• Dental Phobia Support

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I was petrified

L

lovemydogs

Junior member
Joined
May 14, 2023
Messages
2
Location
Spain
Hi,
My very first post. I remember going to the dentist aged about 9. I remember that terrible smell as you walked in. I had gone for a filling noticed by the school nurses that came into school. We were called in, my mum and I. The dentist was a very brisk, no-nonsense type. Not really the right person to treat children. I sat in the chair, which brought on a deep fear of the unknown. He looked in my mouth, noticed which tooth it was, and injected me, the first sign of pain bringing on more anxiety. Then I heard the sound of a drill, he opened my mouth and started drilling, it was at this point, I just had to get out of there and fast. I pushed his arm away, got out of the chair, and moved away. My mum and the dentist were both telling me to sit back down, it was like I was just running around the surgery, getting out of the way. The next thing he said, Mrs please take your daughter home, I cannot do anything with her, so we left. Mum was a bit cross with me, and I was spitting out a horrible taste.
I knew it was important to brush my teeth well. But where he had started to drill, I kept on getting abscesses. The way I got rid of them was plenty pain killers, then if I pushed my hand firmly on it, some of the yuck would come out.
I moved countries and one of our friends was a dentist. I had bells palsy, and eventually, it started making my front tooth stick out, I was very much aware of this and was self-conscious. I was now reaching a point where I knew I needed to see a dentist. My husband must have mentioned this to our friend the dentist, he was saying all the different things that he could do for me, my husband told me this, which left me thinking about it in a strong way. I finally bucked up the courage and got my husband to make an appointment, but he had to stop with me. To try and keep myself calm, I took about 12 mg of Valium. Our friend knew about my fear, he never rushed me and explained everything, and I must say he has the most calming eyes ever. I had X-rays taken, and the bones in my jaw were perfect, I was wanting implants, but they were very expensive. It was decided that at the front I would have 4 crowns, at the bottom I would have a denture with 4 teeth on it. Now, even though I had taken the Valium, once in the chair, I just could not help it, my full body was shaking, but he was very patient towards me. Each time I went to the dentist I always took Valium, but could not stop my body from shaking. Our friend said that he had never seen this before. I remember going to the dentist by myself, husband was working. I had decided to have the tooth that had been drilled, out. I told him this, and the next thing he said was that he would not be long. I later found out he had phoned my husband and told him about me asking him to pull a tooth out, and what he should, my husband said, if she has asked for that, just do it. He injected it, then touched it, I said that I could still feel it, and he injected 4 times, then injected a stronger dose, and that was it, he pulled it out. I am glad that I went, I have to go back soon because a tooth he pulled about 2 years ago, it took months to heal, but I was getting pain on and off. But the other week it came back more painful. I know that I have an infection there. But I won't be scared anymore, though I will still take some Valium for peace of mind. If the dentist I saw when I was a child knew how to handle children, I don't think that they would have been all this fear or phobia.
 
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