• Dental Phobia Support

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Best place to have dentistry

B

B

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
192
If there were dentists set up outside supermarkets, that would be so great, like they have breast cancer testing thingies sometimes. I'm a spur of the moment type of person and if I could just walk in, i would find it so much easier to do it. No thinking about it, no getting worked up, no waiting, no appointment making..

I'd love a home visit from a dentist too. Well.......not love exactly :scared: but I would definitely prefer it to visiting THE CHAIR.

The mobile one would be good too *thinks of music they might play to attract attention to themselves*
"little shop, little shop of horrors, little shop doo de doo de doo dah"

*If anyone would like to add an option let me know and I'll pop it up there too :)
 
Hi B,

Could we have one outside a pub in the poll please.... :cheers:

After a night out and a few glasses of wine or beer I'm a lot braver and wouldn't feel a thing  ;D

Rox :) xx

PS - Edited to add...my days of visiting pubs on a regular basis are long gone lol, so don't want to sound like an alcoholic...but after a few drinks my dentist fears are somewhat diminshed ;)
 
lol, drunkard. Who needs Valium eh.....
 
Valium schmalium ;) ...A nice glass or 2 of chilled NZ sauvignon blanc does it for me everytime :)

Hasten to add, I am only joining in with B's poll and do not advocate drinking wine before going to the dentist!! My glass of wine is enjoyed after 9pm reflecting on a busy / hard day lol ;)

Rescue remedy is my preferred daytime tipple

Rox :) xx
 
B said:
If there were dentists set up outside supermarkets, that would be so great, like they have breast cancer testing thingies sometimes.

I'd love a home visit from a dentist too.

In Supermarkets??....in the USA, they have them in malls sometimes...fit it in as part of your shopping spree but that's not much different from being on the High Street I suppose. I don't know if anyone else noticed but just before I left the UK a few years ago I noticed that Boots the Chemist had opened a few dental practices inside their bigger stores...but the last time I visited the same town, I noticed it had gone and there was just the optician's section there again instead of both.

I wonder how many dental phobics stopped going into said Boots branches because of the 'dental signage' in there  :p?  I remember looking at their blurb and not finding it particular to my taste in the reassurance stakes..had a definite clinical edge to it so that's where they went wrong probably.
 
Those Boots things sound scary :scared:too clinical. I meant outside a supermarket on the car park ;D A very unclinical? setting

Have you ever seen little units set up for giving blood, or for mammograms and you can just walk in, no appointment necessary? that's what I meant. I want a dentist version.
 
Yeah I knew what you meant...just thought I'd mention the Boots thing.....can't say mobile screening units have ever appealed to me much, apart from mobile blood doning units who install themselves in City of London Offices for the day so loads of office workers give blood - that used to be surreal and fun, mainly because you got a break from work and you felt you were doing sth unselfish and good for the benefit of others. Because of numbers they set up inside the actual office though.

Actually on your poll, you could have added 'dental spa' that would get my vote over 'dental surgery' which is what I ticked in its absence.

The other historic problem for some people from certain countries with mobile units is that the 'anti/pre-anaesthesia' school dental service sometimes turned up in such units in school grounds or worse you got bussed to some dental clinic without your parents to protect you. They are used on charity dental missions to the Third World/remote parts as well.....did you see that episode of Northern Exposure (set in Alaska) where Big John turned up in his massive mobile dental trailer....not a phobics dream...can't remember the plot though? The girl pilot character was supposed to be anxious/phobic.

I suppose the real reason I wouldn't want a walk-in surgery outside or just inside the supermarket is that I want total control over who I see and what the premises are like, so sole practitioners or at the very least being on a partner's list is my preference in 'distraction' type premises.
 
Whats a dental spa?
 
[broken link removed]

This kind of place (not saying this is my ideal but you get the idea and this link is from the resources section of this website.)

I have added 'dental spa' as a category but don't seem able to change my vote.
 
Looks almost lovely,chair looks the same though :( I think the real difference lies in the fact that Americans are so much better at customer service.
Ive nearly always felt sub human in England & Wales dentists (dentists in wales were my worst ever experiences and I do believe Ive met some real sadists, I seem to bring out the sadist in people though) , they just never seem to care.

I think I'll add America as an option too lol, that would actually be my first choice if I won the lottery.I'd be implanted to the max under anesthetic.

With regards to the mobile units being a phobic nightmare, I remember those mobile dentists coming to my school as a kid, it was one of the more pleasant experiences of dentists I experienced. All of my horrid experiences have been in surgeries, having an impression taken aged 11 being the most horrid, alone in a surgery with a middle aged sadist, no parents or nurse around. I know you said you couldn't understand this fear I have of impressions either Brit but I guess we are all different and our fears stem from different things :( I feel physically ill just thinking about impressions.

Ill change the poll to multiple answers and then you can vote for spa too :)
 
B said:
Looks almost lovely,chair looks the same though  :( I think the real difference lies in the fact that Americans are so much better at customer service.

I agree that helps and it must make life more pleasant for the dentist and staff too, not having to put up with so many 'I hate coming here' comments.

B said:
Ive nearly always felt sub human in England & Wales dentists (dentists in wales were my worst ever experiences and I do believe Ive met some real sadists, I seem to bring out the sadist in people though) , they just never seem to care.

Why are you accepting the blame for this..you've just been unlucky?
Were the NHS dentists you had the bad experiences with slightly bored older  individuals rather than recently qualified associates? I've spent several years pining for UK dentists over EU ones.....oh okay maybe not NHS ones anymore.

B said:
I think I'll add America as an option too lol, that would actually be my first choice if I won the lottery.I'd be implanted to the max under anesthetic.

America but not in a medicare facility eh? Some outrageous prices in US as Freakout and Taking Flight will confirm.  

B said:
With regards to the mobile units being a phobic nightmare, I remember those mobile dentists coming to my school as a kid, it was one of the more pleasant experiences of dentists I experienced.
Never experienced these myself...just a dentist coming to school for a quick look to do referrals to clinic if necessary. I was not referring to UK with this comment. I think in the 1960s and 1970s a UK school facility (mobile or otherwise) was often probably a more kid friendly place to be.

B said:
All of my horrid experiences have been in surgeries, having an impression taken aged 11 being the most horrid, alone in a surgery with a middle aged sadist, no parents or nurse around.  I know you said you couldn't understand this fear I have of impressions either Brit but I guess we are all different and our fears stem from different things  :( I feel physically ill just thinking about impressions.

Sorry I've obviously committed the cardinal sin again...I used to do that a lot in the early days.....by saying I personally don't have a problem with impressions was not meant to belittle the fact that you do...our individual fears are based on our personal bad experiences after all (mine being denial of LA)....my only impressions have been with a calm gentle NHS orthodontist in the mid 1970s who had a really neutral surgery with no drill or anything like that because he just did orthodontics...he probably had really good technique because he was doing them all day and I was never unaccompanied here unlike at normal dentist.  Yes we are all different and all the fears are valid...and if you have problems with gagging then I could see they could be very difficult and in your case it's the particular  :devilish: who's to blame for the fear you still have all these years later. I can truly understand how repeating the procedure can evoke the old negative memory.

Actually what you said before about home visits...these are theoretically possible but usually only if you are older and a bit housebound...I remember my Grandad getting home visits from a dentist years ago..it wasn't CDS either.

Please get yourself that second opinion and soon from a dental spa or mobile facility near you  :p (if only eh?)
:grouphug:
 
B said:
Ive nearly always felt sub human in England & Wales dentists (dentists in wales were my worst ever experiences and I do believe Ive met some real sadists, I seem to bring out the sadist in people though) , they just never seem to care.
Now you know B why I travel up to London!
I have already added my vote to this poll and know it is probably just very light-hearted, perhaps not meant to be taken seriously? :confused: But, to my way of thinking, having mobiles means making something convenient to the public, you would not get your choice of dentist because he/she would be too busy in his or her own practice, and because it the mobile would be parked in, say, supermarket carparks and similar public places where there is the most exposure, I would think there would be strict time limit for each visitor to the mobile and again to my mind, they would be rushing you through without the attention and care and time we all deserve. So I would definitely be against them. For a professional service, in any field, I would always want to go to their place of work, i.e. their surgery - their home ground so to speak. :)
 
not a sinner ;D just human

I do kinda blame myself, I think because my whole family blamed me. my dad to this day says I was a nightmare going to the dentist, that i wouldn't go, that they had to drag me there, that I was an enormous pain in the backside basically. They had to send flowers to the dentist after my visit once because I was such a problem, that was the time that I was restrained by 4 or 5 people and gassed.

I dont think its the gagging that I have problem with either with regards to impressions, its more feeling a loss of control, being unable to breathe and feeling like all my teeth with come out and I do have a very small mouth which might have made it more difficult, from what you were saying in another post Brit.

I also had the impression so that Welsh sadist could fit a splint (thanks Gordon, didnt know what it was called before) like a boxers mouth guard in bright yellow over all of my top teeth, that I could not take out. not fantastic when you have just started high school and it was on my teeth for a long time because I ran off every time they took me to the dentist afterwards.so that probably adds to the fear too because I had such a miserable time wearing this thing.

I have to say though that I dont really blame my parents, I really think they thought they were doing the right thing. I was gassed so that they could take the splint off, I would probably still be wearing it now otherwise. There was probably a better way though, I could have been talked into it possibly , or been given a needle to knock me out rather than gas, because all it achieved was to traumatise me more.
 
B said:
I do kinda blame myself, I think because my whole family blamed me. my dad to this day says I was a nightmare going to the dentist, that i wouldn't go, that they had to drag me there, that I was an enormous pain in the backside basically. They had to send flowers to the dentist after my visit once because I was such a problem, that was the time that I was restrained by 4 or 5 people and gassed.

I dont think its the gagging that I have problem with either with regards to impressions, its more feeling a loss of control, being unable to breathe and feeling like all my teeth with come out and I do have a very small mouth which might have made it more difficult, from what you were saying in another post Brit.

I also had the impression so that Welsh sadist could fit a splint (thanks Gordon, didnt know what it was called before) like a boxers mouth guard in bright yellow over all of my top teeth, that I could not take out. not fantastic when you have just started high school and it was on my teeth for a long time because I ran off every time they took me to the dentist afterwards.so that probably adds to the fear too because I had such a miserable time wearing this thing.

I have to say though that I dont really blame my parents, I really think they thought they were doing the right thing. I was gassed so that they could take the splint off, I would probably still be wearing it now otherwise. There was probably a better way though, I could have been talked into it possibly , or been given a needle to knock me out rather than gas, because all it achieved was to traumatise me more.

Given all this background now coming out...it just goes to show how brave you were for getting those teeth extracted the other day..it such a shame that the stupid dentist wasn't prepared to discuss the treatment options properly to give you the confidence to finish the job.

Welsh :devilish: sadists? My last UK dentist was a BDS Wales..perfectly affable gentle bloke admittedly based in the South of England, the one before that was BDS London....I must admit I do tend to favour BDS Londons...had nothing but good experiences with them over the years.....and then as we all know on here Scottish-trained dentists are simply brilliant especially if they are also Scots :p!
 
Yeah, i dont mean to pick on the Welsh, I only ever went to 2 dentists there. It just happens that they were both terrible experiences, I'm sure there are plenty of good ones too, have to remember it was over 20 years ago too. Dont want to give any people living in Wales the jitters :(
 
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