• 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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"My Story"

I'm 23, and i have had a partial denture for a little over a year now.
My story started when i had a bad experience when i was 5 which has stayed with me ever since. I have always had "bad" teeth as people like to call it, they act like i don't brush and don't try my best to look after them which isn't true. i have been obsessed with brushing since i was a child my mom used to have to hide the toothbrush during the day, ironic really considering.
Growing up and going through school not wanting to talk to people, laugh even smile was awful, my teeth were broken, i had a few missing, most had fillings. I had 8 removed in hospital, they knocked my out completely. I only had 9 teeth on the bottom and i was only 14. I had a good dentist when i was in primary school. Very patient i could lie in the chair have fillings and injections no real problem, until i got too old to go there anymore. Thats when the problems started. I had to go to a new dentist. They were insulting telling me i had the mouth of an 80 year old woman, that my mouth is disgusting for my age, its my fault, inpatient, huffing and puffing when i was nervous, too rough.
I hated it, they made me feel so small and disgusting. So i stopped going after the second visit. My wisdom teeth came through and stared chipping, about two years of constant breaking i had teeth with nerves and pulp exposed i was in so much pain. Painkillers were not working so i started using Whisky like mouthwash which helped calm the pain for about 10 minutes, then the cycle would repeat. sleepless nights due to toothache and abscess were a regular occurrence. Screaming in pain and rolling on the floor at 2am i was taken to A+E they gave me strong painkillers, didn't work. I decided to live with it and try to ignore it. One night while chewing my sleeve (helped with the pain) my front left tooth broke in half... vertically straight down the middle. The time now came to suck it up and go to the dentist. I was 23 by then, and 6 of my top teeth couldn't be saved as well as 3 wisdom teeth broken to the gum line. I went to the dentist, got in the chair, shook and cried so bad they decided to refer me to a different place where i could be sedated by IV drip/line thing. The time came, got in the chair, cried, shook, they calmed me down enough to get the line in, which took them 25 minutes to find the vein. eventually came around, i had a denture made a couple months before. They put the denture in and it didn't fit! so painful. I went home with this thing in my mouth, i was bleeding all over the place i wanted to die. It took a week to make a new one and in the meantime i had to go around toothless, luckily the new one fits fine. No one at work knows i have a denture and i find it a bit embarrassing and i cant help it but every time take them out i feel a bit ill Because I'm only 23, i don't like talking to people because i keep thinking, they can tell...they know. I go to work, come home and stay in my room like a hermit, pathetic really.
This was longer than i intended it to be but it feels good to let it all out.
 
This was really intersting read . especially regarding kids. I had a horrible dental expeirnce till I was 30 , escpeicallly as a kid though, total invalicdation of all my pain and fear and feelings.. much like what you all expeirnce.

Than, I go to take my daughter to her first appt.. Pediatric "specialist"... my daughter was scared and crying , they advised me to go out in waiting room as sometimes kids do better without their parents.. well a few minutes later I hear my daughter tramatically crying.. i barged in the door and saw the dentist on top my 3 1/2 yr old daughter who is crying, forcefully shoving the cleaner in her mouth . while the assistnat helps. I yelled "STOP>.. NOW@!! she stopped for a min and said "if you stop now she will think she has control and doesn't "have" to go to the dentist and clean her teeth"..she said if you leave now you can't come back here.. I said who would evne want to... seriously.. my daughter didn't get over it for days it was scary ,,

I told my dentist who was a general dentist but very cool and nice.. he said "just have her come with you to some appointments and we'll give her cool glasses and bags full of dental treats and be nice to her , then she'll want to come.".. so after watching me at my dentist for about a year.. she was ready to try again and this time was SO much different... what a stak difference between compassionate dentisty and control dentistry. My son Thankfully got to start his dental journey with Dr J.. and will hopefully finish it with him, he has had to go to a few cleaning appts elsewhere but no work.
 
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