L
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.
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.