E
Elfrule
Junior member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2020
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- UK
I won’t lie. I’m an idiot.
I’m 23 and have suffered from anxiety for years. Not specifically towards the dentist but just in general.
I had regular dentist visits all the way up until I was 19/20, and never seemed to have any issues.
However when I moved to university in September 2016, I started getting into a really bad routine oral health wise. I’d try and brush my teeth when I remembered, often it would be once a day, sometimes twice, and sometimes not at all. But I think I’ve always had bad brushing technique.
At some point in my first year of uni, I had an emergency dentist appointment because one of my wisdom teeth has come out sideways, and it was infected.
They didn’t give me any pain relief and dove straight into it to get rid of the infection which was crazy painful. I didn’t really think of it afterwards for ages and put off getting a dentist in Cheltenham (my uni town) for ages.
Eventually I developed bleeding gums most of the time when brushing, but I think I just buried my head in the sand and hoped it would go away. I think this led to me maybe not brushing as well (as in technique).
The bleeding eventually stopped and I’d have periods of being better at looking after my teeth. I was never taught to floss really, but I started even though my gums were bleeding whenever I did.
Over this time, I’ve never really properly looked at my mouth. Would occasionally see a bit of yellow/whitish border around my lower teeth at the bottom which I assumed because of what I’d been told was plaque/tartar. I didn’t really know anything about receding gums (maybe a little from a good search but all the pictures were so drastic).
Just before lockdown I finally managed to get a dentist and an appointment but it was cancelled due to the lockdown coming in. Around the same time I noticed a small dark line at the gum line on my top left canine tooth. I called the dentist and he suggested using corsodyl mouthwash and flossing/brushing properly, which I’ve been doing. But over lockdown it’s just gotten worse. I can use a floss pick to poke actually inside the tooth a little just under the gum line and the pocket next to the tooth itself seems pretty deep. I’ve also noticed the beginnings of similar black lines on other upper teeth and the floss pathway/colour of the tissue underneath doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Last week I started getting some really serious pain in my top right second molar. Or at least around that area. Poking around I’ve figured that my impacted wisdom tooth has hit it at the corner and chipped/cracked it, which has now gotten infected. I have never experienced pain like and I am currently on cocodamol and neproxen for it so I can sleep.
From googling everything. It seems like I have some pretty serious periodontitis, an impacted wisdom tooth, a seriously infected second molar, bad tartar buildup behind my teeth because of the chlorhexidine mouthwash and my own laziness, subgingival caries/plaque that needs root planing (I assume from what I’ve read), some severely receded gums on my lower incisors, and to top it off there’s a few areas where I’m half convinced there’s a few gum abcesses as well.
I went from no pain and a little bleeding to a complete clusterfuck so quickly. Lockdown doesn’t help because I haven’t been able to get seen. I’m worried that the dentist will shame me, im worried that I have irreversibly damaged my teeth at 23. I’m worried that I’ll lose my canine tooth and be a laughing stock.
Also panicked that due to lockdown they’ll take a look at all of this and know it’s not quite life threatening, and so just tell me to come back in a few months. By which time it’ll be EVEN worse.
Someone please talk to me about this ?
I’m 23 and have suffered from anxiety for years. Not specifically towards the dentist but just in general.
I had regular dentist visits all the way up until I was 19/20, and never seemed to have any issues.
However when I moved to university in September 2016, I started getting into a really bad routine oral health wise. I’d try and brush my teeth when I remembered, often it would be once a day, sometimes twice, and sometimes not at all. But I think I’ve always had bad brushing technique.
At some point in my first year of uni, I had an emergency dentist appointment because one of my wisdom teeth has come out sideways, and it was infected.
They didn’t give me any pain relief and dove straight into it to get rid of the infection which was crazy painful. I didn’t really think of it afterwards for ages and put off getting a dentist in Cheltenham (my uni town) for ages.
Eventually I developed bleeding gums most of the time when brushing, but I think I just buried my head in the sand and hoped it would go away. I think this led to me maybe not brushing as well (as in technique).
The bleeding eventually stopped and I’d have periods of being better at looking after my teeth. I was never taught to floss really, but I started even though my gums were bleeding whenever I did.
Over this time, I’ve never really properly looked at my mouth. Would occasionally see a bit of yellow/whitish border around my lower teeth at the bottom which I assumed because of what I’d been told was plaque/tartar. I didn’t really know anything about receding gums (maybe a little from a good search but all the pictures were so drastic).
Just before lockdown I finally managed to get a dentist and an appointment but it was cancelled due to the lockdown coming in. Around the same time I noticed a small dark line at the gum line on my top left canine tooth. I called the dentist and he suggested using corsodyl mouthwash and flossing/brushing properly, which I’ve been doing. But over lockdown it’s just gotten worse. I can use a floss pick to poke actually inside the tooth a little just under the gum line and the pocket next to the tooth itself seems pretty deep. I’ve also noticed the beginnings of similar black lines on other upper teeth and the floss pathway/colour of the tissue underneath doesn’t fill me with confidence.
Last week I started getting some really serious pain in my top right second molar. Or at least around that area. Poking around I’ve figured that my impacted wisdom tooth has hit it at the corner and chipped/cracked it, which has now gotten infected. I have never experienced pain like and I am currently on cocodamol and neproxen for it so I can sleep.
From googling everything. It seems like I have some pretty serious periodontitis, an impacted wisdom tooth, a seriously infected second molar, bad tartar buildup behind my teeth because of the chlorhexidine mouthwash and my own laziness, subgingival caries/plaque that needs root planing (I assume from what I’ve read), some severely receded gums on my lower incisors, and to top it off there’s a few areas where I’m half convinced there’s a few gum abcesses as well.
I went from no pain and a little bleeding to a complete clusterfuck so quickly. Lockdown doesn’t help because I haven’t been able to get seen. I’m worried that the dentist will shame me, im worried that I have irreversibly damaged my teeth at 23. I’m worried that I’ll lose my canine tooth and be a laughing stock.
Also panicked that due to lockdown they’ll take a look at all of this and know it’s not quite life threatening, and so just tell me to come back in a few months. By which time it’ll be EVEN worse.
Someone please talk to me about this ?
,
but honestly, most people scared of the dentist shame themselves at one point or another claiming they were stupid or responsible for the damage. I see it as a part of the grief and those feelings need space too, but I can't see you doing anything wrong. University is a stressful time (even for people who do not suffer from anxiety) and if you never had problems, it's tempting to stop being too mindful about dental care. I have never flossed until I started my dental journey to beat my fear and I didn't even brush my teeth in the evening, which sounds like a crime, but I went well with it for most of my life. Your painful experience with that emergency visit during your studies sounds awful so it only makes further sense that you avoided dentist from that point on. So don't judge yourself please, you are tackling this right now and that's great!
I know I just got to see you post and what everyone wrote, but really glad to see how well the visit went and that it wasn't nearly as bad as you imagined. !! I'm sure this was a huge relief, once all those worries could just go.. Sounds like a really good report!
