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9+ years of not seeing the dentist - My story

A

ABH

Junior member
Joined
Oct 11, 2017
Messages
3
Hello everyone.

I just wanted to share my story here, as the stories on here inspired and motivated me to go to the dentist, and let me tell you, it was a huge relief and a good thing that I actually went when I did. A little background:

I'm a 27 year old male and I haven't been to the dentist at least since 2008 when I turned 18. Here in Denmark, we get free dental care until we're 18, after that you have to pay yourself. You do get some help from insurances and such if you have it. My fear of the dentist began when my wisdom teeth started coming out. I had heard situations of you being able to feel a "crack" and an awful lot of pain when you have your wisdom teeth pulled, which is what initially stopped me from going to the dentist at that point. 3-4 years later of not going, I had almost pulled myself together to go, but at that point I was more afraid of the medical bill rather than going to the actual dentist, that and I was ashamed and afraid that the dentist would look down upon me for not having gone to the dentist (a common fear on here I think).

So as you might understand at this point, my wisdom teeth were never taken out, and I had figured to myself that I had an impacted wisdom tooth that was "pushing" all of my teeth together and causing them to practically grow into one another, and this was another reason that I did not go to the dentist as I had thought the damage had been huge, causing huge expenses. Furtheremore, I was an avid soda drinker in my teens and I did not particularly do any flossing whatsoever. I started doing this like it was going out of style a couple of years ago, thinking I could somehow "cure" my teeth with home remedies.

Fast forward several years to about a week ago. I was out eating with my mother at a local restaurant here in town, and I was having a nice burger. I would be chewing until I suddenly felt and heard a slight crack followed by a degree of pain (not much). Turns out that a piece of my bottom left tooth had come off - This is where it really dawned on me, that I really needed to go before it was too late. This is also when I found this amazing website and began to read through the various success stories.

I used many of the stories on here to gather up the courage and call my local dentist office (is that the word?) at around 5 minutes before closing time (I had been laying in bed for at least two hours in absolute depression over my broken tooth), and told the receptionist about my situation.

The phone call in itself was a huge relief, as the receptionist was very understanding. She told me that they daily receive phone calls from people in my situation, and that they had received patients that had not been to the dentist for 30+ years. I then booked a consultation with the dentist for today.

I am now done, and I will present you with my "results" in a moment. But first a little beforehand experience: I think my biggest fear of going into the dentist was actually finding out how bad things were looking, like what if I had to get that tooth pulled, what if I needed implants (expensive!!), what if I had irreversible damage done to my teeth, and finally, what would the dentist think about stupid-me not going to the dentist for so long??

Boy was I wrong!! This morning I went to my first appointment. My heart was racing like crazy, and I had barely slept throughout the night due to sheer terror of going there. I hadn't eaten much either as my tummy was simply twisting and turning due to my anxiety flaring up like crazy.

The receptionist was very kind to me. There was a few other people in the waiting room, but they were doing their own thing. I was initially afraid of them overhearing me saying that I hadn't gone to the dentist for so long, but they just minded their own business. I was sat down in the waiting room with a piece of paper to fill out with my information, things like my medical record, illnesses, allergies, and when my last dentist appointment was. Only thing that made me really embarassed was the field: "Who was your last dentist?" -- I didn't remember. :redface::redface:

Anyway. I gave the receptionist my sheet and sat down, then I was greeted by a blue-kilted tall man only a couple years older than myself. He gave me a firm handshake, a smile and guided me into the room where I was to be examined, naturally this guy was my dentist and my oral hygiene savior. :)

He was very very nice and did actually not mention anything about my mouth. He just said a bunch of numbers to his assistant that was noting some things on my computer, and he actually told me not to worry about those numbers. He also said every time he was about to blow some air or check something, in short: He was very chill.

It turns out after those many years of soda consumption I need potentially 2 RCT (Root Canal Treatment) and about 6-7 holes filled. I was actually very surprised at how "little" I had to done. My wisdom teeth were doing just fine as well, no impact! My dentist told me that the 2 RCTs were 'potential' as they were quite deep holes, and that it was a very very good thing I had gone when I did, because it could have been much more expensive if I hadn't gone later on due to the size of my two holes.

Anyway, I hope my story has somehow and someway helped you. I have scheduled two appointments, one for a fixing of my broken tooth. My dentist is going to at first see if he can simply do a normal procedure of a filling, and if it's too deep he'll do a RCT.

All in all a very very good experience. The staff was incredibly friendly to me. I will update my story here when I have gone to my first actual appointment, but I can safely say that now I am on the road to recovery of my teeth. :jump::jump::jump:

Another thing I did the day before my appointment; I called the dental office and asked them what exactly was going to happen. This helped reassuring me of going to the dentist today. :)

Thank you all for your amazing stories. Here's hoping I can inspire someone else.
 
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What a powerfull story and you went so quick! No cancelled appointments, no calls in the middle of the night to get used to the answering machine, no mails.. and altogether just one week from the decision to the actual appointment! So impressive..

Thank you so much for sharing this and congratulations for not having your fear stop you! Please keep us updated about your progress, it's so good to read success stories.:)
 
Just to update on here, and I realize perhaps this post should be moved into "Journals" - I have my first 'real' appointment on Monday where my dentist is going to fix my broken bottom left tooth. As I explained before, he said that he would try and fix it without having to do a root canal, however it could be a possbility that I had to have a RCT done.

Honestly I am just looking forward to getting it over with as my chipped/broken tooth scratches the side of my tongue every now and then when I chew/speak/similar. :p:p
 
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Can I request to get this put into the "Journals" section? :) I'm not sure how to do that myself. Thanks!

So, I just got done at the dentist with my first real appointment. My heart was racing like crazy before I went in and my dentist could clearly see my distress when I went in. Furthermore, my dentist was sadly 25 minutes delayed. Anyway, it turns out my dentist did NOT in fact need to do RCT on my teeth as my cavities were just barely "small" enough not to hurt the pulp/nerve - So therefore I got a "regular" filling of both my bottom left and top left tooth. The tooth I am talking about is the "babytooth" as they call it.

Let me just say that the sooner you go to the dentist the better - My dentist told me that I was quite lucky that I went when I did because if I had waited more time, then the chance of an RCT was very very likely.

For now, I have 2 cavities done, still have about 5-6 to go, but I am certainly on the road to recovery. Monday next week I go in with my right side to determine if either of those teeth needs RCT. Wish me luck!
 
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