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Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

A

Animalhouse

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Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Hello again, if you remember my story from before, I went to my first dental visit ever for xrays and exam about 6 weeks ago. My treatment plan thus far includes a deep cleaning with non iv sedation (tomorrow) and lots of fillings (later). I've been trying not to think of it, but now that it is coming up tomorrow I am kind of flipping out.

My current worries are:

1) Will my teeth feel loose after the cleaning? I have heavy tartar build up on my front lower teeth and really don't want anything to happen to those!

2) Will the sedation medication be okay? They have me taking a Valium tonight before bed and Halcion tomorrow before the appointment, plus nitrous. I've never experienced any kind of sedation before.

I've prepaid for my appointment so there is no backing out now. I really just want it to be over with :(
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Animal house,

So know that feeling the closer it gets the more you start thinking and nerves start going . I remember being super nervous for my deep cleaning /scaling. I was so afraid that my teeth would get so loose from getting the plaque and tarter off that my teeth would fall out and I almost cancelled. I emailed my dentist office and Ashley in the office really helped relieve me and encourage me to come and that the hygenist would take care of me and this would help. I also shared with Judy my hygenist and she was so nice about the whole thing and my teeth didn't feel loser after they felt cleaner and better. and I had no issues after with loseness. It did seem to help the area quite a bit.

And Its been over 30 years that I've had nitrious, but to me, valium just puts you to a subtle ease and I think helps you be just a little more chill. Never had Halicon before ..

I really hope everything goes great for you tomorrow.. you can do this. You've come this far.. the hardest part is walking through the door and waiting..
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Animal house,

So know that feeling the closer it gets the more you start thinking and nerves start going . I remember being super nervous for my deep cleaning /scaling. I was so afraid that my teeth would get so loose from getting the plaque and tarter off that my teeth would fall out and I almost cancelled. I emailed my dentist office and Ashley in the office really helped relieve me and encourage me to come and that the hygenist would take care of me and this would help. I also shared with Judy my hygenist and she was so nice about the whole thing and my teeth didn't feel loser after they felt cleaner and better. and I had no issues after with loseness. It did seem to help the area quite a bit.

And Its been over 30 years that I've had nitrious, but to me, valium just puts you to a subtle ease and I think helps you be just a little more chill. Never had Halicon before ..

I really hope everything goes great for you tomorrow.. you can do this. You've come this far.. the hardest part is walking through the door and waiting..

Thank you so much for this. This makes me feel a bit better knowing that I'm not the only one afraid of loose teeth. The rational part of me thinks that if they were that bad, the dentist would have warned me...but the nervous part of me expects the worst. From what I've read about the Halcion, I'll still be conscious but might fall asleep and won't really remember anything either way. Hopefully I won't say anything too stupid! I am looking forward to getting all of this crud off of my teeth. For the past few years, I am in mid sentence or eating and a chuck of nasty tartar falls off of my back molars. I don't tell anyone about it but every time it happens I feel so ashamed. Anyway, thank you again for the encouragement.
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Hey, you are being very brave and this sounds like quite a progress! You will do great tomorrow and be very proud of you afterwards! By the way, going without an iv sedation means you will remember the visit and feel very confident afterwards. It's ok to get iv sedation if you do not feel able to cope at all, but even better is to find a way to get through a treatment in a conscious way. It will help you reduce your anxiety long term and you will learn that you can beat your fear.

All the best wishes for tomorrow and keep us posted :)
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Hey, you are being very brave and this sounds like quite a progress! You will do great tomorrow and be very proud of you afterwards! By the way, going without an iv sedation means you will remember the visit and feel very confident afterwards. It's ok to get iv sedation if you do not feel able to cope at all, but even better is to find a way to get through a treatment in a conscious way. It will help you reduce your anxiety long term and you will learn that you can beat your fear.

All the best wishes for tomorrow and keep us posted :)

My dentist told me that most people don't remember much about it, or that the time seems to pass really quickly. I've read similar comments about the Halcion. It seems that it kind of gives you the feeling of being drunk, where you may or may not remember bits and pieces but are able to respond to the dentist at the time. I don't know.

Today's the day! I took the valium as prescribed last night and I'm not feeling a whole lot of any kind of feelings right now. My appointment is at 9 this morning and it's scheduled to be about 3 hours between the time I go in and go home. They will be doing the cleaning on all 4 quadrants today with laser treatment to kill any remaining bacteria. I will come back with an update later. Thank you again to everyone for the support.
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Well I'm back from my appointment, mostly mentally aware but still unsteady on my feet. Anywho, appointment went okay. The deep cleaning is done and the laser was not done because they ran out of time. The actual appointment itself I wasn't really very aware of anything that was going on felt some scraping and water spraying. There were a few unpleasant pokes but nothing too serious. They offered me headphones when I got there so I didn't hear much else. When it was over, I was escorted to another room where the Dr. Spoke with my husband and I and explained what happened and what the next steps are.

For now, my mouth is incredibly numb to the point where I can barely talk or sip water through a straw lol. Hopefully this will pass soon so I can eat something.
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Glad to hear that you are back and everything went okay! You did great going and getting that taken care of . So are you going back to get lasering then? I think every time you go you get the opportunity to build more relationship and trust so hope that keeps building up in a good way , you'll get braver everytime. Was the dentist really good with you?
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Glad to hear that you are back and everything went okay! You did great going and getting that taken care of . So are you going back to get lasering then? I think every time you go you get the opportunity to build more relationship and trust so hope that keeps building up in a good way , you'll get braver everytime. Was the dentist really good with you?

To he honest I didn't even notice the dentist was there until he was discussing things at the end, I was really out of it. I thought I was only there for an hour but it turned out to be 4 hours of non stop cleaning. My teeth feel ok, gums a little swollen. I have a mild ache in my jaw and cheeks from the tools and the long visit I suppose. I have a follow up next week just to make sure I'm healing ok, then immediately after I will be scheduling my visit for fillings. In 6 weeks I will have another follow up for the laser treatment. He said he wanted my gums to heal before doing that.
 
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Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Day 2 update:

My cheeks are still feeling sore from the tools/stretching but it's not really bothering me. Yesterday after the procedure I took 2 Aleve as a precaution and didn't feel the need to take anything after that. After expecting for weeks that I would be living off of pudding and mashed potatoes for a while after the procedure, I was pleasantly surprised that I was craving a cheeseburger and fries for dinner last night, which I ate without much discomfort (just my jaw was a little sore). Last night I was still able to use my electric toothbrush and had some bleeding, maybe a little more than usual but not a crazy amount. Overall, things are going well. My teeth already look a lot cleaner despite my currently puffy gums, which were already puffy to begin with.
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Glad to hear that all went well and that you are doing better, hope your cheeks recover soon too. How do you feel about the follow up appointments?
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Glad to hear that all went well and that you are doing better, hope your cheeks recover soon too. How do you feel about the follow up appointments?

I'm feeling better about the follow up appointment even though I am definitely not looking forward to it. I think now that the dentist has both examined me and scraped all of that nasty gunk off of my teeth, I feel like I'm on the road to recovery versus facing a list of unknown problems. My first follow up is next week to assess my healing and also to come up with the next treatment plan as far as my fillings and crown that I need. I feel lucky to have found a compassionate dentist...and the sedation was definitely a life saver. I will most likely be using sedation again for my 20+ fillings if they will do them all at once. We will see what happens.
 
Re: Deep cleaning with sedation appointment tomorrow...nerves getting the best of me again

Day 2 update:

My cheeks are still feeling sore from the tools/stretching but it's not really bothering me. Yesterday after the procedure I took 2 Aleve as a precaution and didn't feel the need to take anything after that. After expecting for weeks that I would be living off of pudding and mashed potatoes for a while after the procedure, I was pleasantly surprised that I was craving a cheeseburger and fries for dinner last night, which I ate without much discomfort (just my jaw was a little sore). Last night I was still able to use my electric toothbrush and had some bleeding, maybe a little more than usual but not a crazy amount. Overall, things are going well. My teeth already look a lot cleaner despite my currently puffy gums, which were already puffy to begin with.

Thanks for posting an update. im going for a deep clean tomorrow plus some fillinhs and have been freakig out for months. im taking valium and nitrous and this made me feel a little better about it
 

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