chcupcakes
Junior member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2024
- Messages
- 11
- Location
- USA
The title says it all! I had been neglecting my teeth for years for fear of the dentist. I made up all kinds of crazy scenarios in my head which led me to be completely terrified to have any work done. As a result, I had two broken wisdom teeth and at least 20 cavities. I'm a mother of 4, and I knew that for their sake I HAD to start dealing with my dangerous broken teeth before they ended up becoming detrimental to my health. I could not let something like teeth take me away from my kids.. And so I reluctantly made an appointment to have the most broken tooth removed.
The weeks leading up to the appointment passed and the day came. And then I got scared, and I rescheduled. The day came again, the dentist rescheduled. I took this as a sign that it wasn't meant to be.. and after a bit more delay I made the appointment one more time. I fully expected not to go yet again. Some excuse, I needed a way out. I couldn't do this. If I go, terrible things will happen to me. Or so I said in my head. To counter these thoughts, I reminded myself that terrible things would happen to me if I *didn't* go through with this. And so, as much as my body tried to make me stay safe in the car, I forced myself to shakily step out, open the door, go into the elevator, and open the door to the oral surgeon's office...
I panicked. I told everyone at the desk that I was SCARED. My eyes darted around, looking for any distraction. The colorful art on the wall. The magazines. The TV with the show Tank'd was playing. I knew that in a matter of minutes I'd be called back, I was the only one in the waiting room, stuck with my own thoughts and fears. I couldn't believe this was happening.
The hygienist led me to my room with a smile. "Third room on the left" where I was greeted by a dentist chair, a table of tools, and a big window looking out over the rainy horizon. I'm here. I'm actually here. I sat down and immediately she starts telling me aftercare instructions, which totally go in one ear and out the other because I'm in panic mode. She proceeds to put some green goop in my mouth to numb me for the injections and almost immediately I'm met with the sensation that terrified me out of going up to this point in the first place. I was so numb I drooled everywhere, but I didn't really care, I so wanted to get up and run, but I did not. In comes the dentist with his big syringe, three quick pokes and he was done! I could not believe how quickly he used that thing, but it seemed like 3 seconds a shot. He left me for a dreaded 10 minutes where I sort of sat in panic feeling all of the feelings I was scared of, looking into my mouth through my phone camera to make sure that nothing was swelling up, panicking some more because I did NOT like the feeling!
BUT! Despite not liking the feeling, I was ok! As scared of it as I was, I was totally able to breathe, swallow, move my tongue, jaw. It was doing just what it was supposed to. And by the time the dentist came in, I was ready to have it over with, and apparently so was he because it took all of 2 seconds to remove the tooth that caused me more mental anguish than I've ever felt in my LIFE (no exaggeration!). Two seconds! I was given gauze, and escorted out the door. That was that. Years of sheer terror at the thought of what took no more than 15 minutes from the time I walked into the office.. and what I did next..
I went to my kids, and I was happy, knowing that these teeth won't be the death of me.
The weeks leading up to the appointment passed and the day came. And then I got scared, and I rescheduled. The day came again, the dentist rescheduled. I took this as a sign that it wasn't meant to be.. and after a bit more delay I made the appointment one more time. I fully expected not to go yet again. Some excuse, I needed a way out. I couldn't do this. If I go, terrible things will happen to me. Or so I said in my head. To counter these thoughts, I reminded myself that terrible things would happen to me if I *didn't* go through with this. And so, as much as my body tried to make me stay safe in the car, I forced myself to shakily step out, open the door, go into the elevator, and open the door to the oral surgeon's office...
I panicked. I told everyone at the desk that I was SCARED. My eyes darted around, looking for any distraction. The colorful art on the wall. The magazines. The TV with the show Tank'd was playing. I knew that in a matter of minutes I'd be called back, I was the only one in the waiting room, stuck with my own thoughts and fears. I couldn't believe this was happening.
The hygienist led me to my room with a smile. "Third room on the left" where I was greeted by a dentist chair, a table of tools, and a big window looking out over the rainy horizon. I'm here. I'm actually here. I sat down and immediately she starts telling me aftercare instructions, which totally go in one ear and out the other because I'm in panic mode. She proceeds to put some green goop in my mouth to numb me for the injections and almost immediately I'm met with the sensation that terrified me out of going up to this point in the first place. I was so numb I drooled everywhere, but I didn't really care, I so wanted to get up and run, but I did not. In comes the dentist with his big syringe, three quick pokes and he was done! I could not believe how quickly he used that thing, but it seemed like 3 seconds a shot. He left me for a dreaded 10 minutes where I sort of sat in panic feeling all of the feelings I was scared of, looking into my mouth through my phone camera to make sure that nothing was swelling up, panicking some more because I did NOT like the feeling!
BUT! Despite not liking the feeling, I was ok! As scared of it as I was, I was totally able to breathe, swallow, move my tongue, jaw. It was doing just what it was supposed to. And by the time the dentist came in, I was ready to have it over with, and apparently so was he because it took all of 2 seconds to remove the tooth that caused me more mental anguish than I've ever felt in my LIFE (no exaggeration!). Two seconds! I was given gauze, and escorted out the door. That was that. Years of sheer terror at the thought of what took no more than 15 minutes from the time I walked into the office.. and what I did next..
I went to my kids, and I was happy, knowing that these teeth won't be the death of me.
