U
unusualpredicament
Junior member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2018
- Messages
- 2
So, this is a long story, sort of. Until I was 16 I was fine with dentists. A little edgy about needles, but fine with the dentist
When I was 16, a dentist gave me my first ever numbing injection (I think it's lidocaine we use here in the UK on the NHS) to give me a filling and then started to drill - It hadn't worked. I told her, and then counted 27 individual needle pricks going into my gum. She tried again, I still felt it.
She went bananas. Screaming and yelling about how I'm making it up, it's hypochondria, and then i became terrified of dentists.
I avoided dentists until I was 21 and my teeth were in such bad condition (due to lack of self-care through depression and an awful, awful diet) that I couldn't eat or sleep or drink because of the decay. I went to the dentist, and it was terrifying but I managed to get through seven teeth being pulled. Of the first five of those, the anesthetic worked and it helped ease my fear. The sixth? Wore off at the end. I felt the pain before the tooth became loose and by the time I had left the dentists office I was crying with the pain but didn't tell him. The next time I went back to start on my fillings, the anesthetic worked. The next two treatments (deep cleaning and minor surface filling) the anesthetic worked. When I next went back to get a filling, it did not. I told him and he seemed extremely confused.
When I got my wisdom tooth pulled I had to go to the sedation clinic as sedation isn't something my dentist offers. I was sedated very quickly because I started to have panic attacks as soon as I got in the room.
I felt the prick of the local. It didn't work. However I was so panicked - even after sedation - I didn't do anything about it. I remember being terrified and crying the entire way through, and even for twenty minutes afterwards. It didn't feel like I'd been given sedation. I remember the entire thing, I remember the pain. I remember leaving the room on shaky legs, still in tears and staving off more panic attacks.
I guess I'm lucky, of sorts. I'm not afraid of the dentists, the drill, the injections - my fear is the anaesthetic not working. Whenever I've had it, one of three things happens: It works completely, it doesn't work at all, or it works for a very, very short period of time. This happens in other situations (receiving staples/stitches at the hospital). Tonight, I've realized that one of my teeth is about to fall out. Half of it is completely away from the gum and some of it is still connected, much like a child losing a baby tooth. I've come to the realization that I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ignore this and that it's imperative I go to the dentist.
Has anyone else had similar problems with local anastetic? And, as a little side question, can ones teeth be 'prone' to rotting, even if diligent with hygeine? No matter how much I brush my teeth, even if it's every day, I still get cavities and broken teeth.
When I was 16, a dentist gave me my first ever numbing injection (I think it's lidocaine we use here in the UK on the NHS) to give me a filling and then started to drill - It hadn't worked. I told her, and then counted 27 individual needle pricks going into my gum. She tried again, I still felt it.
She went bananas. Screaming and yelling about how I'm making it up, it's hypochondria, and then i became terrified of dentists.
I avoided dentists until I was 21 and my teeth were in such bad condition (due to lack of self-care through depression and an awful, awful diet) that I couldn't eat or sleep or drink because of the decay. I went to the dentist, and it was terrifying but I managed to get through seven teeth being pulled. Of the first five of those, the anesthetic worked and it helped ease my fear. The sixth? Wore off at the end. I felt the pain before the tooth became loose and by the time I had left the dentists office I was crying with the pain but didn't tell him. The next time I went back to start on my fillings, the anesthetic worked. The next two treatments (deep cleaning and minor surface filling) the anesthetic worked. When I next went back to get a filling, it did not. I told him and he seemed extremely confused.
When I got my wisdom tooth pulled I had to go to the sedation clinic as sedation isn't something my dentist offers. I was sedated very quickly because I started to have panic attacks as soon as I got in the room.
I felt the prick of the local. It didn't work. However I was so panicked - even after sedation - I didn't do anything about it. I remember being terrified and crying the entire way through, and even for twenty minutes afterwards. It didn't feel like I'd been given sedation. I remember the entire thing, I remember the pain. I remember leaving the room on shaky legs, still in tears and staving off more panic attacks.
I guess I'm lucky, of sorts. I'm not afraid of the dentists, the drill, the injections - my fear is the anaesthetic not working. Whenever I've had it, one of three things happens: It works completely, it doesn't work at all, or it works for a very, very short period of time. This happens in other situations (receiving staples/stitches at the hospital). Tonight, I've realized that one of my teeth is about to fall out. Half of it is completely away from the gum and some of it is still connected, much like a child losing a baby tooth. I've come to the realization that I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT ignore this and that it's imperative I go to the dentist.
Has anyone else had similar problems with local anastetic? And, as a little side question, can ones teeth be 'prone' to rotting, even if diligent with hygeine? No matter how much I brush my teeth, even if it's every day, I still get cavities and broken teeth.