K
keithito
Junior member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2016
- Messages
- 3
Hey everyone, I'm about to go into the dentist tomorrow afternoon for my first visit since I was 12 (I'm 27 now). Growing up my family was very poor and my parents weren't the most well informed about the importance of this kind of stuff (they were very young and had pretty bad dental hygiene themselves) so once I got to a certain age they just stopped taking me. Prior to this I'd only ever had pretty bad experiences at the Dentist, a lot of very painful fillings and extractions done at some pretty questionable dentist offices, so I really didn't ever think too much about it after that. I brushed my teeth regularly and tried to floss (admittedly I'm not the best at it) and never had any issues. My teeth have always looked a little yellow and crooked but up until a year ago there was never any pain.
About a year ago I was eating lunch and a piece of one of my molars (second from the back) fell off. All of a sudden all of the anxiety and fear I had bottled up about this stuff came rushing back and I did whatever I could to ignore it. There was never any pain, and I just kind of started to chew on the other side, having convinced myself I could live without that tooth. I also didn't have much dental coverage at all so I was reluctant to look into it for financial reasons.
Now about a month ago, same kind of story, but on the other side of my mouth. The second from the back but on the opposite side this time, cracked nearly in half and fell out. This time though the pain started almost instantly. It comes and goes, and I can manage it with advil, but last week my girlfriend finally convinced me that I needed to see a dentist about these two broken teeth.
I live in Toronto and I have a bit of coverage through work (they'll pay 90% of most non-major procedures, up to a max of $2000 a year) and I have a credit card that I haven't touched yet to help out in this exact kind of situation, but I'm still nervous about the cost. I don't know what I'll need done which I guess is the point of tomorrow's appointment, but coming from a family with no money I get really worked up about these things.
And of course I'm also feeling a huge amount of anxiety about just going to the dentist at all. I'm afraid of what they're going to say when I tell them how long it's been, and I'm afraid of how much it's going to hurt, how much it's going to hurt when I start to get anything done, how I'm going to react to hearing the cost and hearing about what they're going to need to do, it's just all very daunting. I'm prone to panic attacks, and while they're not generally brought on by stressful events, I'm anxious about what will happen if I panic tomorrow.
My teeth have been a huge point of stress for me for a while now and the pain I'm in is pretty unbearable, but I know that I need to take advantage of what dental coverage I do have while I have it (I don't plan to be in this job for a whole lot longer) and I know it's just going to get worse if I put it off, just can't shake all of this nervousness and dread I'm feeling about tomorrow and the weeks that will follow.
About a year ago I was eating lunch and a piece of one of my molars (second from the back) fell off. All of a sudden all of the anxiety and fear I had bottled up about this stuff came rushing back and I did whatever I could to ignore it. There was never any pain, and I just kind of started to chew on the other side, having convinced myself I could live without that tooth. I also didn't have much dental coverage at all so I was reluctant to look into it for financial reasons.
Now about a month ago, same kind of story, but on the other side of my mouth. The second from the back but on the opposite side this time, cracked nearly in half and fell out. This time though the pain started almost instantly. It comes and goes, and I can manage it with advil, but last week my girlfriend finally convinced me that I needed to see a dentist about these two broken teeth.
I live in Toronto and I have a bit of coverage through work (they'll pay 90% of most non-major procedures, up to a max of $2000 a year) and I have a credit card that I haven't touched yet to help out in this exact kind of situation, but I'm still nervous about the cost. I don't know what I'll need done which I guess is the point of tomorrow's appointment, but coming from a family with no money I get really worked up about these things.
And of course I'm also feeling a huge amount of anxiety about just going to the dentist at all. I'm afraid of what they're going to say when I tell them how long it's been, and I'm afraid of how much it's going to hurt, how much it's going to hurt when I start to get anything done, how I'm going to react to hearing the cost and hearing about what they're going to need to do, it's just all very daunting. I'm prone to panic attacks, and while they're not generally brought on by stressful events, I'm anxious about what will happen if I panic tomorrow.
My teeth have been a huge point of stress for me for a while now and the pain I'm in is pretty unbearable, but I know that I need to take advantage of what dental coverage I do have while I have it (I don't plan to be in this job for a whole lot longer) and I know it's just going to get worse if I put it off, just can't shake all of this nervousness and dread I'm feeling about tomorrow and the weeks that will follow.