G
GrahamDee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2009
- Messages
- 523
- Location
- Hampshire, England
I had an unhappy childhood and eating the wrong thing was one of the few pleasures I had in life. But that had its obvious consequences in terms of dental health. To make matters worse, dentistry at that time (Early 70’s) was for me a very bad time. When I wasn’t being gassed (held down and screaming myself unconscious), I was getting fillings usually without and LA and the “don’t be a baby” from both parents and the dentists who regarded me as more trouble than I’m worth. I could also mention the Dental Nurses from hell who used to shout if I did anything untoward – even the woman on reception used to shout at me about “cleaning my teeth!!”.
These long suffering years had the side effect of hardwiring my brain to make ‘Dentists/Teeth equal Primal Terror’ permanently set in my mind and in later years dentists were an pain-filled evil driven over to the odd broken tooth/filling (only when absolutely necessary) and the occasional raging toothache which meant an extraction.
It took a great deal of time to become even comfortable with dentists now that recognition of anxiety has taken over the attitude of “Sit still, keep quiet or you’ll get gas! Have you always been a baby?!” (this is absolutely true).
I am now at the stage of the strong need to keep my teeth up together as much as I can and have had a good deal of restorative work done. I have had fillings, cleanings, crowns (I have a replacement crown this Tuesday) and ultimately root canal – and a repair of a root canal when I found my old dentist left part of a tool in my tooth and it abscessed.
I find dentistry unpleasant at the best of times, but I will suffer it for the sake of my teeth. However I do cross the line when it comes to extractions and I would like nothing better than to go to hospital and have a GA. I now have had a root filling go bad on me and later this month, its time for the big pull.
My last extraction was when a tooth went bad and I had to go privately and had it done. I was told its got to come out “We can do that for you later this afternoon”, I was told. “No chance” was my reply and I spent the next three months trying to summon courage before finally getting it done. No sedations or anything beyond a LA, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but the pain afterwards, generally feeling unwell and emotion trauma for days on end was more than I could cope with.
And now I have to go through it again.
I’m not trying to sound wimpy or anything, but extraction is a total wipeout for me. Its not a few minutes of push, crack & lift, it’s an entire range of emotions and physiological upset which for a few days, totally destroys my life. Having a tooth out for me is like having an arm cut off.
Yes, I know all too well about not getting it done and know I don’t really have a choice here. I have asked for sedation, which has attracted a few tiresome looks from my current dentist as if to say “Why? You’re a big lad”, but she has agreed to it and I will get a prescription to take on the day.
With dentisty, my life would be so much easier if I could have a GA for basically everything, and/or have a GA and have all the work done in on hit. Nitrous is not done in the UK and sedation is done with reluctance and overtones of being a nuisance with little regard for those people who have had dental nightmares in childhood.
I shall post when I've had my dental work done on Tuesday.
These long suffering years had the side effect of hardwiring my brain to make ‘Dentists/Teeth equal Primal Terror’ permanently set in my mind and in later years dentists were an pain-filled evil driven over to the odd broken tooth/filling (only when absolutely necessary) and the occasional raging toothache which meant an extraction.
It took a great deal of time to become even comfortable with dentists now that recognition of anxiety has taken over the attitude of “Sit still, keep quiet or you’ll get gas! Have you always been a baby?!” (this is absolutely true).
I am now at the stage of the strong need to keep my teeth up together as much as I can and have had a good deal of restorative work done. I have had fillings, cleanings, crowns (I have a replacement crown this Tuesday) and ultimately root canal – and a repair of a root canal when I found my old dentist left part of a tool in my tooth and it abscessed.
I find dentistry unpleasant at the best of times, but I will suffer it for the sake of my teeth. However I do cross the line when it comes to extractions and I would like nothing better than to go to hospital and have a GA. I now have had a root filling go bad on me and later this month, its time for the big pull.
My last extraction was when a tooth went bad and I had to go privately and had it done. I was told its got to come out “We can do that for you later this afternoon”, I was told. “No chance” was my reply and I spent the next three months trying to summon courage before finally getting it done. No sedations or anything beyond a LA, it wasn’t as bad as I thought, but the pain afterwards, generally feeling unwell and emotion trauma for days on end was more than I could cope with.
And now I have to go through it again.
I’m not trying to sound wimpy or anything, but extraction is a total wipeout for me. Its not a few minutes of push, crack & lift, it’s an entire range of emotions and physiological upset which for a few days, totally destroys my life. Having a tooth out for me is like having an arm cut off.
Yes, I know all too well about not getting it done and know I don’t really have a choice here. I have asked for sedation, which has attracted a few tiresome looks from my current dentist as if to say “Why? You’re a big lad”, but she has agreed to it and I will get a prescription to take on the day.
With dentisty, my life would be so much easier if I could have a GA for basically everything, and/or have a GA and have all the work done in on hit. Nitrous is not done in the UK and sedation is done with reluctance and overtones of being a nuisance with little regard for those people who have had dental nightmares in childhood.
I shall post when I've had my dental work done on Tuesday.