• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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Dentist in 2 hours and counting....

N

nighttrain

Junior member
Joined
Oct 6, 2022
Messages
2
Location
Fishguard
Hi there, I have just joined this forum and am looking for some kind words of encouragement please if anyone reads this.
I recently had my first dentist appointment in 3 years...was sick just making the appointment. Was having tooth ache and desperately needed to go. Turns out nothing wrong with said tooth...I'm convinced the metal filling is causing the pain but nothing on xray. Anyway my surgery says they spealise in nervous patients but I left feeling told off and stupid. He actually said to me 'well what do you want me to do? Fix it and not see you for another 3 years?' No comforting words when I was lying there crying my eyes out and I had to actually ask for the xray! So today I am going back for a 'cleaning and I am terrified I'm going to get the same unhelpful and patronising attitude as last time. I have tartar build up and he said hel give me a good clean then see if any work needs doing. My heart has been racing all day x
 
Hi @nighttrain and welcome!

I'm so sorry you had such a bad experience at your dental practice :(. The guy you saw doesn't really sound very empathetic (<-- understatement)... is there any particular reason why you have to stay with this practice/dentist? It seems really weird that they would advertise themselves as specialising in nervous patients! Perhaps there are a number of dentists at the practice, and only some of them are actually interested in helping people overcome their fears? If that's the case, it would be worth asking if you can switch to another dentist at the same practice (if you like the practice in general, just not the particular dentist you saw).

We have a page with lots of tips on finding a phobic-friendly dentist here:


I hope that today will go/went a LOT better than your last visit - but if not, the page above may be of help!

Please let us know how you got on, if you decide to go :grouphug:
 
Hi, thankyou for your kind words. We'll his attitude was so much nicer today and I managed to have a full checkup and amazingly no problems apart from 3 years of plaque build up. I had half my top teeth cleaned whilst crying and unfortunately the panic set in so couldn't continue. But we've agreed baby steps and I'm really proud of myself for doing as much as I did today. Unfortunately he is the only dentist in the practice and I live in an area where its really hard to get a dentist, even on denplan. I think we got off on the wrong foot through lack of communication. For anyone out there who is going through the same thing...please dont be afraid to explain to your dentist how you are feeling....it really wasn't worth a whole day of panic and anxiety for me today x
 
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