kitkat
Super Moderator
Staff member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2006
- Messages
- 1,568
- Location
- United States
As many of you know from reading a few of the other support threads, I had an appointment on Thursday for a cleaning/exam. Sorry it took so long to post my experience. I have been very busy the last couple of days but I wanted to post my experience to give encouragement to others.
My appointment went as well as it could have. The waiting room was a little rocky. I had a hard time controlling my shaking and felt really self-conscious about it because there were 2 other people in the waiting room but I actually did not shake at all in The Chair. As I waited in a waiting room saturated in Halloween decorations (which was a little odd to me) something caught my attention; A middle-aged man was seated a few chairs to my right, nearest to the door. He was ringing his hands and then tucking them in his legs, tugging at his shirt collar, tapping his feet, fidgeting and changing positions, staring blankly for a few seconds at a time and then shutting his eyes and holding his head and then putting his hand over his eyes, occasionally looked as if he were going to faint...clearly a fellow phobic I almost felt compelled to give him the URL to this forum
. I was comforted to not be so "alone" but his anxiety was actually more intense than mine and fueling my fire a little so I tinkered with my phone til the shaking got to intense and visibly noticeable. At that point, I just focused on sitting still and attempting to reach a calmed and relaxed state. I also began to wonder if I looked as freaked out as that guy 
The dentist did my entire cleaning/exam appointment which is highly unusual in the U.S. I guess she had a cancellation and just had nothing to do? One hygienist was busy with the fellow phobic and her other assistant who also does cleanings was assisting that hygienist for awhile and then was tidying the office and doing paperwork so my guess is the dentist just didn't have any patients to tend to at that time. I was happy to get her for the whole appointment though. I'm more comfortable with her than with anyone else and she's always very fast and gentle in her approach. My anxiety has been a little worse at my last few appointments because she has not talked to me as much or made as much of an effort to distract and relax me so I was a little concerned about how this was going to go. She was just like her old self again though and immediately greeted me warmly like an old friend, engaging me in conversation. I don't know if that is because I was a freaked out mess at my last appointment or I appeared more nervous this time from the start but I got the old dentist back that initially won me over
. After she went through her stop signal spiel with me, she went to work and talking about random non-dental things to distract me. Happy to report the whole thing was very quick and painless and lasted about 20 minutes. I only had to signal to stop her once because some toothpaste had flung in my eye! 
Also no cavities so I got a "see you in 6 months!". All in all, the appointment was actually quite lovely. For the first time in a long time, I was able to achieve that fully relaxed state again that I talked about on another thread. I think all I need is the dentist to talk to me and give me a lot of distraction ...I don't care what they talk about, just anything to take the focus off my mouth unless it is to warn me about a sensation coming up that might startle me. Survived until the next! 
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT and KIND WORDS! I appreciate your thoughts and thank you to those whose threads I've hijacked recently on related topics! 
My appointment went as well as it could have. The waiting room was a little rocky. I had a hard time controlling my shaking and felt really self-conscious about it because there were 2 other people in the waiting room but I actually did not shake at all in The Chair. As I waited in a waiting room saturated in Halloween decorations (which was a little odd to me) something caught my attention; A middle-aged man was seated a few chairs to my right, nearest to the door. He was ringing his hands and then tucking them in his legs, tugging at his shirt collar, tapping his feet, fidgeting and changing positions, staring blankly for a few seconds at a time and then shutting his eyes and holding his head and then putting his hand over his eyes, occasionally looked as if he were going to faint...clearly a fellow phobic I almost felt compelled to give him the URL to this forum
. I was comforted to not be so "alone" but his anxiety was actually more intense than mine and fueling my fire a little so I tinkered with my phone til the shaking got to intense and visibly noticeable. At that point, I just focused on sitting still and attempting to reach a calmed and relaxed state. I also began to wonder if I looked as freaked out as that guy The dentist did my entire cleaning/exam appointment which is highly unusual in the U.S. I guess she had a cancellation and just had nothing to do? One hygienist was busy with the fellow phobic and her other assistant who also does cleanings was assisting that hygienist for awhile and then was tidying the office and doing paperwork so my guess is the dentist just didn't have any patients to tend to at that time. I was happy to get her for the whole appointment though. I'm more comfortable with her than with anyone else and she's always very fast and gentle in her approach. My anxiety has been a little worse at my last few appointments because she has not talked to me as much or made as much of an effort to distract and relax me so I was a little concerned about how this was going to go. She was just like her old self again though and immediately greeted me warmly like an old friend, engaging me in conversation. I don't know if that is because I was a freaked out mess at my last appointment or I appeared more nervous this time from the start but I got the old dentist back that initially won me over
. After she went through her stop signal spiel with me, she went to work and talking about random non-dental things to distract me. Happy to report the whole thing was very quick and painless and lasted about 20 minutes. I only had to signal to stop her once because some toothpaste had flung in my eye! Also no cavities so I got a "see you in 6 months!". All in all, the appointment was actually quite lovely. For the first time in a long time, I was able to achieve that fully relaxed state again that I talked about on another thread. I think all I need is the dentist to talk to me and give me a lot of distraction ...I don't care what they talk about, just anything to take the focus off my mouth unless it is to warn me about a sensation coming up that might startle me. Survived until the next! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT and KIND WORDS! I appreciate your thoughts and thank you to those whose threads I've hijacked recently on related topics! 
I hope you're feeling proud as well as grateful - credit definitely goes to both your dentist AND you! 
I don't know why I always react that way ...I know rationally that they aren't going to kill or torture me. I've probably lost my mind for saying this, but I'd rather be in The Chair than in the waiting room! 
vs. "OMG! What if....?!?!?!" 
. I think overall this was actually one of my BEST appointments and feel very proud for how it went! 
so we'll be just fine. 
I hear that New Jersey and New York are starting to get slammed pretty hard and have seen some photos of the damage so far. Have a glass for me! 
