S
Stumbleina
Junior member
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2014
- Messages
- 12
- Location
- New Hampshire, USA
Hi everyone, I'm new here and I'm hoping that I can get some reassurance about my fears of getting my wisdom teeth taken out in a little less than a month. I will be sure to update once it happens as well!
A little background:
I am going to be getting all 4 taken out at once. My teeth are fully erupted, and the main reason I am having them extracted is that one of them has slowly been falling apart for years now. I actually had a big cavity removed from one and filled with a pretty giant filling because I was so anxious about the idea of getting them extracted! I am 31 and I have been told since I was in my late teens that I would have to have it done, so I've been dealing with (or rather, ignoring!) this fear for quite a long time.
About 2 weeks ago the filling in one of my wisdom teeth came out. Ugh. At that point, I knew that I was going to have to bite the bullet and get it done because otherwise I would just be putting more money into a tooth that clearly needs to be gone, and I am not a rich person! My dentist recommended getting all 4 removed so I wouldn't have to deal with this more than once. I was convinced that I should only get the top 2 removed because of monetary reasons, and when I went in for my consult yesterday with my oral surgeon, he convinced me that my dentist was right. They know how nervous I am, and he told me that it would be more cost effective to get all four done at once, and to have sedation for it - he was even kind enough to give me a discount because he knew I was uninsured.
My oral surgeon is a very nice person, kind and reassuring with very gentle mannerisms. He assures me that I will do "just fine" and the whole process should be easy on me. So why am I still so nervous?! I am convinced it is for a couple of reasons:
1) I fear the unknown! I know this is a very human trait, but logically I can convince myself that I am being silly. It's like my fear of flying - the chances of something "untoward" (to put it nicely) happening is so very slim that it's not worth worrying over. But I still fear it, because I've never been through it myself! I have never had to have any surgery for any reason, and I have never been "knocked out" on any type of drug.
2) I convince myself that I am going to be part of the 1% where something terrible happens. Again, it's irrational fear that makes me believe this, and even though I can "convince" myself that I am being silly, I know that when I go in that morning I am going to be fighting down panic the entire way. I've gotta be brave and get it done, but the flight-or-fight in me definitely wants to fly.
So that's pretty much where I am at. I know I must do it, and I have the date set (April 11, so I will have the weekend to recover!), and I will get it done.. but I am a worrier. I worry about that moment when I am sitting in the chair waiting for the sedative to kick in, and I worry about how it will make me feel - will I feel overwhelmed? Will I ever wake up? Of course rational me wants to sit down with irrational, worrier me and have some strong words with her.. but I can never seem to fully convince myself to let rational me take over! Ugh! I hate being a worry wort!
In any case, if any of you are not tired to death of telling your stories, I would love some reassurance about this. I still have several weeks to go before the big day and I am trying not to dwell on it too much, but I know that hearing from others about their experiences will help me - and it already has, as I have read quite a bit on this forum already
Thanks everyone!
A little background:
I am going to be getting all 4 taken out at once. My teeth are fully erupted, and the main reason I am having them extracted is that one of them has slowly been falling apart for years now. I actually had a big cavity removed from one and filled with a pretty giant filling because I was so anxious about the idea of getting them extracted! I am 31 and I have been told since I was in my late teens that I would have to have it done, so I've been dealing with (or rather, ignoring!) this fear for quite a long time.
About 2 weeks ago the filling in one of my wisdom teeth came out. Ugh. At that point, I knew that I was going to have to bite the bullet and get it done because otherwise I would just be putting more money into a tooth that clearly needs to be gone, and I am not a rich person! My dentist recommended getting all 4 removed so I wouldn't have to deal with this more than once. I was convinced that I should only get the top 2 removed because of monetary reasons, and when I went in for my consult yesterday with my oral surgeon, he convinced me that my dentist was right. They know how nervous I am, and he told me that it would be more cost effective to get all four done at once, and to have sedation for it - he was even kind enough to give me a discount because he knew I was uninsured.
My oral surgeon is a very nice person, kind and reassuring with very gentle mannerisms. He assures me that I will do "just fine" and the whole process should be easy on me. So why am I still so nervous?! I am convinced it is for a couple of reasons:
1) I fear the unknown! I know this is a very human trait, but logically I can convince myself that I am being silly. It's like my fear of flying - the chances of something "untoward" (to put it nicely) happening is so very slim that it's not worth worrying over. But I still fear it, because I've never been through it myself! I have never had to have any surgery for any reason, and I have never been "knocked out" on any type of drug.
2) I convince myself that I am going to be part of the 1% where something terrible happens. Again, it's irrational fear that makes me believe this, and even though I can "convince" myself that I am being silly, I know that when I go in that morning I am going to be fighting down panic the entire way. I've gotta be brave and get it done, but the flight-or-fight in me definitely wants to fly.
So that's pretty much where I am at. I know I must do it, and I have the date set (April 11, so I will have the weekend to recover!), and I will get it done.. but I am a worrier. I worry about that moment when I am sitting in the chair waiting for the sedative to kick in, and I worry about how it will make me feel - will I feel overwhelmed? Will I ever wake up? Of course rational me wants to sit down with irrational, worrier me and have some strong words with her.. but I can never seem to fully convince myself to let rational me take over! Ugh! I hate being a worry wort!
In any case, if any of you are not tired to death of telling your stories, I would love some reassurance about this. I still have several weeks to go before the big day and I am trying not to dwell on it too much, but I know that hearing from others about their experiences will help me - and it already has, as I have read quite a bit on this forum already
Thanks everyone!