S
Scared Bunny
Junior member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2009
- Messages
- 3
I’m so glad I have found this forum.
Thank you in advance to everyone who created it and everyone who posts !
I think this may be a long post so please get a cuppa and get comfy if you don’t mind reading on.
I have been scared out of my wits about going to the dentist for as long as I can remember.
I did used to go as a child, my mum would take me to our dentist, who was for all tense and purposes a lunatic Scottish guy who was amazingly quick and put up with me throwing up in the waiting room before every appointment. I wouldn’t say he was someone who understood patients with fear or anything like that, he just had a way of putting me at ease and getting on with whatever he was doing while talking to me about everything and nothing at the same time. I do believe however that I wouldn’t of gone had it not been for my mum taking me, as as a child I did as I was told, like most of use used to I guess, if I had to go, then I went, I wasn’t about to argue about it, so I cried, threw up and shivered for the next hour or so until it was over. Luckily my mum would never tell me I was going until she picked me up from school and took me a slightly different way home…It wasn’t until we turned left instead of right at a certain set of traffic lights that I knew what was happening next ! so I only had about 10/15mins of panic before I actually got in the chair.
Since I left home, well before that actually, since I got to an age where my mum wasn’t able to organise things for me anymore I have only been to the dentist once, I’m now 33.
I went once as I had broken a tooth, molar right at the back on my left side and I was in a lot of pain with what I felt was not a lot of choice at time other to get it sorted. Luckily my old dentist was still around, I was 23 at the time and took my mum with me, right into the treatment room, she stood at the bottom of the chair and lent against my feet so I knew she was there. He knew I would never make it back to have any kind of cap etc done to the tooth, so he ground the sharp bit off that was cutting my tongue, drilled it out and filled it. So I have one molar missing one of its points if you know what I mean. I left the dentist perfectly happy that I wouldn’t have to go back for more treatment.
10 years later and I haven’t been since, my old dentist has long since retired and I have had no idea where to go. My fear has gradually got worse and worse to the point where just thinking about the fact I know I really need to go again has my in tears, panicking and loosing sleep.
Today I’m ok, I feel like I have found somewhere where hopefully I can make some progress, I really need to as I have another molar broken on the left side of my mouth – no pain at all, but its causing an issue with the way its broken and food getting trapped to the point where I end up faffing with a tooth pick after every meal to sort it out. I also now have a molar on my right side going bad, I can see a crack forming in the tooth and am rapidly loosing sides of my mouth I can chew on to eat !
I have no pain as such, the right side is a bit sensitive but nothing major….not so much that it has forced me to get it done.
I’m desperate to get over this fear and find someone who can help me.
I have spent so long thinking I’m a complete nut case, with a totally irrational fear, brought on mainly by conversation with people who just don’t understand how it feel and with dentists I have managed to get my self to email and haven’t provided the support I’m looking for, in some cases bringing on a panic attack with their idea of solutions for me.
My fear revolves around a loss of control issue, I can say I’m not a control freak in my everyday life, but I cant cope to any degree with thought of sedation (which seems to be the standard from most dentists when they think you will jump up out of the chair at any moment) or with the chair being put back to a angle where I cant get up. If I could sit up and receive treatment, I would go now.
I haven’t yet found a dentist who seems to understand this and feel like I’m stuck with these panic attacks and sweats forever.
I’m desperate to get over this and really need to find someone who can help me.
I don’t mind if the dentist isn’t local to me (I’m in Sussex) I’m happy to take time off to go to someone I know will help and wont try and sedate me at their first opportunity and will let me bring my mum, husband or teddy bear (which makes me so embarrassed at 33 !) into the treatment room with me if I feel I need them.
I have to say that the actual dental procedures although scary in their own way don’t feel me with the same sense of dread that the chair does. If I can get over that then I am not going to jump up and run away when they put a drill in my mouth etc… I just don’t want to and cant bring myself to lay down, at all.
I am happy to have an injection where needed for local anethestic where the tooth is being treated, but I can not be sedated overall, I’d never go again if a dentist sedated me and I felt I had no control over my body.
Right, I’ll stop waffling now as I’m starting to panic myself again and let you all get back to work.
Hopefully I’ll be able to post in the success story section at some point. I really want to.
Thank you for reading/listening to me.
Scared Bunny
Thank you in advance to everyone who created it and everyone who posts !
I think this may be a long post so please get a cuppa and get comfy if you don’t mind reading on.
I have been scared out of my wits about going to the dentist for as long as I can remember.
I did used to go as a child, my mum would take me to our dentist, who was for all tense and purposes a lunatic Scottish guy who was amazingly quick and put up with me throwing up in the waiting room before every appointment. I wouldn’t say he was someone who understood patients with fear or anything like that, he just had a way of putting me at ease and getting on with whatever he was doing while talking to me about everything and nothing at the same time. I do believe however that I wouldn’t of gone had it not been for my mum taking me, as as a child I did as I was told, like most of use used to I guess, if I had to go, then I went, I wasn’t about to argue about it, so I cried, threw up and shivered for the next hour or so until it was over. Luckily my mum would never tell me I was going until she picked me up from school and took me a slightly different way home…It wasn’t until we turned left instead of right at a certain set of traffic lights that I knew what was happening next ! so I only had about 10/15mins of panic before I actually got in the chair.
Since I left home, well before that actually, since I got to an age where my mum wasn’t able to organise things for me anymore I have only been to the dentist once, I’m now 33.
I went once as I had broken a tooth, molar right at the back on my left side and I was in a lot of pain with what I felt was not a lot of choice at time other to get it sorted. Luckily my old dentist was still around, I was 23 at the time and took my mum with me, right into the treatment room, she stood at the bottom of the chair and lent against my feet so I knew she was there. He knew I would never make it back to have any kind of cap etc done to the tooth, so he ground the sharp bit off that was cutting my tongue, drilled it out and filled it. So I have one molar missing one of its points if you know what I mean. I left the dentist perfectly happy that I wouldn’t have to go back for more treatment.
10 years later and I haven’t been since, my old dentist has long since retired and I have had no idea where to go. My fear has gradually got worse and worse to the point where just thinking about the fact I know I really need to go again has my in tears, panicking and loosing sleep.
Today I’m ok, I feel like I have found somewhere where hopefully I can make some progress, I really need to as I have another molar broken on the left side of my mouth – no pain at all, but its causing an issue with the way its broken and food getting trapped to the point where I end up faffing with a tooth pick after every meal to sort it out. I also now have a molar on my right side going bad, I can see a crack forming in the tooth and am rapidly loosing sides of my mouth I can chew on to eat !
I have no pain as such, the right side is a bit sensitive but nothing major….not so much that it has forced me to get it done.
I’m desperate to get over this fear and find someone who can help me.
I have spent so long thinking I’m a complete nut case, with a totally irrational fear, brought on mainly by conversation with people who just don’t understand how it feel and with dentists I have managed to get my self to email and haven’t provided the support I’m looking for, in some cases bringing on a panic attack with their idea of solutions for me.
My fear revolves around a loss of control issue, I can say I’m not a control freak in my everyday life, but I cant cope to any degree with thought of sedation (which seems to be the standard from most dentists when they think you will jump up out of the chair at any moment) or with the chair being put back to a angle where I cant get up. If I could sit up and receive treatment, I would go now.
I haven’t yet found a dentist who seems to understand this and feel like I’m stuck with these panic attacks and sweats forever.
I’m desperate to get over this and really need to find someone who can help me.
I don’t mind if the dentist isn’t local to me (I’m in Sussex) I’m happy to take time off to go to someone I know will help and wont try and sedate me at their first opportunity and will let me bring my mum, husband or teddy bear (which makes me so embarrassed at 33 !) into the treatment room with me if I feel I need them.
I have to say that the actual dental procedures although scary in their own way don’t feel me with the same sense of dread that the chair does. If I can get over that then I am not going to jump up and run away when they put a drill in my mouth etc… I just don’t want to and cant bring myself to lay down, at all.
I am happy to have an injection where needed for local anethestic where the tooth is being treated, but I can not be sedated overall, I’d never go again if a dentist sedated me and I felt I had no control over my body.
Right, I’ll stop waffling now as I’m starting to panic myself again and let you all get back to work.
Hopefully I’ll be able to post in the success story section at some point. I really want to.
Thank you for reading/listening to me.
Scared Bunny
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