B
bennybear
Junior member
- Joined
- May 4, 2012
- Messages
- 17
Here's my story:
When I was younger, going to the dentist was always a huge huge huge ordeal for me and my family. My mom had my brother and I at a young age, and so she didn't really teach us proper teeth cleaning habits. When my brother and I would argue, she'd let us do what we wanted. This meant that my teeth suffered, along with some other things. When I'd go to the dentist, I would always have some sort of filling or extraction that needed to be done. I would always get the "who's going to want to kiss you with that mouth?" treatment, as well as being pinned down by family/nurses in order to get anything done. At a young age, this really set me up for failure. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, my mom took me in to get a tooth removed. I walked in, they told me they were going to sedate me, I stood up and said no, left and never went back.
A few years later, my teeth started to really hate me for my decision. I had two teeth (I assume they had cavities in them) break and then keep breaking until they were broken to the gumline. I had many other problems that I ignored, and hoped the pain would go away. It did, and so to me, this meant that everything was fine. I knew deep down that this wasn't the case, but if my teeth weren't hurting then I didn't need to see the dentist.
There are a few moments that really highlight my experiences with my teeth, and these are the moments that caused me to change my decision. In high school one day, I was talking to a friend, when I smiled and he looked at me and said "what the fuck is wrong with your teeth?" Until that point, I hadn't thought they were all that bad. Looking in the mirror later, I realized my front four teeth had brown spots on them, presumably from cavities. I cried all night and from that point on it became a natural reaction to cover my mouth when I smiled, or not smile big at all.
Another moment was when I went for a checkup at my doctors office. She asked me to open so she could check my throat, and while looking, paused and told me it looked like my two broken teeth were pretty bad. I told her that I knew, and was working on it. (I lied.) My boyfriend at the time was with me, and afterwards said he had no idea I had broken teeth. He told me he wanted me to fix them, and we argued about it. He had no idea the anxiety I was going through even THINKING about visiting a dentist. After we broke up, I started to seriously consider going back. After all, one day I wanted to have children, and one day I wanted to be the kind of mommy that sits in the dentist chair and says "look! mommy can do it!".
In February of 2009, I started googling and eventually found this forum. I posted my story (under a different account) and received tonnes of support because of my fear. I finally didn't feel alone. I still had anxiety attacks and thoughts of "should I just kill myself instead?", but at least I had a place to talk.
I told my Nana that I wanted to go back to the dentist, and she was so, so supportive. She knew the things I went through before, and she knew that I had to have someone I trusted. She recommended me her dentist, and I decided to try it. So we made an appointment, and after a lot of panic attacks and tears, I made it to the dreaded chair.
My first point of contact with him was the receptionist. She was easily the warmest, most kind person I'd ever met. She immediately put me at ease when I told her I was scared and didn't know what to expect. She told me that honestly, it's not easy to overcome a fear this big, but she was really proud that I was trying. She told me that they have found success treating anxiety patients, and that the dentist will let me have a signal if I need and he'll go as slow as I want.
I met the dentist, and told him my story. He listened, and just when I was expecting him to say "10 years? You waited 10 YEARS??" he calmly said "let's see where we can start." So we took x-rays and decided to knock out the fillings first because they would ease me into the process. After 10 years of not seeing a dentist, I only had 6 cavities. We also did a cleaning, since it had been so long.
I went through the fillings easy peasy, and he'd also prescribed me Diazepam which greatly helped. It really calms my heart down and makes time go by a lot faster. It also helped that my Nana was there for me if I needed her, just a few feet away. It felt so good to go to my first week of college and for the first time in years, I was able to smile and not worry about any brown spots on my teeth! I found out that I suffered from PTSD and anxiety as a result of my previous experiences.
There was a bump in the road in February of 2010 when my mom lost her job, and as such I lost my coverage. I had to stop going, which was disappointing because I really just wanted to get it all done with. That November, I woke up with a horrible pain in my face. My face had swollen, and even just moving my upper lip sent an overwhelming shock through my face. I went to the ER (I am in Canada so this was free.) and he told me "it's just gingivitis." I didn't trust his word, it hurt too much to be gingivitis. I decided that my health and my teeth were more important than saving some money, and payed the dentist a visit. He told me it was an abscess forming around a filling he'd done, and that it happens sometimes when a filling goes too deep. He told me what he was going to charge me to do a root canal, and to come back when I was able. I found out that my college offered an emergency bursary for people who were in immediate need of money. (That's a story I won't tell here, but eventually I did get the money.) They gave me $500 to cover the root canal, and it was immediate relief.
Fast forward to a month or so ago. I noticed that one of my teeth had a crack in it. There was absolutely no way I was letting myself lose another tooth, that would be three. I'm 22 years old, I don't want to have lost 3 teeth at such a young age. So I decided to buck up, and that I had enough money from my job to pay for something that was important. If I had to cut costs elsewhere, so be it. Thank god all I needed was a filling, but while I was there I decided that it was about time for my two broken teeth to come out.
Today I went in to get the first of those teeth out. I posted here because I was worried - what if I need stitches? What if it takes forever? The entire visit took 20 minutes. I was numbed, which took about 10 minutes to take effect. Then he started tugging - the next thing I knew, he was done and there was some fragments of tooth in his hand. I could not believe it.
I am 22 years old, and have for the most part, erased my fear of the dentist. There will always be anxiety and I will always get nervous before an appointment, but no longer will I consider cancelling appointments or cry over the things that I am not sure of. I have just one appointment left to fix the things that were a direct result of my not taking care of my teeth (I have to deal with wisdom teeth eventually, and two teeth that have just grown recently!), and I can say that I am so happy and relieved I have done this. My journey took a little longer than expected because of those bumps in the road, but it is almost done, and that's something I never thought I'd say. I can finally be excited to be a mommy one day and tell my children the honest truth - that going to the dentist is easy.
Thank you,
When I was younger, going to the dentist was always a huge huge huge ordeal for me and my family. My mom had my brother and I at a young age, and so she didn't really teach us proper teeth cleaning habits. When my brother and I would argue, she'd let us do what we wanted. This meant that my teeth suffered, along with some other things. When I'd go to the dentist, I would always have some sort of filling or extraction that needed to be done. I would always get the "who's going to want to kiss you with that mouth?" treatment, as well as being pinned down by family/nurses in order to get anything done. At a young age, this really set me up for failure. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, my mom took me in to get a tooth removed. I walked in, they told me they were going to sedate me, I stood up and said no, left and never went back.
A few years later, my teeth started to really hate me for my decision. I had two teeth (I assume they had cavities in them) break and then keep breaking until they were broken to the gumline. I had many other problems that I ignored, and hoped the pain would go away. It did, and so to me, this meant that everything was fine. I knew deep down that this wasn't the case, but if my teeth weren't hurting then I didn't need to see the dentist.
There are a few moments that really highlight my experiences with my teeth, and these are the moments that caused me to change my decision. In high school one day, I was talking to a friend, when I smiled and he looked at me and said "what the fuck is wrong with your teeth?" Until that point, I hadn't thought they were all that bad. Looking in the mirror later, I realized my front four teeth had brown spots on them, presumably from cavities. I cried all night and from that point on it became a natural reaction to cover my mouth when I smiled, or not smile big at all.
Another moment was when I went for a checkup at my doctors office. She asked me to open so she could check my throat, and while looking, paused and told me it looked like my two broken teeth were pretty bad. I told her that I knew, and was working on it. (I lied.) My boyfriend at the time was with me, and afterwards said he had no idea I had broken teeth. He told me he wanted me to fix them, and we argued about it. He had no idea the anxiety I was going through even THINKING about visiting a dentist. After we broke up, I started to seriously consider going back. After all, one day I wanted to have children, and one day I wanted to be the kind of mommy that sits in the dentist chair and says "look! mommy can do it!".
In February of 2009, I started googling and eventually found this forum. I posted my story (under a different account) and received tonnes of support because of my fear. I finally didn't feel alone. I still had anxiety attacks and thoughts of "should I just kill myself instead?", but at least I had a place to talk.
I told my Nana that I wanted to go back to the dentist, and she was so, so supportive. She knew the things I went through before, and she knew that I had to have someone I trusted. She recommended me her dentist, and I decided to try it. So we made an appointment, and after a lot of panic attacks and tears, I made it to the dreaded chair.
My first point of contact with him was the receptionist. She was easily the warmest, most kind person I'd ever met. She immediately put me at ease when I told her I was scared and didn't know what to expect. She told me that honestly, it's not easy to overcome a fear this big, but she was really proud that I was trying. She told me that they have found success treating anxiety patients, and that the dentist will let me have a signal if I need and he'll go as slow as I want.
I met the dentist, and told him my story. He listened, and just when I was expecting him to say "10 years? You waited 10 YEARS??" he calmly said "let's see where we can start." So we took x-rays and decided to knock out the fillings first because they would ease me into the process. After 10 years of not seeing a dentist, I only had 6 cavities. We also did a cleaning, since it had been so long.
I went through the fillings easy peasy, and he'd also prescribed me Diazepam which greatly helped. It really calms my heart down and makes time go by a lot faster. It also helped that my Nana was there for me if I needed her, just a few feet away. It felt so good to go to my first week of college and for the first time in years, I was able to smile and not worry about any brown spots on my teeth! I found out that I suffered from PTSD and anxiety as a result of my previous experiences.
There was a bump in the road in February of 2010 when my mom lost her job, and as such I lost my coverage. I had to stop going, which was disappointing because I really just wanted to get it all done with. That November, I woke up with a horrible pain in my face. My face had swollen, and even just moving my upper lip sent an overwhelming shock through my face. I went to the ER (I am in Canada so this was free.) and he told me "it's just gingivitis." I didn't trust his word, it hurt too much to be gingivitis. I decided that my health and my teeth were more important than saving some money, and payed the dentist a visit. He told me it was an abscess forming around a filling he'd done, and that it happens sometimes when a filling goes too deep. He told me what he was going to charge me to do a root canal, and to come back when I was able. I found out that my college offered an emergency bursary for people who were in immediate need of money. (That's a story I won't tell here, but eventually I did get the money.) They gave me $500 to cover the root canal, and it was immediate relief.
Fast forward to a month or so ago. I noticed that one of my teeth had a crack in it. There was absolutely no way I was letting myself lose another tooth, that would be three. I'm 22 years old, I don't want to have lost 3 teeth at such a young age. So I decided to buck up, and that I had enough money from my job to pay for something that was important. If I had to cut costs elsewhere, so be it. Thank god all I needed was a filling, but while I was there I decided that it was about time for my two broken teeth to come out.
Today I went in to get the first of those teeth out. I posted here because I was worried - what if I need stitches? What if it takes forever? The entire visit took 20 minutes. I was numbed, which took about 10 minutes to take effect. Then he started tugging - the next thing I knew, he was done and there was some fragments of tooth in his hand. I could not believe it.
I am 22 years old, and have for the most part, erased my fear of the dentist. There will always be anxiety and I will always get nervous before an appointment, but no longer will I consider cancelling appointments or cry over the things that I am not sure of. I have just one appointment left to fix the things that were a direct result of my not taking care of my teeth (I have to deal with wisdom teeth eventually, and two teeth that have just grown recently!), and I can say that I am so happy and relieved I have done this. My journey took a little longer than expected because of those bumps in the road, but it is almost done, and that's something I never thought I'd say. I can finally be excited to be a mommy one day and tell my children the honest truth - that going to the dentist is easy.
Thank you,