Might not be as bad as you think!

[Delaware]

I recently managed to overcome my fear and go to the dentist for the first time in about 25 years after breaking a lower molar that was filled years ago. After avoiding going for so long, I was terrified of how much work I might have to have done. So I was very relieved to discover that, apart from sorting out the broken tooth (I had a large filling in it last week) I only needed one other filling – again in a molar that was filled in my teens and has now got a hole in the amalgam. Plus a good clean of course!

All the teeth which were left alone all those years ago are fine. It’s just the filled ones that need work now. Which leads me to think (and my new dentist agreed) that none of the eight or so fillings I had before the age of 20 was really necessary at the time.

So if you last went to the dentist in the bad old days of NHS ‘drill and fill culture’ you might be pleasantly surprised at how things have changed. Teeth that would have been drilled out and stuffed full of amalgam at the slightest hint of decay 30 years ago will more than likely be left alone now. I'm not saying it will be the same for everyone, but I was definitely exaggerating in my mind the amount of work I would need, and that was making the fear worse.

I can’t say I’m looking forward to the second filling tomorrow, especially as it’s right at the back and I have a bad gagging problem, but at least that should be it for a while. At least until the next unnecessary filling I had done in my teens needs replacing....

P.S. the dentist was much nicer than all the ogres I went to in the past as well!

 

[RP]

I'd say you are very lucky, many people would have gum disease from no professional cleanings over that length of time. I had more cavities than that before I hit the ripe old age of 5.

rp

 

[Delaware]

I didn't say I didn't have any gum disease, but I was expecting to need a large number of new fillings, based on my past experiences. My thinking was along the lines of: well if I had eight fillings between the ages of say 10 and 20, I'm going to need at least that number having not been near a dentist in 25 years!

I may have made light of my fear in my original post, but just to say that until a couple of weeks ago I couldn't even think about making an appointment for a checkup. I had pain when I bit down on that tooth (which had decayed around and under the filling) for over a year before it broke, and it was only when it finally broke that I made the decision to do something about it. The information on this website, and other people's stories on the forum, helped a huge amount in making that decision and getting me back through the door of a dental surgery.

All I wanted to say really was that, although there are obviously many other factors involved for other people, for me at least a lot of the fear was based on an unrealistic self-assessment of the state of my teeth. That and the fact that, here in the UK at least, dentistry has changed almost beyond recognition in the last 25 years.