C
cusackcat
Junior member
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2018
- Messages
- 1
Hi, I'm in the UK and am 46 years old. I hadn't been to the dentist for 3-4 years and managed to go today and as a result, need major work doing and I am terrified and in shock.
Basically, a number of things lead to my anxiety; as a child, my parents never took me to the dentist, not once. My parents were in their 40s when they had me and had uneducated attitudes saying 'there's nothing wrong with my kid's teeth' etc. When I was an adult, I took myself and needed a few fillings, which was okay, not overly horrific. In the years that followed, I had a really bad experience with a dentist not believing that I wasn't numb and was in agony while he was doing a filling - he laughed at me and told me I was being silly.
After this experience, I only ever went to a dentist when I was in pain, so quite sporadically - have had fillings, root canals, 2 crowns and in my early 30s, the pain from my impacted wisdom teeth was so great I even agreed to have them removed in hospital under GA - recovery was prolonged and awful but it was the right thing to do.
In the last 10 years or so, where I live, I simply could not find an NHS dentist anywhere near, so I ended up going to a private dentist when I had a problem but then I got divorced and couldn't afford to go anymore. About 2 years ago, I ended up with 2 herniated discs in my lower back and after several months of failed attempted treatments (and being in agony), about 18 months ago I had to have spinal surgery - it took a long time to get anywhere near normal after the surgery and I still have a lot of pain now, taking Tramadol and Co-codamol as sparingly as I can but I cannot function without this pain relief...it could take years apparently (if ever) for my sciatic nerve (which was damaged or trapped by the herniations) to recover. I was not very mobile for a lot of this time and no way could I have laid down in a dentist chair. I am also being treated for chronic depression.
So I had noticed during this time that my teeth were suddenly getting much worse - teeth breaking off at gum level, fillings coming out, abscesses - I went twice last year to an emergency dentist via calling 111 as my face had swollen up so much and the pain was awful. That dentist was not taking patients on and didn't know of any NHS dentists in the area that were either - if I'm being honest, I had no huge desire to hunt for one due to my fear and the amount of spinal pain I was in.
Anyway, I recently changed jobs which has started to transform my life and I am finally starting to sort myself and my life out and I decided that I MUST get my teeth looked at as I am embarrassed and ashamed of their appearance, not to mention the pain when I get an abscess. I DO brush my teeth, floss and I even use toothpicks. So, I kept hunting and found a dentist that was taking new NHS patients. I told the receptionist that I was a nervous patient etc. and she reassured me that they were used to this and all would be okay so I booked my appointment - I had to wait several weeks but that was okay..the appointment was today and all day yesterday and this morning I felt so nauseous about going and panicky. I knew that it wouldn't be good and I want to have healthy teeth and my smile back. After a long examination and more x-rays than I can remember, it turns out that he is referring me to hospital to have 9 teeth extracted (may need a 10th removed but he's leaving that up to the surgeon to decide if the tooth can be saved or not) and I think he said 11 fillings...it was double digit fillings anyway, with the teeth I will have left.
I have already have had 7 teeth removed over the years (5 at once under GA with 4 being wisdom teeth and one right beside a wisdom tooth) and 2 in a dental surgery and now I am hardly going to have any teeth left at all. To make things worse, all remaining 5 teeth in my lower right have to come out so I will have no teeth at all there.
I knew that the 4 broken teeth I have would probably need extracted as they broke off at the gumline but was not expecting this many. He has told me that only when fully healed will they even start to look at dentures or the like. In the meantime he wants me to go back and start having the fillings done whilst waiting for the hospital appointment. I am in a bit of shock to be honest - some teeth that look okay on the surface are apparently not and have to come out. I am worried about being able to talk properly afterwards and face people whilst waiting for dentures or whatever, as I work full-time and he said that it will be a long road, which I fully appreciate but all the same, I am so scared. I am shocked that even with daily brushing and flossing etc. that this is the outcome; the problems escalated after I had been on high doses of Tramadol for several months and I have in the past found some references online to Tramadol usage causing issues with teeth and bones but the dentist today said it was nothing to do with that, that it was poor oral hygiene. He said that once the decay sets in, if not treated, no amount of brushing takes it away.
I feel so stupid for letting my teeth get in this state in such a short amount of time and embarrassed that I will have dentures or bridges or whatever at my age. I don't know what to expect having so many teeth extracted at once. To be fair, the dentist today was okay..he wasn't sympathetic to my nervousness at all but wasn't as horrible as he could have been.
Sorry for having written such a long post, it just helps to tell someone - has anyone here had a similar experience?
Thanks in advance.
Basically, a number of things lead to my anxiety; as a child, my parents never took me to the dentist, not once. My parents were in their 40s when they had me and had uneducated attitudes saying 'there's nothing wrong with my kid's teeth' etc. When I was an adult, I took myself and needed a few fillings, which was okay, not overly horrific. In the years that followed, I had a really bad experience with a dentist not believing that I wasn't numb and was in agony while he was doing a filling - he laughed at me and told me I was being silly.
After this experience, I only ever went to a dentist when I was in pain, so quite sporadically - have had fillings, root canals, 2 crowns and in my early 30s, the pain from my impacted wisdom teeth was so great I even agreed to have them removed in hospital under GA - recovery was prolonged and awful but it was the right thing to do.
In the last 10 years or so, where I live, I simply could not find an NHS dentist anywhere near, so I ended up going to a private dentist when I had a problem but then I got divorced and couldn't afford to go anymore. About 2 years ago, I ended up with 2 herniated discs in my lower back and after several months of failed attempted treatments (and being in agony), about 18 months ago I had to have spinal surgery - it took a long time to get anywhere near normal after the surgery and I still have a lot of pain now, taking Tramadol and Co-codamol as sparingly as I can but I cannot function without this pain relief...it could take years apparently (if ever) for my sciatic nerve (which was damaged or trapped by the herniations) to recover. I was not very mobile for a lot of this time and no way could I have laid down in a dentist chair. I am also being treated for chronic depression.
So I had noticed during this time that my teeth were suddenly getting much worse - teeth breaking off at gum level, fillings coming out, abscesses - I went twice last year to an emergency dentist via calling 111 as my face had swollen up so much and the pain was awful. That dentist was not taking patients on and didn't know of any NHS dentists in the area that were either - if I'm being honest, I had no huge desire to hunt for one due to my fear and the amount of spinal pain I was in.
Anyway, I recently changed jobs which has started to transform my life and I am finally starting to sort myself and my life out and I decided that I MUST get my teeth looked at as I am embarrassed and ashamed of their appearance, not to mention the pain when I get an abscess. I DO brush my teeth, floss and I even use toothpicks. So, I kept hunting and found a dentist that was taking new NHS patients. I told the receptionist that I was a nervous patient etc. and she reassured me that they were used to this and all would be okay so I booked my appointment - I had to wait several weeks but that was okay..the appointment was today and all day yesterday and this morning I felt so nauseous about going and panicky. I knew that it wouldn't be good and I want to have healthy teeth and my smile back. After a long examination and more x-rays than I can remember, it turns out that he is referring me to hospital to have 9 teeth extracted (may need a 10th removed but he's leaving that up to the surgeon to decide if the tooth can be saved or not) and I think he said 11 fillings...it was double digit fillings anyway, with the teeth I will have left.
I have already have had 7 teeth removed over the years (5 at once under GA with 4 being wisdom teeth and one right beside a wisdom tooth) and 2 in a dental surgery and now I am hardly going to have any teeth left at all. To make things worse, all remaining 5 teeth in my lower right have to come out so I will have no teeth at all there.
I knew that the 4 broken teeth I have would probably need extracted as they broke off at the gumline but was not expecting this many. He has told me that only when fully healed will they even start to look at dentures or the like. In the meantime he wants me to go back and start having the fillings done whilst waiting for the hospital appointment. I am in a bit of shock to be honest - some teeth that look okay on the surface are apparently not and have to come out. I am worried about being able to talk properly afterwards and face people whilst waiting for dentures or whatever, as I work full-time and he said that it will be a long road, which I fully appreciate but all the same, I am so scared. I am shocked that even with daily brushing and flossing etc. that this is the outcome; the problems escalated after I had been on high doses of Tramadol for several months and I have in the past found some references online to Tramadol usage causing issues with teeth and bones but the dentist today said it was nothing to do with that, that it was poor oral hygiene. He said that once the decay sets in, if not treated, no amount of brushing takes it away.
I feel so stupid for letting my teeth get in this state in such a short amount of time and embarrassed that I will have dentures or bridges or whatever at my age. I don't know what to expect having so many teeth extracted at once. To be fair, the dentist today was okay..he wasn't sympathetic to my nervousness at all but wasn't as horrible as he could have been.
Sorry for having written such a long post, it just helps to tell someone - has anyone here had a similar experience?
Thanks in advance.
