Dental anxiety as a teen

[Emmalee]

I decided to post after spending a lot of time ready other people's posts and just needed to vent about my fear. I'm 16 and I think I've almost always been scared of the dentist. When I was younger, my parents routinely took me to the dentist and I never had any problems or reasons to be afraid. When I was probably 6 years old, I had a simple procedure done that added length on to my front tooth because it was chipped off shorter I remember tasting the weird glue and it was awful so I started crying. I think that's when I started to feel vulnerable and not really in control. I remember another time when I just started crying at a cleaning appointment and the hygienist asked why I was being so silly and crying. I've only had one cavity and I remember it going well. I didn't need an injection and the assistant was very soothing.

Anyways, I feel like I have no particularly bad experience yet I feel so nervous before my appointments and I'm not sure why. My heart races when the dentist examines my teeth and I hate hearing if I have any cavities I feel like a failure if I have cavities and bad teeth. I know I really need to go to the dentist as I haven't been in 3 years but I'm so nervous

 

[veronika22]

ohhh babe there aint nothing wrong with you!

im 21 years off age. nd i nearly vomit everytime i have to go lol. its normal i think everyone gets a little nervous going to the dentis ha.

iv 4 fillins nd i was sooooooooooo scared and nervous every time.

i had a checkup 2 weeks ago JUST A CHECKUP and i was more nervous than i was going in for a filling lol!

worst thing happened on thursday tho. i got my first tooth out. big molar. OMG i was in TEARS the whole way true the nerves got the better off me.. was crying from min i walked in till min i walked out. and the chair was shaking with me lol. was really scary. trust me its normal X

 

[Emmalee]

Thanks Veronika22!

i am currently freaking out and close to tears as my mom just told me I have a dentist appointment TOMORROW! It's been 3 years that I've been able to avoid it but she made an appointment and just told me now. I don't know what to do I'm scared out of my mind and don't know how ill get through it. I don't want to find out how many cavities I have

 

[carole]

When you go in to see the dentist tell them how you feel and explain how nervous and scared you are. Tell them what is bothering you the most. They will be able to discuss with you how they can get you treated at a pace that you can cope with and they will be able to work with you so that you feel happy and comfortable.

Tomorrow is probably only a check up appointment so there shouldn't be any treatment done other than maybe an x ray.

Let us know how you get on please and remember you are not a little girl any more and you have to give them permission to do any treatment on you including having a look. You don't just have to sit there and be told what they are going to do. They should explain what they think you may need doing and discuss with you how to best get it done.

Good luck

 

[veronika22]

lisen to corole. shes a real good person and she knows wat she sayin usually dentist asks me "how are you today" i just anwser and say " oh just a bit nervous" usually they be gentle then

 

[Emmalee]

I went to the appointment-the first in 3 years and had a cleaning and a check up. I was really anxious sitting in the waiting room and when I got back into the chair. The cleaning was ok and the hygienist was gentle, sensing I was nervous. The dentist looked at my X-rays and then asked if he could look around in my mouth. I knew the news wouldn't be good because I have a couple of tooth aches. I found out I have 8 cavities

Im so nervous to get fillings! I've never had a shot before

 

[carole]

Well done for getting there and having the clean and exam Don't worry about having the injections. They can be given pain free, the dentist may have a gel called topical that they can rub on your gums before injecting, it numbs your gum so that you don't feel the injection. Even if they don't use the gel injections can still be given pain free, if they are done really slowly you won't feel a thing.

Good luck

 

[Emmalee]

Recently I cancelled the appointment for the fillings and have been scheduled with a new dentist....who happens to be my brother in law....the appointment was today (since it was Saturday, I was his only patient) and he came into the office just to see me. I was soooo nervous but he ended up just checking things I was so ashamed of all of my cavities that he's going to have to fix ...8! So now I have more appointments scheduled to get all of this work done

the first is tomorrow!!! It's for the biggest cavity that is super close to the root On my top right
Wednesday, I'm having the lower right done, 3 cavities
next week I have two more appointments for the left side, 2 on top, 2 on bottom

 

[Brittany48]

Hi Emmalee!

Over the last month I had 9 cavities filled after not going to the dentist for 6 years and as someone who was ashamed and terrified, let me reassure you that it is not as terrible as you're imagining. My first appointment the dentist dealt with the two biggest cavities on my upper right side that were incredibly close to the root, that she thought would both need root canals, however after i was numbed I didn't feel a single thing and she filled both normally in forty minutes. The next appointment was for my lower right side, which was a struggle because my tooth wouldn't numb properly so I kept feeling twinges of pain as she drilled. This last Wednesday she filled three cavities on my upper left molars and because I was so anxious to have it done, decided to fill the last cavity on my lower left molar too. Again it wouldn't numb, and it took 3 different injections for it to finally numb enough to drill however let me tell you, you'll be over the moon when all your cavities are filled. Be thankful they're just cavities and not root canals or extractions! A filling is rather quick and painless.

 

[Lucas phobic]

Hi Emmalee,

Like you I went to the dentist in May after 3 years without going to the dentist and she found 7 cavities . One was a deep cavity. I was very scared but even if it was not fun it was not so unpleasant that I thought. The shot was a quite painful but I almost don’t felt the drill when I was numbed. Few of my teeth were sensitive few hours later but painkillers were efficient.

Now, 5 of my teeth are fixed . The last cavities are in wisdom teeth. My dentist planned to pulled these teeth but I would like she filled the cavities instead.

I wish you luck