Have to decide between sedation or not in a few days. Please give me advice.

[anxious112]

Hey all. I’m in UK, f 30s. Sorry if this is really long.

I’ve had so much trauma from the dentist but overall I have health anxiety. Can’t get blood work done due to fear of needles, passing out, getting sick or having a medical trauma situation happen.

I’ve tried anxiety medication and had syncope responses due to low blood pressure so any medication for me is awful. I only take painkillers.

So anyway, been avoiding the dentist since I was a teenager. At the moment I have 4 problem teeth that need dealing with - two wisdom teeth that have cracked and have infections. And two molars, one on each lower side, one has cut down to the root and has been like that for years and the other is recently cracked. It had a filling in it and needs out now.

Back and forth at my local dentist and he couldn’t do anything with me. The furthest I got after 8 appointments was them putting numbing gel on and even that I was dizzy and shaking.

He referred me to a sedation clinic and I’ve had two appointments with them so far. A consultation and a failed traumatic attempt.

The problem with sedation for me is yes, the idea of suddenly not knowing or caring what’s happening is great however it also plays into a lot of my fear. Loss of control, new medication, worry of allergic reaction, worry I’ll be dizzy and faint before during or after, cannula in my arm, feeling the medication going in, new sensations etc.

So I freaked out when they tried to do it last time and jumped up from the seat. The dentist was horrible to me. She told me kids get this stuff all the time and I was being ridiculous. She told me I needed “professional help” regarding anxiety and had never seen anyone as terrified as me. She told me I was needing the sedation but her attitude made me unsafe. I ended up complaining about her and am now scheduled in with another dentist at the same clinic for sedation again. However they’ve made it clear this is my last chance.

So, I’m feeling a lot of pressure to get this done as the teeth are causing me so much pain and I feel so unwell all the time. I need them out. I want them out. Which is different to years prior where I didn’t care.

I just want the best option for them coming out. And I’d like some advice after reading about my situation. What is best for me and how do I do this?

Local:

to me seems “safer” as I’ve had this before as a teenager for fillings. I know what numbing feels like, if I can remember. But the worry is the faint lightheaded heart racing feeling the second the injections go in. I’m terrified of that sweaty out of control feeling and they can’t do the treatment and just the general sensations of it. I haven’t felt this feeling since I was a teenager and got injections and had syncope. The only other time was when I took anxiety medication and the second I swallowed it I had syncope and had to go to the doctor.

But I do just want to get over this and the actual extractions themselves aren’t even scary to me. I mean, obviously I’m nervous about feeling pressure and the crunching and anything going wrong, such as them having to dig into my jaw or something. But it’s mostly the injections and feeling sensations I don’t like.

Sedation:

I’m worried of the cannula, the feeling of the medication and something going wrong with it. I do think not caring would be nice but it seems such a hurdle to get over as I’ve never had any injections in my veins and because I don’t know what to expect it terrifies me.

So, for these four teeth, what is best? Please someone help me. I’m so scared of this appointment because it has to be done.

 

[anxious112]

Anyone? My appointment is tomorrow

 

[letsconnect]

Hi there , maybe you could just go in with an open mind and see how tomorrow'sappointment goes. So much depends on the person (dentist) and how they gel with you, and that's something that's somewhat impossible to predict. Ideally, you would have a chat appointment with the person who does the treatment first, so you can get to know them and see if you're comfortable with them, but that might not be possible in this instance?

 

[anxious112]

Thanks for your reply. Yes I can’t do that as I already had my consultation with the other dentist who was not nice. This is a new dentist that has been assigned to me and it’s my last appointment with them before they put me off their list. It’s a very highly regarded practice with a huge waiting list. So, because I’ve had three now they are not willing to reschedule if I don’t get the treatment done this time. So there’s a lot of reasons to be terrified. I really want to do just LA only. I just hope my dentist has more patience but more so that I don’t run away at the thought of the horrible sensations again. The faint feeling is what genuinely terrifies me, like the feeling of being weak and almost losing vision and it’s so scary to me. I am convinced this will happen when I get an injection. Otherwise I’d happily do local no questions asked. The treatment itself bothers me but not enough to stop me having it. Ugh. Hopefully I work up the nerves to do it. I am praying that the sheer fact I’m fed up of this and it’s my last chance to do it is what pushes me to just try it.

 

[GinaBambina]

Hi, so sorry to hear of your situation. I was full of anxiety too for years and now I’m 61 and had to really compartmentalize my fear and tell myself that I needed this dental work done.

I knew it wasn’t going to kill me and had to train my brain to realize it was for my own good and had to figure out how to deal with it. I got IV Sedation for the big things(multiple extractions, wisdom teeth, etc) because it’s so quick and knocked out.

Try to focus your brain on anything other than what’s going on. Take a trip in your mind maybe to some happy place you visited as a child.

I know you’re anxious and dreading it, but you will get through it and I honestly wish you the best of luck.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[letsconnect]

Hi@anxious112, just wondering how things went yesterday? I hope it went better than expected . Please let us know - good, bad, or indifferent.

 

[anxious112]

Unfortunately things didn’t go to plan. I had a bit of a breakdown. I haven’t been doing that great since…. very low mood, high anxiety and wondering if there’s any hope for me.

At the appointment it was booked for sedation but I freaked out and asked for local instead in the moment. The dentist told me that wasn’t the plan and they couldn’t remove all four at once due to it being way too much and the position of the teeth meant I’d be numbed all over. They only were doing 4 teeth sedation.

So we agreed for them to take 2 out. I had an anxiety attack in the chair and again only let them put numbing gel on started hysterically crying when the needle came out. This always happens but this time they had no patience for me and concluded that I wasn’t ready and needed way more medication before coming in. The problem is because of my health anxiety I struggle with this a lot and don’t take medications much for fear of allergy and losing control.

Anyway, I am sad to say I let myself down and left. I am also now off their list and that was in the UK a very long waiting list to get the sedation done at a much cheaper price.

My only option now is to get treatment at my local dentist, private if I want it soon. I am going on a huge trip in 3 weeks and one tooth in particular my right side molar number 6 is so bad, it’s bothering me the most.

I want it out before I go and am so exhausted and mentally drained on how I actually do this? HOW do I just lie there and let them do it? It seems simple but yes.

So anyway, my update is I went to a new local dentist that does private treatment. I spoke to a lovely woman who seemed trusting and nice and offered to take the really bad tooth out just I have to pay private but this would be local only m. She took an x ray and told me I have a bad infection in it with an abscess. I probably have an infection in my other teeth but this is the one with a tiny bump and the most pain and discomfort.

She has prescribed me antibiotics and I am currently on those right now but the past two days have been the worse I’ve ever felt in my life. I’m so drained from all my worrying, exhaustion and anxiety. Plus the worry of this being in my mouth takes over more than anything.

I feel stupid telling friends and family that I’m now considering getting this one tooth out at my local dentist when I’ve been through this whole back and forth of trying before, trying at the sedation clinic and each time has been a failure.

However when I came home from my failed sedation appointment I have to say it’s the worst I’ve ever felt in my life. I lay down on my floor and sobbed my heart out. Terrified of what this means. People keep pointing out to me that there’s far worse things I’ll have to go through if I ever am severely ill and this is just a small tiny mouth injection.

So right now I can barely function due to my constantly health anxiety and really feeling at a loss as I feel I’ve tried so many times it feels impossible.

I’m worried I pay this money and still get up before the injection reaches my gums. The dentist at the sedation clinic even said he felt uncomfortable using it around me as I was so jittery and things could go wrong.

However in my brain I’m convinced that because I’m SO fed up now, if I just try and get this one tooth out for now and prove to myself I can do it, I can deal with the rest when I’m back.

Im just fed up. Fed up of giving up. Of failing. Of lying in the chair and rushing to get back up. Of not trying. My brain keeps saying “what’s the worst that can happen? You feel faint, okay? Then what? You faint. Which isn’t even guaranteed. But ok then what?” And my brain is logical enough to know it doesn’t matter. But for some reason I have this terrifying phobia of THE SECOND the needle goes in and what happens. Even when my mouth was numb with the gel I felt so uncomfortable and like I couldn’t breathe. I’m just such an overthinker.

So yes. I’m currently waiting for my private dentist to call me. They said they would today. They want me to take the antibiotics for a few days to calm down the tooth as they said they wouldn’t be able to get it fully numbed without it. I didn’t even realise it was that infected as the sedan dentist was using x rays from 8 months ago. And I said to him “ I can do an updated one” and he said “no your teeth won’t have changed shape” which confused me because I meant more about the infections then the bones.

But anyway. I’m really scared. But the thing I’m most scared of is not getting it done again. Like im scared of my own brain taking over and walking out again. I can’t, especially because of the timing. I cannot go abroad with this hanging over my head.

There are two differences

1) my previous local dentist and sedation clinic were both in a city around an hour from where I live, where I grew up. This is because this has been going on so long that I just stayed in that profession and the waiting list was so long I was scared to leave. This new private dentist is near where I live currently

2) this also means emotionally I don’t feel as much “trauma” surrounding that part of the country. It sounds crazy but when I go there I get horrible feelings due to all my past medical and dental trauma from childhood there. And all the failed attempts.

Anyway I am rational enough to see that doesn’t stop my anxiety taking over about the problem in front of me and won’t stop me getting up from the chair if I try and do this again.

For me I understand my anxiety is at its worst when there’s fussing. Lots of people, support, sedation, medication, almost hyping it up more than it needs. I find myself most calm when I think about “in, out and it’ll be done in an hour, it’s over, everyone does this” and keep it simple. So that’s why I prefer trying with local more even if I have tried and failed.

More than anything I just want to be able to go in and literally just lie there and let her do the work. That’s all I have to do. Is just lie there and keep still and ALLOW myself to be injected. All this worry and stress seems crazy to be having over that one tiny thing I have to do. But at this point in my life I’ve never wanted to be able to do it more. I feel stuck, like I can’t even think of what’s for dinner or plan anything due to this. I really want to be able to do this. The feeling id get after I know would be insane. I want that so badly.

I’ll keep you updated. If anyone is reading, sorry this is so long

 

[anxious112]

What’s weird… for right after I posted this I got a call from the private dentist and they want to book me in for Monday evening so I am the last person they see that day. I am going to try my hardest.

 

[letsconnect]

Thanks so much for the update @anxious112! I'm so happy to hear that you found a lovely local dentist - that's so important!

Obviously there are no guarantees that things will work out next time, but as you said, there are a lot of things working in your favour this time - an empathetic dentist you feel you can trust, being in a "safe" part of the country that doesn't trigger bad memories, being close to home. You mentioned that

For me I understand my anxiety is at its worst when there’s fussing. Lots of people, support, sedation, medication, almost hyping it up more than it needs. I find myself most calm when I think about “in, out and it’ll be done in an hour, it’s over, everyone does this” and keep it simple.

Have you had a look at the rest of this website? (easiest on a laptop or desktop as the navigation can be a bit awkward on mobile devices). There are a lot of tips, e.g. here:

Tips From Dental Phobics

Top tips for overcoming dental phobia - from dental phobics, for dental phobics! Find out what has worked for our readers and forum members.

www.dentalfearcentral.org

For example, some people find it easier if they close their eyes and listen to music, either from loudspeakers or using headphones. Is this something you have tried before?

Anyway, congratulations on being so proactive and finding a dentist who may be able to help you - that's huge!

 

[letsconnect]

Hi @anxious112, just wondering how you've been getting on ?