extreme fear of wisdom teeth removal

[scaredycatev]

hi, tomorrow (may 15) i will be getting 4 of my wisdom teeth removed and im sooo scared. they are all underneith the gum and bone (impacted?) and they havent caused me any pain at all. when i got my consultation a few months ago i was so nervous and cried for days. the anxiety finally picked up and im crying again.

im 18 and im having iv sedation and my mom will be driving me home. the appointment is at 7 am! ever since i was a kid i was afraid of this kind of stuff (both the doctors office and dentist). i can manage a cleaning or a checkup, but i still freak out when i have to get a shot or any sort of procedure.

i feel awful for getting so upset about it, my mom has told me to suck it up acouple times and i mean i know its embarrassing but i cant help it!!! i know i cant eat or drink anything before surgery, but what if i get so nervous that i get sick and puke?

what pain will i expect during and after the surgery, and what foods can i eat? how long will it be before i can start eating solid things? i have my birthday on the 20th, and we usually get dinner and cake.

i have a feeling that im gonna be miserable when i get done, and i dont want to give my mom a hard time but i feel like when i walk out of there im going to be a total brat! that would make me feel bad and embarrassed

im just so nervous!!!

edit: my friends say ill be fine but they havent got them removed so i dont really take their judgements
also... can i just get by by eating ice cream? im a picky person i dont like soup or jelly or yogurt or otmeal

 

[Enarete]

Dear scaredycatev,

your surgery might or might not be over already, but I would like to drop few words anyway.

Having wisdom teeth out is scary for the most (if not all) people, even the ones who usually can cope with other sorts of dental visits. The important thing is that the most people have had their wisdoms out and a lot of them had them impacted and they all survived. You can see it on the success stories here on the forum when you take a look around (by the way, the fact that there is a whole separate forum section just for wisdoms shows that it's something a lot of people are afraid of). The anxiety is much much worse than the procedure itself.

Having dental fear is not embarrassing at all, it's just that people who have less problem going to the dentist cannot always understand how hard it is and how the anxiety feels which makes phobics feel misunderstood and embarrassed. Again, if you look around.. I think there are around 27.000 registered members here on the forum and the most of them are phobics so you are definitely not alone.

To your surgery: Your anxiety before the procedure might be the worst part. With iv sedation they will basically hook you on and one second later you will realize that it's over.
I had all my wisdoms out with just a shot, no sedation whatsoever and it was quicker than a filling. I was able to eat solid food very carefully on the same day (carefully having a pizza with my friends at the same evening), but wouldn't recommend this to anyone. It would be good to stay with yoghurt, protein shakes, smoothies and potato mash for the first few days. I am however sure you will be fine for your birthday dinner and cake. I had no pain at all back then, but I was cooling my face obsessively for two days after the surgery so this might have helped.

All the best wishes and let us know how it went.