Afraid of dental impressions

[Peaceofmind]

I have to get dental impressions today but I'm afraid I'm going to gag!

What can I do?

Thank you all for your ongoing support

 

[LittleLynnie]

I always ask the the children's size, or some other smaller size and it makes the world of difference!

 

[Ellieclarke1989]

I didn't know you could ask for a smaller size

 

[sharon]

I have the exact same fear!!!!! I hate impressions so much and my fear of gagging or worse is my biggest fear of the whole dental stuff.

You've probably had your impressions by now so it's too late for what I'm going to say, but I'll write it anyway in case it helps someone else. I asked my dentist if he could give me one of the impression trays to take home and practice with. This was very helpful as I could do it in the safety of my own home and go as slow as I wanted. First I just put it in my mouth for 5 seconds, found that wasn't so bad so tried for 15, that wasn't bad so tried for 30. I quickly worked my way up to 5 minutes. Then I tried it with something in the impression tray. That was difficult, not so much trying it with that in the tray but finding something with the same consistency as the material they use. I tried various things, I don't remember what other than peanut butter. Nothing really worked but by that time I found that having the impression tray in my mouth wasn't all that bad. I think I had to have 4 of them the day of my appt, also he used a quarter sized one for me, not the full size, I don't think I could ever handle that!

I'm coming up to another impression appt though, and am a little apprensive about it.

 

[LizzieS]

I was really scared of having impressions taken too - I was sure I would choke! My dentist uses acupuncture to relieve anxiety, and I have to say, it worked for me! I'm going back on Monday next week for the second lot of impressions before having two extractions on 7 March.