They are very friendly at this office and it goes a long way to making me come back lol. I didn't feel any pain when the dentist drilled the cavity which was awesome since I have trouble getting numb. The tooth has been sensitive and bothers me a bit since, but that's probably not their fault. The hygienist was very gentle. No pain during the cleaning. She was very kind and patient. She sprayed my bottom teeth once and I about jumped out of the chair. So she let me swish instead after polishing. Unfortunately this meant she couldn't use the water blaster instrument to take tartar off the back of a couple bottom teeth. There was no dentist in the office to numb me. I'm not supposed to go back until February for another cleaning but I'm tempted to ask for an appointment just to get those 2 teeth water blasted under anesthetic. And of course convincing them to give me a referral for a periodontist lol. I do still have anxiety when I go, sky high blood pressure and tachycardia, but it's manageable. I actually had no anxiety during the cleaning since she didn't cause me pain other than once with water.
 
I'm happy that things are going well for you at your appointments so far! Give yourself a huge pat on the back for going in spite of the fear. It's awesome you actually have the choice to do something about your periodontal disease now before it results in mass tooth and bone loss and you're facing a full mouth of implants as your only alternative....like me. My appointment is in one month.

I hope that things continue to go well for you! Keep us posted. ?
 
I'm happy that things are going well for you at your appointments so far! Give yourself a huge pat on the back for going in spite of the fear. It's awesome you actually have the choice to do something about your periodontal disease now before it results in mass tooth and bone loss and you're facing a full mouth of implants as your only alternative....like me. My appointment is in one month.

I hope that things continue to go well for you! Keep us posted. ?

Thanks for the encouraging words. Your appointment has to be coming up soon. How are you holding up? I'm sorry you have to go through that. ? I'm glad you're getting it taken care of though. That's a huge step forward.

Yesterday I went to the oral surgeon for the consultation to have my wisdom teeth extracted. It's probably for the best that I walked in there completely oblivious because I didn't have time to work myself into a frenzy in the days and hours leading up to the appointment.

They did the panoramic x-ray to get a good picture of my wisdom teeth. Surgeon walks in and offers to extract them on the spot because I had huge cavities. He was convinced I was in pain. They actually didn't bother me much and I'd learned to adapt to the sensitivity, jaw pain, ear pain, and the occasional mild nerve pain. It's funny what we'll put up with to avoid dentists.

Since I was there, I said screw it, go ahead. The caveat meant no sedation. I'd had my wisdom teeth on the left side pulled 16 years ago. They popped out in under 5 minutes. I assumed the right side would be no different. Hahaha ???

There was no pain other than the injection. I'll get that out of the way now. Top injection caused mild nerve pain at first. No biggie, just mentally distressing. After leaving me to marinade in anesthetic up to my eyeballs for what felt like forever, he came back for some final injections and checked for numbness.

Then he went to work. Top one popped right out in under a minute. The bottom one? Not so much. It had an extra root. So after he broke it in pieces digging and drilling and prying it out, he had to dig and drill out that extra root.

The terror. It took like 20 minutes. I have a small mouth. Bite block, sensation of suffocating, that giant loud drill, the sound of crunching. The fear his hand would slip with the tools. My whole body was convulsing. I started crying. I started thinking about how I won't be able to suffer through future dental work. It sucked.

He was very nice and encouraging during and after the surgery. He didn't hurt me. I'm just a big baby. I'm in the worst pain of my life now and still bleeding even though it's now the morning after. I keep getting occasional nerve twinges, especially if room temperature water touches there. I have nausea from the medications. I swallowed some bread without chewing it last night to try and settle my stomach, and almost vomited instantly, so eating isn't an option.

A bottom left molar with a deep filling also there about 16 years has just started bothering me so I'm agonizing over that. Whether I opt for a root canal or extraction I will mentally torture myself in the dentist chair. I can't imagine a root canal if I couldn't even handle the dentist digging a root out of my socket. I'd imagine it's probably worse.

So that's it. I let an oral surgeon dig a root out of my jaw without sedation and I hated every second of it. ?
 
Lilyflower,

Wow. Sounds like a rough one .. and painful after!! that would be hard!! woah. You're a trooper I'm glad he was nice and good through the process, but still... yikes.. you made it through and I hope your healing goes quick and welll for you!!
 
Lilyflower,

Wow. Sounds like a rough one .. and painful after!! that would be hard!! woah. You're a trooper I'm glad he was nice and good through the process, but still... yikes.. you made it through and I hope your healing goes quick and welll for you!!

Thanks ? I'm doing a little better tonight. I stopped taking the penicillin (can't remember if I mentioned that) because it was making me continuously vomit. Stomach settled down enough for Vicodin so I'm enjoying the break from agonizing pain lol. I took advantage of the break to finally brush my teeth. Top extraction isn't that sore. It's the bottom that's tore up. He must've drilled away quite a bit of my jawbone to get that root out. I didn't ask questions but now I'm curious about how embedded it was in the bone. Had to of been anchored deep to spend 20 minutes drilling away bone so he could dig, push, and pull to get it out lol.
 
It's now been a week and I'm still in excruciating pain. I don't know what he did in my mouth but my anxiety has taken over and it's making never want to see a dentist again. I'm convinced I'm permanently damaged and will suffer the rest of my life. This is some of the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. It hurts like a toothache but there's no teeth. At first I thought it was dry socket but I can see the blood clot on the bottom. And the pain is coming from the incision behind the socket. Most of the stitches have fallen out except in one spot. My mouth smells like death but because of the painful incision I can't attack it with the syringe. So I keep using salt water rinses and holding Uncle Harry's remineralize drops back there to try and keep it alkaline. Amazingly the drops help with the pain. Which is good because ibuprofen and acetominophen barely touch it. Vicodin makes me puke. Blah. Hoping next Tuesday is better than today. ?
 
So sorry to hear this!! You have an appt next Tuesday? I really hope it gets better for you and you get some relief!! :(.



It's now been a week and I'm still in excruciating pain. I don't know what he did in my mouth but my anxiety has taken over and it's making never want to see a dentist again. I'm convinced I'm permanently damaged and will suffer the rest of my life. This is some of the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. It hurts like a toothache but there's no teeth. At first I thought it was dry socket but I can see the blood clot on the bottom. And the pain is coming from the incision behind the socket. Most of the stitches have fallen out except in one spot. My mouth smells like death but because of the painful incision I can't attack it with the syringe. So I keep using salt water rinses and holding Uncle Harry's remineralize drops back there to try and keep it alkaline. Amazingly the drops help with the pain. Which is good because ibuprofen and acetominophen barely touch it. Vicodin makes me puke. Blah. Hoping next Tuesday is better than today. ?
 
So sorry to hear this!! You have an appt next Tuesday? I really hope it gets better for you and you get some relief!! :(.

Thank you! I didn't have any appointment when I posted that. My extraction was Tuesday of last week. I have an appointment for Thursday (technically today now) to get it looked at. I should cancel it because I think I'm now through the worst but will go just to confirm all is well.

So I think the stitches were delaying healing. They're just harboring pestilence in my mouth which is why it smells like a serial killer buried bodies in the hole. LMAO. Some of the bottom stitches came out tonight but there's still more in the hole that won't come out but they want to. They're barely hanging on.

The pain is now significantly less and manageable with acetominophen and ibuprofen. It still feels like my face got hit by a semi truck but at least the nerve pain has calmed down. Progress! Now to get the last of the stitches out so I can be rid of the awful stench they're causing.
 
It'll be 7 weeks on Tuesday since the extraction. I'm in excruciating pain. There is a massive bone chunk working its way through the side of my gum. It's poking through and scraping against my tongue but I can't remove it because it's huge and embedded deep. I know bone slivers are normal - I had a small one on the other side when I had those wisdom teeth extracted years ago - but this is huge. How did they miss this on x-ray? Furthermore, when I went back at 2 weeks post-op because of all the pain I was in, the oral surgeon told me I'm healing slow because I'm old. I'm 40 and this dude has to be around the same age me! Ignorant and rude. But also the pain and slow healing is because he left a massive bone chunk behind that's now once again causing me pain and suffering. I'm calling Monday and someone better remove this thing from my gum or I'm going to riot in their office if I'm told no.
 
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