Z
zahnarztangst
Junior member
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
- Messages
- 5
Made an appt after years of avoidance - need reassurance/encouragement to follow through
After having some serious tooth pain that wasn't going away, and which I couldn't ignore, I finally made an appointment with a dentist for this week. I have a lot of feelings: lots of guilt and shame, fear of guilting/shaming that the dentist or their staff might judge me, fear of the cost for the work I need to get done, fear of my family/friends judging me if they find out about this (I've kept my avoidance of dentists a secret), etc. I've avoided the dentist for years due to those fears, and of course the dental problems have only gotten worse. This seems to be typical among folks on this forum, which makes me feel less alone (which helps) but I'm still overwhelmed and terrified and can see myself avoiding this or future appointments. Any advice, words of encouragement, etc. is appreciated. I want to be hopeful that these problems are manageable, and proud of myself for stopping the avoidance and making an appointment at all, but it is still really scary.
After having some serious tooth pain that wasn't going away, and which I couldn't ignore, I finally made an appointment with a dentist for this week. I have a lot of feelings: lots of guilt and shame, fear of guilting/shaming that the dentist or their staff might judge me, fear of the cost for the work I need to get done, fear of my family/friends judging me if they find out about this (I've kept my avoidance of dentists a secret), etc. I've avoided the dentist for years due to those fears, and of course the dental problems have only gotten worse. This seems to be typical among folks on this forum, which makes me feel less alone (which helps) but I'm still overwhelmed and terrified and can see myself avoiding this or future appointments. Any advice, words of encouragement, etc. is appreciated. I want to be hopeful that these problems are manageable, and proud of myself for stopping the avoidance and making an appointment at all, but it is still really scary.