OK - well I went for the appointment and honestly it was not as bad as I thought! Yesterday morning I was completely off the scale scared - I will document the experience if others are interested.
I was shaking so much when I arrived for the appointment I couldn't even sit still in the waiting room. The dental assistant arrived to take me into the surgery where I met my Perio again. She has such a calm, reassuring manner and she let me put my coat and stuff in a box before I took my seat in the chair, which is incredibly comfortable I must say.
She asked about my worries and answered them all, then started by putting some numbing gel on the top and bottom right gums. I had been frightened that if I swallowed the gel, my throat would go numb, but she assured me that it might tingle for a few minutes but not go numb, and it didn't. She then started on the locals - top row first - and said the worst one would be the front centre as it would make my eyes water. Do you know what? It didn't - I hardly felt any of the jabs - just a slight prickly feeling on a couple of occasions. She then started the deep clean, initially by just showing me how it would feel. It honestly felt just like a regular scale and polish with additional 'hoovering up' and dragging sensations. Anyway, she worked round all the teeth on the right, and said there was masses of tartar and calculus below my gums - all hoovered away. The assistant all the time was suctioning both the yucky stuff, blood and water so none went down my throat. She had to be a bit careful far back as I have a terrible gag reflex and the perio couldn't give me any more local as she knew it would make me gag. So it did hurt a bit when she did the wisdom tooth and next molar but as these were the last two to be done, I persevered!
All the time, she was asking me if I was OK and giving me little rests. And then - it was over! Of course I was very numb for a couple of hours and fully expected to feel sore and tender but honestly I had a little bit of soreness - not even bad enough for a painkiller. Then I ate dinner as normal (although soft food just to be on the safe side).
This morning some of the gums did bleed when I used the interdental brushes but I guess this is to be expected when they have been disturbed.
I have my second appointment next week and am feeling much happier about going. No, it's not a pleasant experience, but nowhere as bad as I was imagining. So, if you are worrying about a deep clean, please don't. Honestly, I am the worst patient ever, anxious and shaking, even my mouth was shaking as she worked on it,and I managed to get through it.
Happy to answer any questions.
- let us know how you got on!
