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.