Hello...I'm new.

[tommanygone]

I guess I just wanted to explain how I've been feeling. I've been going through extraction after extraction; it's been about a year and a half. I recently just received my partials last week. I've been scared shitless about going to the dentist, and as many times as I have this year in a half. I still have not found any slight feeling of, "Oh, it's not so bad." Pft! I can't count how many times I held my breath and an assistant had to tell me to breathe. I even tried doing what kids do, and it brought me a stuffy squeeze to death. I've been attempting to rub and squeeze the inner thumb and pointer finger (I just left marks on myself). I'm always scared to go to the dentist. At every appointment I had, I was a nervous wreck. I even cried a couple of times, and they were on cleaning days. I wouldn't say I like going to the dentist, but I know you must keep decent teeth. Because of my anxiety and fear, I stopped going some years back; okay, about ten years ago, I stopped completely. Tooth aches and other pain, I just toughened up and took the pain. Advil, Excedrin, and pain management pills were my best friends. I even had teeth falling out of my face because I was afraid to go.
However, now I have a smile, which took me forever in a day to get, but all the fear and anxiety came to a happy ending. Now that I have these partials, I'm in pain and uncomfortable. I have this bulky thing in my mouth; I've had it adjusted for the first time today. Yep, I'm still not entirely comfortable. So, I have to wait a week, and maybe my teeth will align with the partials a little better before I can do another adjustment. Seeing your smile after many years of neglect is excellent, but I always fear every dental visit. I cry I have attacks of anxiety, and I try using my stuffy to get out of the anxiety. I always tell myself to take deep breaths every time I go in. Though it just goes out of my mind once I hit the front door. I then go into anxiety mode. The knee jumping, nail, finger biting, finger twiddling, phone or TV distractions... I mean, there are so many to list to try and get your mind off an office you hate going to. I know I'm bouncing around my story, but it's the only way to get everything off my chest and out of my head. So, these partials are brand new, and I have no comfort whatsoever in the gums; I've tried the salt water gargle, the sore mouthwash, anbesol, and oraljel, and I'm about to try the Poligrip tomorrow morning. Since I had just adjusted them today and bought all that stuff before going home, I haven't taken them out since I left the dental office this morning/afternoon. I'm dreading the thought and action of taking them out and putting them back in in the morning, as I know they will hurt like hell. I can't get over the jitter nerves of knowing I must return them into my mouth in the morning.
What should I do to prepare?
Is there any easier way of getting them to be less tight? I know, yes, it's like breaking in new shoes, but damn, I feel like these shoes are a tad small. However, I know they aren't.
Is there a way to make the ends of the denture soft and not so harsh feeling?
I've never had anything like this before, and the feeling of being a foreign object makes my mind yell at me to take it out! Minds a mess, Help.

 

[LDW]

How is everything going now? You must be a very strong person to get through all of that, I know how hard that is when you are scared every single time. I have never had dentures so I don't know what that process is like. But I wanted to say that you are inspiring me to get my tooth extracted tomorrow even though I am terrified to do it. I hope you are starting to adjust to your new teeth and congrats on getting to this point.

 

[Sonicfan287]

This may sound strange to say in response to your post but I found it inspiring. You were (and still are) anxious of going to the dentist but you go anyway, you endure the anxiety and the pain because you know it'll lead to better results. I commend you and like the last poster said, I congratulate you for getting to this point and hope that things progress even better