• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Help!! Extremely anxious appointment Friday!! Need medication assistance!

A

Anxious Sarah

Junior member
Joined
Feb 8, 2018
Messages
2
Hi,

I am looking for medication insight. I have extreme dental anxiety. When I was young I had a filling and told the dentist to stop. He didn’t listen to me and I threw up white that dental dam plastic crap was in my mouth. Now I am getting lots of work done as I avoided the dentist. I got through the cleaning and did a root canal. For the root canal they gave me lorazepam, which did not work! I cried the entire time, hyperventilating for more than an hour. The 1 hour appointment lasted almost 3 hours!!! This Friday I have to get the crown put on and they want to do some fillings at the same time. They originally told me we will do if sedation so all my worries went out the window. But this afternoon they told me that they can’t as I don’t qualify cause I am overweight. I am now petrified. They said I can take oxazepam but everything I am reading online says this is not as strong. I don’t feel like I can do this without being put under. I want to be strong but my anxiety is so bad. My husband is very supportive and said we can look for dentists that will do iv but I know they will all say no due to me being overweight.

What medications worked for you? I have allergies to all cilins and appointment is 4 hours long! Please help!!!
 
Re: Help!! Extremely anxious appointment Friday!! Need medication assistance!

Dear Sarah,

so sorry to hear about your situation. And at the same time a huge respect for having been able to go through a cleaning and root canal despite your anxiety and this with medication that didn't work. And reading your post is was a very traumatic experience again and I totally get your panic over the upcoming treatment.

Reading this I am first wondering if you feel comfortable with your current practice. It's very hard for me to accept the thought of you crying all the time during a treatment, hyperventilating and having an appointment of 3 hours, this all as a very phobic patient.. I am also wondering if this was any helpful for your overall state and will motivate you to go on with your treatment and get back to dental care long term..

For me this is not that much about which medication to take but about which place to visit and how to use all other tools that dentists have to put patients at ease - safe enviroment, respecting your emotional state, giving you a break when you need it.

While I do not know where you are from and what exactly your situation is, I would say don't put yourself under pressure. Your anxiety needs to get treated too, not only your teeth.. so maybe there is a practice that can help you better.. by having a good chat about the medication they can give you or other possibilities you have to get through the needed treatment.

All the best and let us know how you are doing
 
Re: Help!! Extremely anxious appointment Friday!! Need medication assistance!

Thank you for reaching out!

The dentist I threw up with as a child is not the same one I am with now. My dentist now is extremely patient, empathetic and the staff are great, giving me their personal cellphones to text, I get the same cleaner and assistant every time. They have made tremendous exceptions for me and I am very grateful. I am just still scared!
 
Re: Help!! Extremely anxious appointment Friday!! Need medication assistance!

First up, well done for posting here. I'm glad you did.

Look, everyone who has a job does it, ultimately, because it serves others. The dentist is providing a service. The dentist is not a god, or anyone beyond reproach. You are the customer, the client. In exchange for your money/insurance reimbursement, the dentist is providing a service to you. You are not beholden to anyone, including a dentist, any dentist.

Now, may I kindly offer another perspective? :)

You say that that you "know" that no other dentist will provide sedation. Hmmm.

How do you know this? (Again, I say this with gentleness.)

Here is my friendly recommendation, just for fun: contact ten dentists, and heck, the nearest dental or anesthesiology school. Be kind but direct: tell them that you are overweight, want sedation, and if that would be a problem.

If all ten say yes, that would be a problem, then you have your answer.

But I'd bet anything that at least one or two would be okay with it. You can then talk about medications with the experts.

You can start just by calling one or two. Challenge your husband to make calls too, and see who can get the most answers in ten minutes.

Be playful and fun.

This is a serious matter, and you have more agency and power than you may realize.

:)
 
Re: Help!! Extremely anxious appointment Friday!! Need medication assistance!

Sarah,

your appointment is today so there is not much time for big solutions, but let me tell you one thing.

You say you feel like not able to cope with the treatment without being put under.
You got surprised by the fact that the originally planned iv sedation cannot take place.
You are worried about the medication not working since and you have made an experience of an medication not working.

And 4 hours is really a long time.

If you want to tackle your fear and stop being that scared of the dentist, I suggest you start respecting YOURSELF and YOUR wishes. You always have options and you always should take control. You clearly do not feel being able to do the treatment without iv sedation. So keep looking, as dg6300 suggested. You know what you need and with a bit of effort you can get there.

You have such a severe anxiety. Going through the treatment you need now is one thing, but if you keep getting traumatized again and again and every single visit at a dental practice is so negative, how shall you ever be able to get your regular check-ups as soon as you have all the work done? I cannot imagine any other outcome thatn avoiding treatment.

My advice would also be that you ask for shorter appointments. With this level of fear, many small visits are better than one super long visit. Why doing all the fillings too? Why not just put the crown on and do one filling at a time during few next visits? My dentist sometimes kicks me out of the chair despite me being able to go on for an another treatment. He says we need to step on the break a bit faster than we feel we could, so that every visit is positive.

By the way, psychological approach goes before medication. So my idea would be to first go more slowly with the treatment, keep an eye on your preferences and wishes, do not push yourself too hard, get a lovely dental team (which you seem to have, that's great) and then, for the anxiety that still stays, you can use some medication.
Talk to your dentist today and do not push yourself into anything you do not feel ready. Good dental experience starts with you respecting your boarders and limits and the things you feel you need to get through the treatment.

All the best, good luck for today, will be thinking of you and please keep us posted.
 
Back
Top