I feel like I've lost 100lbs. Finally went to the dentist after 9yrs!

[Denali174]

I've been lurking here for awhile but never posted. I've been dealing with dental fear/anxiety for years and hadn't told a soul. There have been days where my teeth consume 90% of my thoughts, and weigh so heavy on me.

I never missed a cleaning as a child/teen and never even needed a filling...but when I was 21 at my last cleaning the dentist mentioned I probably needed a few fillings, and for whatever reason, fear set in. I never went back...years and years go by and my mind would just spiral on what could possibly be going wrong in my mouth.

Fast forward to 2.5yrs ago, two of my wisdom teeth started erupting. I was so afraid of surgery and having to face the reality of my teeth that I didn't tell anyone, not even my husband. But recently my wisdom teeth have actually been giving me a fair amount of discomfort and that has been giving me so much anxiety as well.

I'll be honest, I had worked it up so much in my mind I was convinced I would need all my teeth pulled...from looking at them I could see tiny black spots and what appeared to be cracks/tiny holes in my molars. I spiraled.

Very long story short, I finally got up the nerve to make an appt with an oral surgeon for a consultation to have my wisdom teeth removed. I started crying the moment he walked in the room lol. So embarrassing. I even asked him if he saw any other bad teeth could he just pull thema at the same time, I'm sure he thought I was nuts. But I made it through the consult and scheduled my surgery (in about a week from now). The following day I decided to bite the bullet and I made an appointment with a general dentist for xrays, an exam and a cleaning.

THIS was the scary part for me. As scary as surgery is, at least I ALREADY knew my wisdom teeth had to come out, it was inevitable. But what I was truly afraid of was WHAT ELSE could be wrong with my teeth?


I was able to get an appointment quickly and I ended up with a hygienist that was an absolute angel from heaven. I explained my fears and my history to her and she was so kind and understanding. She took my X-rays and said she didn't see anything too alarming or any bone loss but they the Dr would have to confirm. She said my gums looked pretty good and didn't see any periodontal disease. I was shocked.

She called the dentist in and I knew this was gonna be the start of the bad news...he looked at the X-rays and poked and prodded and said well, I don't see anything to be concerned about, NO CAVITIES!!!

I was in shock...I started crying I was so relieved and in disbelief. The sweet hygienist even teared up and gave me a hug. I walked out with so much weight lifted off my shoulders. The agony I put myself through for all these years. I still don't know what happened to the "cavities that were forming" 9yrs ago.. I'm related to the dentist that told me that and he had no financial reason to give me an unnecessary filling. I was convinced an untreated cavity that old would have ended up with an extraction or at least a root canal.

Anyway, I'll never know...maybe Jesus healed me. I prayed about it enough lol. But I'm here to say even if I had gotten some bad news, I KNOW it would be better to go in and find out than to constantly worry and wonder what could be wrong. After all, it just could be nothing at all.

If you stayed this long, you're definitely crazy like me

 

[letsconnect]

@Denali174 that's brilliant news, thanks so much for sharing, and huge congratulations to you !!!

I'm related to the dentist that told me that and he had no financial reason to give me an unnecessary filling. I was convinced an untreated cavity that old would have ended up with an extraction or at least a root canal.

Anyway, I'll never know...maybe Jesus healed me.

Early lesions/decay can remineralise, especially if you change your diet to drinking and eating things that contain sugar less frequently. So maybe that's what happened... Dentists can also vary in how early on they want to treat such incipient lesions (I get the impression that older, U.S. trained dentists in particular tend to treat more aggressively). The overall trend has been to try and remineralise early lesions first before resorting to more drastic measures .

Wishing you all the best for your wizzie surgery next week !