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Losing peace of mind obsessing about my dental health

A

anxious girl_123

Junior member
Joined
May 6, 2018
Messages
1
Hi all, I'am new in this forum and i have joined here just to get some support and advice from you guys on how to deal with my dental anxiety. I have been obsessed about my oral health from the last 2 weeks. I don't know how all of a sudden I became so anxious and I really need your help.

I was a person who never took care of my oral health-never brushed at night, never flossed, never went to dental checkups (did scaling only thrice till now, I'am 31 years old) and I eat a lot of sweet stuff like chocolates, cakes, but not much into soda or sweetened beverages. 2 months ago, i had a horrible tooth pain which resulted in me going to the dentist. The dental hygienist did a deep scaling on my teeth in 2 seatings. She also took X-rays which showed that I had a cavity in the tooth which was aching. The dentist, in the second sitting cleared the cavity and put a filling there. After that everything was fine until 2 weeks ago, when i had a mild toothache near my right upper wisdom tooth. I paid my dentist another visit and he said that the wisdom tooth is infected and needs to be extracted. The extraction will be done later this month.

Actually, I'am fine with the extraction, not very scared about it. What is taking away my peace of mind is the dental anxiety i'am having now after my dentist visit. I don't know how it stemmed but now i constantly fear that something else will again happen to my teeth. I'am convinced that after my wisdom tooth is removed, some other tooth will get infected or some other dental issue will arise. I keep looking at my teeth in the mirror, trying to find out signs of decay/cavity. I also have strange sensations in my mouth, which further make me think that something really wrong is going to happen again. How do I stop this? On top of this, I developed painful mouth sores a week back, which prevents me from eating and brushing comfortably. My life is in a mess right now. My main fear is that I and my husband were planning to try for a baby around this time but that is getting delayed because of all my dental issues. I'am afraid that after my wisdom tooth extraction, some other dental issues will come up, which will further delay my baby making plans. My biological clock is ticking and I'am scared as hell I will end up childless.

What do I do? I'am thinking of talking to my dentist about all this in my next visit. I want him to have a good look at my other teeth and find out if there are any dental problems that may happen soon. I want to know from him if my dental health is okay to allow me to start planning for baby. I'am afraid he will say yes, that I have more dental issues which need to be addressed. That will take away another 2-3 months from my family planning and also dental procedures are expensive. I don't want my husband's savings to be wasted in my dental treatment.

I'am so consumed by all these fears that I don't lead a normal life anymore. I don't eat well, don't sleep well and also have nightmares about my teeth falling out, eating dental floss along with my food and also dying due to dental problems. I'am going mad, I don't feel like socializing or doing anything good. I got two job interviews coming up but i want to cancel them as I have no mood to attend them.

Please tell me how to solve this problem of mine, what questions should i ask my dentist in my next visit so that he can put my mind in peace. Thank you all and sorry for annoying you with this long post :(
 
Awww I really feel for you. I'm sure if you speak to your dentist they may be able to do another x-ray to check on your other teeth.

You probably feel like I did about a month ago. I had toothache so badly I was almost eating paracetomol to get me through the day.. In the end I plucked up courage and googled different dentists who would listen to me.

I had talked myself into every situation possible, like extracting all my teeth and making me wear dentures, losing my teeth overnight and even dying from gum infections. I had fillings and a wisdom tooth extraction done over 3 weeks and feel great now. Considering I have had 5 children I was bricking it. Looking back my fears were all unfounded, I hope you can get some relief and your dentist reassures you. (Btw I was 42 when I had my twins) Good luck, I'm sure you will be fine.
:)
 
Hello! Just want to say I understand how this feeling is. I was in a similar situation and I found the same as twistedsister did; I was mostly upset, and it was not nearly as bad as I felt like it was. I was upset nervous anxious uptight stressed and just unhappy across the board. I found out however it was completely unjustified, and that I had worked myself up worrying about the worst, when the reality was much less severe.

The thing is getting in asking about it, finding out what my problems were and then getting a clear picture of where I stood and what needed to happen next was by far the best way for me to get these thoughts back under control.

My thoughts on this is to just ask your dentist about it. Express your concerns, bring it up to your dentist, and see what your dentist has to say from there. Its entirely likely your dentist will say, things are looking good, or things are looking mostly good except for this problem over here. The thing is the catastrophic outcomes are just not likely, and although they may find something, I think its likely to be much less serious than you worked yourself up over. If they didn't bring it up before, I would doubt they would find anything too serious now.

As far as the dental procedures being expensive and not wanting to take away from your husbands, or your own, I understand how that is. I will urge you however to not addressing the problem now is not only not going to make your situation any better, but its going to risk your dental health further. A minor fix now may become a major fix down the road, and you wouldn't be saving any money. I personally think its better to spend some money now and fix anything that become a major problem later on.

The thing is we tend to be a lot harder on ourselves than we should be.
 
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