M
m2hwb41
Junior member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2017
- Messages
- 5
I had a molar split into two pieces a few weeks ago, and have been to three different dentists, trying to get it extracted. (I live in the US.) I have gone to the same general dentist for almost 30 years, and I don't have any problem having regular cleanings, but when I went to the first oral surgeon to have the tooth extracted, I was alone in the little operating room, and left in a panic before the doctor came into the room. The second dentist advertised "sedation dentistry," so he gave me 10 mg. of Vallium to take the night before the procedure. When I arrived at his office, they gave me more oral drugs, and had me sit in the chair for an hour, waiting for them to take effect. My blood pressure soared and I started shaking. He gave me more oral meds, and they didn't do anything. After a second hour, he gave me some nitrous oxide. I didn't feel any different, and my blood pressure and pulse stayed sky-high and the shaking continued. He wouldn't go on with the extraction, and referred me a an oral surgeon that does IV sedation. I was so terrified of the needle going into my arm and being pumped full of drugs that I started shaking in the waiting room. They took me back to the operating room, and I was so afraid of all of the tools and equipment they had laying out that I literally ran out of there. (I am not exaggerating when I say that the operating room looked like something out of a 1950's horror movie---having all of the tools laying out in the open like that didn't look very sanitary to me, and all of the furnishings, etc. were dated and worn. I think that I would have been concerned even if I didn't have a phobia---it just didn't look very clean or professional. It didn't look like someone had laid out the equipment they would need to work on me---it was a disorganized pile and looked like someone just didn't bother to put things away.) How do people overcome this phobia? I've always had a problem, but I went through three hours of Mohs surgery last summer for skin cancer, and was totally awake for all of it, and I think that made my phobia MUCH worse. Right now, I've given up and am thinking that I will wait until the tooth absolutely has to come out---it was infected but dentist #2 gave me some antibiotics. Since the tooth is totally broken in two, the infection was draining into my mouth (gross, I know), but I think that minimized the pain.