• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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xaeon

Junior member
Joined
May 21, 2018
Messages
1
Hi all,


Until this year, I hadn't been to the dentist for a decade... maybe closer to two decades.


Here is what I was aware of:



  • A tooth had decayed to the point of split in half, I'd gone past the pain and it was just roots left over.
  • I had a big hole in the front of a tooth near the gumline.
  • The front teeth on my bottom jaw were yellow at the base.. almost brown and constantly itchy. I tried to floss one day, and piece of what I thought was tooth broke away.
  • There were lots of other uncomfortable feelings in my mouth, and I wasn't happy to show my teeth in any form.
  • I was convinced that I'd need to lose my front teeth.


Some other background knowledge:


As a child, I had almost a full extra set of teeth, having countless teeth pulled. My mouth is overcrowded, and I have teeth that are slightly twisted, one coming out of the gum at the front of my mouth, like a high fang, and I had a tooth growing towards the center of my mouth, out of line with the other teeth. Looking at me, you probably wouldn't notice any of this unless I held my lips open. All of these pullings as a child left me with a fear of the dentist environment. (Not pain or needles, I'm fine with that.)


First of all, thank you. At the start of the year, I was worried about what might become of my teeth, and ended up on this forum. Reading all of the success stories on here calmed me enough to make my 2018 resolution to get my teeth fixed.


I went private (UK), and explained to the dentist that I had a fear. They gave me a really friendly dentist who was incredibly kind. During my first appointment. She looked at my teeth, (after I'd prepared her for it being pretty bad), said a lot of scary sounding dentist words for the assisting nurse, and then took an X-Ray (just a piece of plastic in my mouth, nothing major).


The whole process was painless, and quick. Here is what the dentist told me.



  • I needed 3 fillings (2 I wasn't aware of, and 1 in the hole in the front of the tooth.)
  • I needed a root extraction (the totally wrecked tooth)
  • I needed a clean.


That was all. No losing of my front teeth or any crazy thousands of pounds of extreme dentistry. After almost 20 years, only a couple of visits to fix what was making me feel uncomfortable for so long.


The fillings weren't painful at all, a little uncomfortable and mostly the reflex-action of swallowing when I have water in my mouth was the main struggle for me. The dentist offered to sit me up more (made it more difficult for her, but she knew it would help me.)


The front hole in the tooth filling was nothing, I barely noticed it at all.


Here was the order of my appointments:


- First exam.
- 1 Filling + cleaning. (I know, weird order.)
- Another filling.
- 2 extractions and a filling (front tooth).


"What? Two extractions?"


I asked her to remove the extra tooth that was out of line, behind the bad one. It was in a location that clamped down on my tongue when I closed my mouth and annoyed me.


After the cleaning, my teeth felt a little odd, but incredible. All the brown color is gone and... I can actually show people my teeth. They look fine.


The extractions of the roots I barely noticed, the other extraction (on request) was a little uncomfortable.. as extractions are (pressure and noises) but entirely painless.


I'm sharing my story to help convince other to GO TO THE DENTIST. Just book yourself in. Force yourself to do it. Be brave. You'll spend an hour or two total (over a few sessions) and then your mouth will feel normal again, and you can smile without hiding your teeth.


Dentists have changed since I was a child. They are friendly, they don't scorn you. They understand, and they ask you what you want.


Thank you to all the members who shared their stories in this forum, and helped me gain the courage to go through with this. You guys rock!
 
Congratulations!

You have earned this success.

Thank you for sharing. You are a great example.
 
This is just so beautiful said!! and Your testimony of courage and overcoming the fear and that is what as bad as you thought.. its so awesome! Thanks for sharing. So glad you found a really kind dentist too!
 
Brilliantly said xaeon, very well done to you! It's amazing how you didn't go for all that time and all you needed were a couple of hours in the chair and you're good to go! I'm so pleased it worked out for you.

Well done again and lots of bear hugs!

:bear::bear::bear::bear:
 
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