Little Bit Scared

[t91]

Hi, the past few days I have felt a sharp shooting pain in my back left bottom tooth. It's not a constant pain, just comes and goes every now and again. I should have probably went to the dentist month's ago about it as I actually smashed the tooth on a Werther's Original and was left with a point, a stump and a gaping hole in the middle of the tooth, but due to being scared of the dentist's I just carried on with life avoiding eating on that side of my mouth as much as possible.

Anyway I've notice another tooth or maybe 2 including 1 on the other side have started cracking away. I clean my teeth twice a day minimum but know I'm doing more damage by eating sugary foods/drinks quite often which I've started cutting down on...quite a lot.

I decided today that I would ring the dentist and make an appointment, I'm 21 and haven't been to the dentist since I was about 15. Last time he said that I needed to get further down the left side as it wasn't as good as the rest...the tooth in question is the one giving me the pain now, so clearly I didn't get as far down as I should have .

My dentist is very friendly...what I can remember of him, but I just have this all out fear of them, the receptionist told me to ring back at 8am tomorrow and get an emergency appointment since I have toothache, this has made me even more scared/worried than what I was. I will ring back because I know this won't go away and to be honest I would like to keep my teeth (who wouldn't after all). I'm scared of what his comments will be about my teeth really, they aren't the best but can definitely say they aren't the worst either. I'm cutting out bad habits and know I will have to change what I eat/drink in order to keep healthy teeth.

Does anyone have any advice on overcoming my fear? by the sounds of it when I ring tomorrow they're going to give me an appointment tomorrow, so I don't have much time to dwell on things.

Thanks in advance

 

[Patti]

Welcome T91. I wish I could magically tell you how you could overcome your fear as I don't really know myself. I've had a life long fear of the dentist. Almost 49 years to be exact. The first time I'd ever gone was only 6 years ago (twice) for 2 emergency fillings. Then again in April, in which it turned out be a root canal, although I opted for an extraction instead (back molar nobody would see and it was the difference in price between $300 for the extraction by an oral surgeon and $2,000 for root canal + crown). That whole experience was scary (not painful or bad) but scary (mostly the anxiety beforehand). But now I have a dentist who I trust and am comfortable with which I think is probably the most important thing. I TRUST HIM. If he says it's not going to hurt, then it's not going to hurt. And unless or until he ever lies to me, I will believe and trust him. Like you, my teeth have always looked pretty good and I was never in pain really so it was easy for me to avoid the dentist. But now I have learned that if I don't go, things will only get worse. I was lucky. In all this time I only needed 10 fillings, one filling replace and what is left of my top 2 wisdom teeth out. It could have been a lot worse considering the circumstances and my age. Once I went and got the x-rays and the treatment plan and knew what I needed, the anxiety pretty much went away. I have my first filling on the treatment plan on Thursday. I'm sure I'll be nervous but it will be okay. I have Ativan from the dentist to take for the anxiety and there is always niterous if needed--although I don't think I'll need it. I just need to take this one baby step (the one filling) to refresh my memory that it's not painful and I think after that I'll be able to do a whole lot more during appointments and get this all finished. Good luck at your appointment!

 

[jaime]

It's good that you can describe your dentist as friendly. Let him know your fears and he should try to put you at ease the best him can. With my dentist, I always remind her at the beginning of an appointment that I need to know exactly what's going on every step of the way. That helps ease my tension (well, just a little, but a little helps).

Good luck with your appointment!

 

[Steve In Cleveland]

Good luck T91, and good job making the call. That's a huge step and takes a lot of courage.

When I finally went back to the dentist, I was as afraid of his/her reaction to my teeth as I was of the pain or anything else. I completely identify with your story, having pieces of my teeth break away and just avoiding as long as I could. I also had big holes, broken and jagged teeth, and teeth that had eventually broken completely off.

From your description of your dentist it sounds like he is friendly and compassionate. When you get to the office, tell him as best you can about your fears and your shame as best you can. He should be able to work on your problem tooth in a professional way and I doubt he'll even be concerned about the other teeth. Most dentists have seen much, much worse, as hard as that may be for you to believe.

I sometimes think that going to the dentist when you're in actual pain is maybe a better in some ways, because dentists and their staff are often extra compassionate about getting you out of pain. And also it sets up a positive association in your head, because you will go home in comfort and remember "the dentist took away my pain!"

I think reading about my experience going back to the dentist might be helpful to you. I went with all kinds of visions in my head, of the dentist recoiling in shock or lecturing me. I was afraid of hearing that I'd ruined my teeth and they'd all have to come out. I was worried that while working on the toothache tooth, the dentist would see all the other damage and tell me I had to take care of all that immediately.

NONE of this turned out to be the case. My dentist was very gentle and compassionate, and told me that she knew there were other problems but that we could talk about those another time when I wasn't in pain. She got me numbed up right away, and a little over an hour later I was going home with no pain and a huge sense of pride and relief. (The procedure itself didn't hurt a bit either.)

You will too.

I'd recommend getting the earliest appointment you can get, to cut down on the amount of time you have to stew about it. Try to focus your mind on the little mechanics of going instead of the scary parts like being in the chair. For me I actually had a running dialog in my head from the time I picked up the phone until I got to the office. "Pick the phone up. Dial the number. Take a shower. Put your pants on. Get in the car. Back out of the driveway." Etc. It felt kind of dumb but it allowed me to shut down one part of my brain ("We're going to the dentist!") and hyperfocus on another ("We're driving to that stop sign, and then we're going to stop.")

Hang in there, and know that you are not alone in either your fear or the condition of your teeth. Your teeth can be fixed and you should not need to feel ashamed of anything. Good luck!

 

[t91]

Thank you everyone for your support. Pleased to say that I went to the appointment, started with the dentist having a laugh and joke with me, then saying that my tooth needed removing that I'd smashed but everything else was perfect. Relieved isn't the word right now...Only downside was paying £25.15 for the brief 5mins that I had with him. Booked in for 2 weeks time for the removal

 

[Patti]

Yay! The extraction will be fast & painless, no worries!

 

[Steve In Cleveland]

Great news t91! (Well, you know, relatively...)

Extraction is really very simple and painless, and takes just a few minutes. Congrats on going to the dentist and surviving!