• Dental Phobia Support

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First appointment booked in 20+years!

S

Sonya1981

Junior member
Joined
May 29, 2017
Messages
2
Hi,

I have really bad teeth, and I mean really bad. I haven’t been to a dentist in over 20 years. This morning I booked an appointment. I’m extremely proud of myself for taking the first step. I have lots of missing teeth, and some wobbly ones. My question is, what happens at the 1st appointment? I’m so embarrassed about showing my teeth to the dentist. I’m assuming that I will need a full denture. Will I be without teeth if this happens? Also my gum has shrunk in some places, is it possible to still have a denture with a shrunken gum? Thank you
 
Well done for taking the crucial first step.

First off, please don't be embarrassed about your teeth, trust me, they will have seen worse...

People seem to think this a lot, you need to remember that most dentists are "doers", in other words when we look at teeth, we're usually thinking "How can I make this better", we're not massively interested in why it's happened, just how to go forward from it.

For your first appointment there would normally be a few questions about your medical history, your previous dental history, your current complaints if any and so forth.
Next would usually be a baseline charting of your teeth, which ones are present, which are missing and so on, then the present fillings are recorded.
Next the condition of your gums is checked and recorded.
After this, different dentists do things differently, but in general, decay will be checked for, x-rays taken and finally a treatment plan decided on.

Rather than go into a whole load of "what ifs" here, how about we leave things there till you've seen your dentist and then if you have further questions you can ask here?
 
I did it! I had my first appointment today. I was so nervous about it I didn’t sleep last night. Then this morning I was up, showered and ready to go but when I got there I almost didn’t go in.
Im so so glad I did though. The dentist was lovely. I had a front tooth that was really loose so he injected my gum and pulled it. He told me that if I needed to stop at anytime to just tap the sink. I felt so comfortable with him, and that made it so much easier.
I have to go back in 3 weeks to have an impression done to fit a denture. I wish I’d done this years ago!
 
Congratulations. That took a lot of guts.
 
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