• Dental Phobia Support

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Finally cavity free!! :) Mixed feelings but mostly good

Anxious Kitty

Anxious Kitty

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2016
Messages
21
I first posted here all the way back in July of 2016, started my dental treatment in December the same year, and now I'm here to update as its been a long time since I posted!

If you want the long story you should read my first posts here on the forum.

But I'm basically someone who had dental issues my whole life. I can remember getting fillings and other dental work as young as 5.. I never liked the dentist. But my phobia started when I was 13 and had a very traumatic dental experience.
I spent my whole teens and the first half of my 20s paralyzed by my fear of the dentist. I avoided dentists like the plague and sadly had parents that would give in and not make me go, not realizing how badly it affected me.

I had existing dental issues from childhood that worsened during these 10+ years, along with new problems that kept coming. I had so many cavities, a few that were rotted to the gumline. I'd often be in pain and it also affected my self-esteem very badly.
But my fear of the dentist was so great that I just kept living with it, hoping maybe one day I'd get over it or some miracle would happen.

Well it finally did happen. In December of 2016, I realized enough was enough and took the first steps to a healthy mouth. And then never looked back. It took a long time, partly due to how long it takes to get appointments, but also because I really had so much work to be done. But now I am finally cavity free as of yesterday morning.

I still have dental anxiety but I'm no longer phobic. I take anxiety medicine before my appointments and do just fine (along with some music and a fidget toy). I've had 4 cavities and 3 wisdom teeth pulled, 1 healthy tooth pulled (due to where it grew in), one root canal, and around 12-15 fillings of varying sizes (I lost count but there were a lot).
All of that without ever being knocked out or anything. I even had some fillings done with no novocaine! (Which I don't recommend BTW)

My next step now is to get into braces which I'm pretty excited about. I can't wait to finally have straight teeth. My teeth are already looking and feeling so much better and its helped my confidence a lot in different ways. But my teeth are still not especially "presentable"... and it will be amazing to finally have teeth I can smile with.

I'm really giddy over my accomplishments. However I do have some mixed feelings I'm trying to not let dampen my mood...

It's just that I know my teeth will require a ton of life long maintenance due to how many fillings I've had and knowing they'll need to be replaced eventually. It sucks because I already deal with an eye condition that requires a lot of maintenance! It's a lot to keep up with.
I also feel that I must have some very weak enamal to have ended up like this to begin with as I don't think my negligence on its own should have led to so many cavities. I do worry about more cavities forming in the future... I just hope that if I take good enough care of my teeth that it'll all be ok. I really don't want to lose any more teeth or god forbid, ever have to have dentures. :(

The other thing is I know after I'm out of braces, I'll need some implants to replace the 4 teeth I had pulled (anyone know how bad those are?). My root canal tooth also needs a crown which can't be placed until after braces are done! So I'm being careful around it. I've still got a ways to go I guess.

The last thing thats bugging me is I'm having some sensitivity on some upper teeth I had fillings on in early February. My regular dentist didnt do these fillings - I went to a medicaid dentist last year when I maxed out benefits on my primary... and then went once more this year to try and get my fillings completed cuz the free dental work was too tempting.
But their work was a bit shoddy and my regular dentist had to touch up on some spots they missed. My regular dentist said it looked area of sensitivity looked fine, but he adjusted the bite for me yesterday and said that might help (I guess the filling was a bit "high" though I couldnt tell).

It does seem much better now but I still have the slightest bit of sensitivity. Its like a mild stabbing pain when I chew crunchy things like chips, then immediately goes away. I'm going to try this sensitivity toothpaste they gave me. But he also said I might be grinding my teeth at night.


I suppose I shouldn't dwell on the negative and celebrate my new cavity-free status. Today I'm going to make an orthodontist appointment. :)

Anyway if you're in any position where I was as a teen/early 20-something... just make the first step and everything will fall into place. If I can do it, anyone can. I just wish I had done it much sooner. It's much easier than I knew and I almost feel silly that I let myself be so miserable and afraid of something like this.

Now I'm 26 and gonna be in braces lol.... but just thankful I even get this opportunity really. :)

PS- I also want to thank this forum and anyone whose been nice to me. I think posting here for the first time kinda forced me to acknowledge the depth of my situation and finally do something. Before I made that post, I always kept everything to myself. So thanks to this forum for existing.
 
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Well done getting your cavities, fixed, it is a worry for me a well about my teeth about having a small mouth, even though I go reguarly I have had some teeth fixed, one root canal and one removed as I could not afford an emergecy root canal this was not my normal dentist as I am with a NHS, he wanted to charge me private price.
 
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