• 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.

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First time back, terrified of what's going on with me.

C

Cassiopeia-

Junior member
Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
5
Two years ago I was hospitalized for a week, and I never went back to the dentist after that. I'm going on Tuesday not for my teeth, but because my jaw has been popping, clicking, and sometimes it's become incredibly painful to bite down or chew. I am, however, also terrified of my teeth. I have 8 fillings, I'm so scared the rest of my teeth are dead or have to all be pulled out. I know this is silly, I have no pain, no sensitivity, I do have some small dark areas on my back teeth, but those have been there since childhood and no doctor has said anything about them other than staining. I just imagine walking in and being told my jaw needs surgery, or all my teeth have to come out. It's to the point where I'm crying because I feel like my teeth are just horrible and disgusting. I brush every day, admittedly I forget to floss, but I do brush every single day. My fears are silly, right? It's only been two years, and they were perfect last time I was there, so not much could have happened since then? My jaw worries me as well, but funnily enough not as much as my teeth do, and they're not even the problem. I feel bad being so scared after such a short amount of time not going, but I can't help this terrible fear.
 
Medically, I have no idea: obligatory not a dentist.

I do know one thing for sure: fears are rarely silly: they may prove unfounded-such is life- but smart survivors (which is everyone in this forum) knows that fear always has some basis in reality or possible realities.

Which is just a long and awkward way of saying that I honor your fear, and by no means consider it silly. Your emotions and experiences are valid.

Don’t feel bad for experiencing fear. Face it with courage:)
 
This is so very well said @Dg6300 .. Thank you . @Cassiopeia- I agree with DG6300. Your fears are real and valid. and its okay to feel it, its human, you have a lot going on .. I hope your going to the right dentist will put your fears to ease and you can come out the other side saying, that wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined.. We are here with you to walk the journey and share whatever you like.. all of your feelings are valid..
 
Hi Cassiopeia,

As you self wrote, your concerns can be easily addressed by having a dental check up. In the end, that is the only way. Would you agree to that?
I assume that a dental check up would be difficult for you not only because of the stress involved but also because of theTMJ’s which make difficult for you keeping the mouth open especially if some kind of treatment (like dental cleaning) is needed. I would suggest going to a dental office which has an OPG X ray machine which makes panoramic images of the mouth. This way you can easily gain lots of information about your oral health with our opening the mouth.
 
Hi Cassiopeia and welcome back! :) I am sorry to read about what is going on with your jaw now. It sounds painful and very uncomfortable. Regarding your fears - I can see your ambivalence. You know your teeth must be ok and you have no logical reasons why they shouldn't be. And at the same time you are scared and having all those scary images about what might be going to happen. Those are not silly at all, those are how people suffering from dental fear think and feel when they are about to see a dentist. If you were deeply relaxed and not worried at all, it wouldn't be dental fear :) I have read your lovely success story you wrote 5 years ago. It is very encouraging and I can only encourage you to read it too, just to remind yourself how postive and happy you were. Sadly, losing those fears is linked to the difficult task of facing them and going through them and it sounds like this is what you are doing now. Keeping my fingers crossed for you to find a way to distract yourself during the waiting time (there are a lot of ideas here on the page) for your next appointment and may all go well.
Talking also helps so as usually, feel free to pop in all your thoughts and worries here.

All the best wishes and keep us posted
 
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