M
Milomin
Junior member
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2023
- Messages
- 12
- Location
- Vancouver BC
While I have had fear of any dental work since childhood, it developed into extreme fear in the past five years, and phobia in the past two. In December 2022, after procrastinating for two years despite on and off dental pain, I finally made an appointment and was told that my tooth needed an extraction. I was severely anxious but made an appointment. The day I arrived, they said they were going to section the tooth. I practically ran out of the office. I said, I couldn't do it as I hadn't prepared for drilling. I was too embarassed to go back, so put it off again. This time I decided to read through these forums, and hear from people who had gone through similar anxiety and what they had done that helped. In the meantime I also started counseling. The next attempt was in April. I found a small clinic that seemed very friendly with amazing reviews. When I saw them, they also said they needed to do a section and so I made an appointment. The week before, I was a wreck. I couldn't sleep and my heart was racing at night. The morning of, I got up and dragged myself there. When I got there, she said she wanted to take my blood pressure. Of course, this made me anxious. Why would she need to do that? I had told them I was nervous about the dentist, and that I had tried once before etc...but I guess it was routine. Well, it turns out it was high. She said too high to do the treatment!!!! I almost cried. She wanted me to go check it at a drugstore to see if maybe her machine wasn't working. I went and sure enough it was in the red zone. When I went back, she said she was willing to do it after all..but by then I had lost my confidence. That was the end of that. Forget it, I went to Mexico and ignored my tooth.
When I got back, I decided to track down another empathetic dentist even though they were a ferry ride away...not local. The thing is, their clinic didn't turn out to be very empathetic after all and the dentist said after I told him about my blood pressure, was that he was recommending sedation and that "a sectioned tooth is not a pleasant experience". That's funny because the other two were quite willing to do it and hadn't mentioned that at all. I left, completely upset and hopeless because for me oral sedation, was something I was not willing to do. On this forum, I had read about quite a few people who had tried Ativan and I am so queasy about medication (it's kind of ridiculous) that I wasn't willing to
When I got back, I decided to track down another empathetic dentist even though they were a ferry ride away...not local. The thing is, their clinic didn't turn out to be very empathetic after all and the dentist said after I told him about my blood pressure, was that he was recommending sedation and that "a sectioned tooth is not a pleasant experience". That's funny because the other two were quite willing to do it and hadn't mentioned that at all. I left, completely upset and hopeless because for me oral sedation, was something I was not willing to do. On this forum, I had read about quite a few people who had tried Ativan and I am so queasy about medication (it's kind of ridiculous) that I wasn't willing to
