D
DM69
Member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2009
- Messages
- 49
Hello, fellow dental phobics...
I'd like to share my success story with anyone who's currently dreading an upcoming dental appointment, in the hope that it might help and inspire you a little bit.
I have been truly terrified of the dentist for years, and as a result my teeth are in a dreadful state. Over the past few months I've had several abscesses that I've taken antibiotics for, but when it came to actually treating the teeth in question I kept putting it off.
I'm not entirely sure that I know exactly what I was so terrified of - I've never had a bad experience, and in my younger years, I was a dental nurse so I've seen lots of people have treatment, and never seen anyone have a problem. But, nevertheless, I developed a severe phobia.
I think it boiled down to the LA. I'm a bit phobic anyway about drugs - I'll take antibiotics and aspirin and nothing else - so my fear became centered on the thought of having some weird reaction to the anaesthetic (in spite of having had it many times before without a problem). I worried that the dentist might accidentally give me too much and my throat would swell, or that the adrenaline in them would make my heart go haywire. I knew perfectly well that all of this was nonsense, but fears are not rational. If they were, none of us would be scared of anything.
Anyhow...my fear of getting some fatal complication from the abscess (much googling of septic shock & Ludwig's angina!) became greater than my fear of the dentist - so I made an appointment. I told the receptionist that I was PETRIFIED and she passed that on to the dentist.
I saw him initially last week when he took some x-rays and adressed my fears specifically. We talked about the LA and he explained that a) it was IMPOSSIBLE for anything to swell up and stop me breathing and b) if I was worried about the adrenaline in the shot, he'd give me the one without it.
I was hugely reassured and made an appointment for a week later to get a pesky broken, abscessed molar removed.
The appointment was for the Wednesday just gone. I felt sick to my stomach when I woke up, absolutely terrified again. My mind was casting around for some excuse not to go, or put it off, but I kept telling myself how crap I'd feel later that day if I blew it. As corny as it sounds, I kept saying "Feel the fear, but do it anyway". I don't know where that phrase comes from (some self-help book?) but it worked as a mantra for me.
So, for once, I turned up at my appointment on time. My stomach was in my throat as I sat in the waiting room, and I would have given anything to be able to get up and run out, but I didn't.
When I got into the surgery, the dentist was lovely. He immediately showed me the epi-free LA cartridges to show that he'd remembered and told me that there was no hurry at all - we'd take as long as was needed to get this tooth out, and if anything happened that I didn't like he'd stop immediately. He also gave me a mirror so I could see that, as I got numb, nothing was swelling at all. He also told me where he was going to inject, and explained which bit would go numb first etc, so there were no surprises.
For the first time EVER the injections didn't hurt at all. Not even a little bit. I don't think he used any numbing gel, he just did it very slowly. The numb feeling wasn't pleasant at all, but as I could look into my mouth and see that it looked 100% normal I started to relax. Numbness is JUST A FEELING - nothing has swollen up, nothing of a life threatening nature was happening or could happen.
I had four injections in all - none painful in anyway. I had a moment of worry about overdosing (yes, I'm an idiot) and asked what the maximum is. He said 12 cartridges. I thought I'd had four, but he told me I'd actually had less than one so far, which made me laugh. I said "OK, I'll shut up then..."
So, when I was numb, I opened wide, closed my eyes and thought about Kenneth Branagh in Wallander (so sexily crumpled, eh, ladies?) and felt some pushing and pressure but no pain at all. One of the roots was hard for him to find, so he took another X-ray to have a look, and once he'd done that, he went back in and - ta da - it was over.
OMG! OMG! OMG! I'd done it. That fricking tooth that I'd been so scared was going to give me blood poisoning, was OUT. Without trauma, distress or pain. No panic attack, no tears, no terror.
Ten minutes later, after the bleeding had stopped, I got up, paid and went home - and that was that!
So, if you're facing dental treatment that is terrifying you, do not kid yourself that your phobia or situation is somehow worse than mine. No one could be more terrified than I was - no one. The bottom line is, if I can do it - so can you.
The best advice I can give is find a dentist who is prepared to understand your fears, no matter how seemingly irrational, and is willing to take the necessary time to make the experience as pain free as he or she possibly can. That's the secret to overcoming dental fear - the right dentist!
I don't think I'll ever love going to the dentist, but I think that blind panic at the thought of it is over now. It's such a relief to know that I'll be able to have the treatment I need at last and finally be free of the dental problems that have dogged me for years.
Good luck, peeps
I'd like to share my success story with anyone who's currently dreading an upcoming dental appointment, in the hope that it might help and inspire you a little bit.
I have been truly terrified of the dentist for years, and as a result my teeth are in a dreadful state. Over the past few months I've had several abscesses that I've taken antibiotics for, but when it came to actually treating the teeth in question I kept putting it off.
I'm not entirely sure that I know exactly what I was so terrified of - I've never had a bad experience, and in my younger years, I was a dental nurse so I've seen lots of people have treatment, and never seen anyone have a problem. But, nevertheless, I developed a severe phobia.
I think it boiled down to the LA. I'm a bit phobic anyway about drugs - I'll take antibiotics and aspirin and nothing else - so my fear became centered on the thought of having some weird reaction to the anaesthetic (in spite of having had it many times before without a problem). I worried that the dentist might accidentally give me too much and my throat would swell, or that the adrenaline in them would make my heart go haywire. I knew perfectly well that all of this was nonsense, but fears are not rational. If they were, none of us would be scared of anything.
Anyhow...my fear of getting some fatal complication from the abscess (much googling of septic shock & Ludwig's angina!) became greater than my fear of the dentist - so I made an appointment. I told the receptionist that I was PETRIFIED and she passed that on to the dentist.
I saw him initially last week when he took some x-rays and adressed my fears specifically. We talked about the LA and he explained that a) it was IMPOSSIBLE for anything to swell up and stop me breathing and b) if I was worried about the adrenaline in the shot, he'd give me the one without it.
I was hugely reassured and made an appointment for a week later to get a pesky broken, abscessed molar removed.
The appointment was for the Wednesday just gone. I felt sick to my stomach when I woke up, absolutely terrified again. My mind was casting around for some excuse not to go, or put it off, but I kept telling myself how crap I'd feel later that day if I blew it. As corny as it sounds, I kept saying "Feel the fear, but do it anyway". I don't know where that phrase comes from (some self-help book?) but it worked as a mantra for me.
So, for once, I turned up at my appointment on time. My stomach was in my throat as I sat in the waiting room, and I would have given anything to be able to get up and run out, but I didn't.
When I got into the surgery, the dentist was lovely. He immediately showed me the epi-free LA cartridges to show that he'd remembered and told me that there was no hurry at all - we'd take as long as was needed to get this tooth out, and if anything happened that I didn't like he'd stop immediately. He also gave me a mirror so I could see that, as I got numb, nothing was swelling at all. He also told me where he was going to inject, and explained which bit would go numb first etc, so there were no surprises.
For the first time EVER the injections didn't hurt at all. Not even a little bit. I don't think he used any numbing gel, he just did it very slowly. The numb feeling wasn't pleasant at all, but as I could look into my mouth and see that it looked 100% normal I started to relax. Numbness is JUST A FEELING - nothing has swollen up, nothing of a life threatening nature was happening or could happen.
I had four injections in all - none painful in anyway. I had a moment of worry about overdosing (yes, I'm an idiot) and asked what the maximum is. He said 12 cartridges. I thought I'd had four, but he told me I'd actually had less than one so far, which made me laugh. I said "OK, I'll shut up then..."
So, when I was numb, I opened wide, closed my eyes and thought about Kenneth Branagh in Wallander (so sexily crumpled, eh, ladies?) and felt some pushing and pressure but no pain at all. One of the roots was hard for him to find, so he took another X-ray to have a look, and once he'd done that, he went back in and - ta da - it was over.
OMG! OMG! OMG! I'd done it. That fricking tooth that I'd been so scared was going to give me blood poisoning, was OUT. Without trauma, distress or pain. No panic attack, no tears, no terror.
Ten minutes later, after the bleeding had stopped, I got up, paid and went home - and that was that!
So, if you're facing dental treatment that is terrifying you, do not kid yourself that your phobia or situation is somehow worse than mine. No one could be more terrified than I was - no one. The bottom line is, if I can do it - so can you.
The best advice I can give is find a dentist who is prepared to understand your fears, no matter how seemingly irrational, and is willing to take the necessary time to make the experience as pain free as he or she possibly can. That's the secret to overcoming dental fear - the right dentist!
I don't think I'll ever love going to the dentist, but I think that blind panic at the thought of it is over now. It's such a relief to know that I'll be able to have the treatment I need at last and finally be free of the dental problems that have dogged me for years.
Good luck, peeps
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