• 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.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Filling & Crown tomorrow - ANXIOUS MESS :(

conqueringfears

conqueringfears

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2022
Messages
107
Location
Ohio
Hello all! I am 6 days post root canal treatment and tomorrow I go in for my crown. My anxiety has been okay this week up until yesterday. My root canal last week was the first time I have had any dental work or medical procedure in 7 years. I know what to expect in some senses, but I am terrified once again.

  1. When I got the local anesthetic last week, I felt really nauseous for about 15-20 minutes after. My nerves were really bad and I had eaten right before getting there so I am not sure if that could have been related, but I am nervous as to why that happened and if it's normal. I am also nervous that it'll happen again.
  2. I haven't had a filling in so long, I don't know what to expect. I am always nervous of an allergic reaction to the material used or a medical emergency in the chair.
  3. Some of my tooth broke off after the root canal that had the temporary filling on there. @Gordon let me know it should be fine, but my anxiety about more bad news or it not being fixable is getting to me. It also is a lot on me financially.
  4. Lastly, in my appointment last week I was able to bring my mom. No one is able to go with me tomorrow and I am really nervous about that....
Any tips, experience or advice would be helpful. Thank you all.
 
Conqueringfears

Wow. tomorrow . getting close. I so get the nervousness. It does sound like you had some positive momentum built with the rootcanal experience from other posts it sounds besides that bit of nasuea which is never fun.. I'm not fully caught up on your posts how is your dental team? are they aware of the anxiety and do they help abit. I know my good dental offices the assistants would let me grab their hands if I needed . and talked me through the procedures which kept my mind busy, or I know some like to bring headsets for distractions. I've had ALOT of crowns basically all the teeth I have left are. and the process isn't too bad, just getting the tooth ready, taking impressions, which much of the time now is digital , and then either getting the temporary on or putting the crown on if you are getting same day. I try to take as many deep breaths as I can before I walk in the door to prepare me ( one time my dentist was walking behind me as I was doing this. ) I felt weird.. but anyways he was cool with it and it helps .. I wish you the best experience with this! let us know how it goes!
 
@krlovesherkids777 I did express my anxieties to them before in my consultation. I’ll be sure to remind them though. I appreciate your comment and advice. I am so nervous ahead of it but even if I did get nauseous it wouldn’t last forever. I have to tell myself discomfort is only temporary. Thank you so much.
 
Conqueringfears, btw I just LOVE your name :). I think as long as I've been to my last 2 dentists I still got nervous every time.. I remember what my old psychologist said ,, it just lessened in intensity, duration and frequency, so I wasn't quite as nervous and it didn't last as long but .. really walking in EVERY Time. What is great feeling is doing it even through the fear/anxiety and knowing your courage. :) I know for me I always stopped by the bakery and got myself a mini torte after lol probably not the best to sugar up my teeth after dental.. ha. but it was a reward and just a little mini .
 
@krlovesherkids777 you are so kind, thank you! My appointment is in 2 hours. My nerves are bad but they aren't debilitating how they can be sometimes. I am going to vocalize that I am nervous too. I should also reward myself with something! You are right, it's great to still go through with it even with fear and nervousness. Thank you so much.
 
Conqueringfears.. How are you doing? how did it go.. just want to check in..was thinking of you today!
 
@krlovesherkids777 Hi there! Thank you so much for your checking in. To be honest, my root canal last week was easier than yesterday. I am not sure what happened to me in the dental chair but after I got a few shots I got so incredibly shaky that I had to keep my arms crossed and down to my body because I was trembling, everywhere. My legs, hands, jaw. It lasted for about an hour. I feel terrible today physically because of that stress on my body but the positive is that I got it done. I got the filling and crown on. I don't want to post this and have this be something that someone sees and is alarmed by, but quite frankly it was a terrible experience. I am not sure if I should talk to the dentist and see what they used to anesthetize the area because when I got my root canal that didn't happen. I felt nauseous during root canal but I would take that over full body trembling any day. :( I feel like my fears have set in a little harder again and I don't want to retract.

Next is May 26 I will be back to the endodontist for a root canal retreatment. He was wonderful so even though I am nervous at least with him I feel good and safe. But I will have to return to the general dentist for the crown after that. And she told me yesterday they'll have to remove some of my gum to make the crown fit so it'll be a bit more invasive.

I struggle because I feel like no one will believe the severity of how I felt yesterday. Even though the endodontist is great, he knows I have bad anxiety so will they blame the tremors on anxiety? It wasn't my anxiety. I have had anxiety my whole life but have never experienced something THAT severe. I have had some minor symptoms after numbing in the past which deterred me from going back for years, but yesterday was 10/10 awful and makes me realize the past experiences that deterred me compare none to yesterday. I just am so worried and feel beat up over it all.
 
Last edited:
Conqueringfears..

Aghh. :( so sorry to hear that .. sounds very intense and a bit of a step back in confidence. it would be for me too) That anesthetic can be really shaking.. I m sorry also they blamed it on your anxiety. Those tremors and reactions are very real with that.. I had it happen a few years ago with my dentist. and I was shaky, I felt very unnerved I had to grab the chair and sit up , and my heart was beating so fast.. My dentist really was empathetic, he went into the other room and grabbed a piece of chocolate and said something about blood sugar , and it can happen more if I didn't eat, (never knew that) lol dentist offering a lindt chocolate ball in the middle of treatment. anyways, sometimes if they do the anesthetic into the wrong area it can cause that effect more too if I remember right.

So next time if you need make sure to go over what happened and that you want to make sure they go very slow with the anesthetic, and eat a little ahead. Not sure if you did. I really don't eat breakfast alot so didn't even think of that. but apparantly it helps. Nonetheless, what a scary experience and just unnerving all the way around. I'm so sorry.. I"m glad you have your root canal experience in the bank as a good experience to give a little hope for the next time.

I hope you can do something kind for yourself, relax after this experience, I now for me it takes days minimum to de-escalate from those dental experiences and alot longer to gain and build trust again
 
@krlovesherkids777 Hi there. I am so thankful for your comment. I appreciate it entirely. I thought I replied to you. You are so kind and reassuring.

I have a retreatment scheduled for Thursday from the endo who I felt good with. I will be sure to take a juice beverage with me and maybe some chocolate in case something happens like that again to me.

I hope it goes well. My nerves are starting to pick up bad.
 
How did your retreatment go? I just saw this, I hope it went well.. how are you doing? :grouphug:
 
@krlovesherkids777 hi! Going on about 24 hours after the retreat. I have some soreness, but in a different way this time than the original root canal. The procedure in itself was smooth. Even though I was very anxious the whole time. I was able to sit through it. Kept breathing and talking myself through it saying I’m here already, let’s get this done. That I’d be okay.

I couldn’t have asked for a better endodontist. He told me I did so good at the end and he hopes that I can take more steps in the right direction (regarding my dental anxiety.) I thanked him over and over again. The part that stinks the most is my credit card balance from
All of this work 😟

What I have learned is the dental anesthetic makes me nauseous about 5 minutes after injecting for a duration of 10-15 minutes or so. I also get so shaky. But I can sit through discomfort for a while and survive.

All in all I’m proud of myself. I can’t say all of my fears are entirely conquered, but in the last 2 months I have been to the dentist 4 times - the most I have in 7 years. Baby steps.

Thank you for checking in with my kind friend. ❤️❤️❤️
 
Back
Top