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My dental story: extreme anxiety/panic. Need advice

T

Taylorlucy2

Junior member
Joined
May 30, 2015
Messages
1
Location
Indianapolis
Hello. I just joined this group because I am looking for advice.
My dental history is extensive. I basically have a crown or filling on every tooth.
My dental hygiene as a child was never really encouraged and genetics is not on my side. My grandmother had full dentures at age 20, my uncle at age 17, my mother at 24 and my sister at 30. Periodontal disease runs on both sides of my family.
My first visit to the dentist was when I was 13. I had to have 6 fillings and and several sealants. I continued to visit the dentist on a proper schedule and gained proper dental hygiene. Over the years I have received many more fillings, had fillings replacedand had several crowns placed. Everything was going well and I ended up skipping dental visits.
Here is were It gets interesting.
In the fall of 2009, I started having extreme pain in my lower front teeth/jaw. At the time I was extremely busy relocating to Seattle for work (3000 miles away). I waited a lot longer than I should have to be examined. The pain was due to rapid bone loss from periodontal disease. By this time nothing could be done and I was told I would need my lower 4 front teeth pulled and get a partial.
Before having the teeth pulled, the dentist wanted to do a root planning and scaling.
Up until this point I had no anxiety but she wanted me to take a large dose of Halcion because the RP&S could be pretty intense.
The day of the visit, I arrived at the office and was directed to take 4 tablets of Halcion (not sure of the dosage). After a half hour everything became foggy and then I woke up at home the next morning.
According to the dental office, I was uncooperative and would not even allow the assistant near my mouth. They even tried nitrous with no luck. They then told be that I gathered my things and disappeared.
I was able to piece together the rest of my day by finding receipts and an interesting story from my roommate. I left my car at the dentists and WALKED home, visiting random stores and even an art gallery before arriving home. (Watching the movie The hangover was very surreal!)
I never returned for visits. I found a new dentist but when I went in for my visit, I collapsed to the ground sobbing and shaking uncontrollably at just the sound of the drill. I've tried to return for different visits and it scares me to the point that I feel like my heart is going to explode and I want to crawl out of my skin.
It's now 2015 and I still need those teeth pulled and have several fillings replaced. I don't know what to do. I don't want to get to the point where I need full dentures.
My Ideal future visit to get this work done it to be completely sedated and have all or most of the work done then. I don't think I can handle it any other way. I realize there are greater risks involved and it will be a lot more expensive.
Can anyone offer any advice?
 
Halcion did not work for me either, and it did not work for me combined with nitrous oxide. I would highly suggest IV sedation in your case. You will be completely sedated and will be cooperative with the dentist. There's no risk of you walking out of your appointment. You can get a lot of work done under IV sedation and it will go a lot quicker because your body will allow the dentist access to your mouth much easier. In the United States, if you do not have a person to take you home and care for you for 12 hours afterwards, they will refuse to work on you until you do.
 
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