G
Guest
Former Member
I've been reading this board for about a month (or more), and I've realized that I amost feel guilty for sharing my story. You see, I've read so many threads that involve far far worse situations than I landed and I feel as if I was far luckier than I probably should have been.
But if I could say one thing to the many people whose posts express a deep fear of what the dentist might discover, it's this ............ it may not be as bad as you fear. It wasn't for me, so maybe you'll find the same pleasant surprise too.
I can't pinpoint why I came to be deathly afraid of dentists and what they do, but I am. Even the thought of going to a dentist twists my stomach into knots. And as a result, I can probably count the number of times that I have willingly been to the dentist on one hand. I say "willingly" because there are also another handful of emergency visits when the pain became too bad.
If I were to think back to the last time that I had all of my dental needs addressed, I think that I was 17. After that, I avoided dentists like the plague even though I could see the plaque building up and even though I constantly worred that the dark areas under it were cavities.
After my son was born and I finished my degree, I dipped my big toe in the dental waters again at age 28 ....... maybe 29. By then I knew that I had a pretty big cavity on one tooth and suspected that there were many other smaller ones throughout my mouth. BUT for whatever reason, the dentist said that he couldn't do any of the work until I'd (1) had a complete cleaning and (2) had my wisdom teeth removed. Okay, I'll grant you that the wisdom teeth DO need to come out. I've seen the x-rays and the bottom ones literally came in sideways. But having the prospect of oral surgry (I absolutely refused to discuss extractions unless I was sedated first) as the bridge that I had to cross to getting the cavities filled was far far too much. I tried to steel myself and had the cleaning done, which was pretty painful considering the amount of plaque that had built up in the ten years since my last dental visit, but the thought of the extractions proved too much and I never went back.
Over the next several years, I broke not one ...... but two teeth -- a molar on each side. Plus I developed an infection in the tooth that had the big cavity (the left side of my jaw), which was also one of the teeth that broke. AND two molars on the right side (one of them is the other tooth that broke) became so decayed that they both ended up needing root canals. Btw, this is just the bottom teeth. I figured that if I knew about these problems, then God only knows what was waiting for me that I didn't know about.
So I worried every day, and I spent every day in pain. But I didn't go to the dentist. Not until the pain on the right side became so bad that I very literally couldn't stand it. My solution was to try the local dental school. It's part of a major university and has a very good reputation. Plus I didn't have dental insurance, and it would be cheaper. Again, I steeled my self and resolved to fix all my teeth rather than just the emergency. And again, it overwhelmed me.
First off, what they don't tell us about dental schools is that it takes several appointments for ONE procedure. I completed a root canal with them ........... not the crown, mind you ........ just the root canal. AND IT TOOK FOUR VISITS!!!! Plus, it hurt. The student did his best and he was very nice, but he was learning as he went and it hurt!! It also stressed me to no end. I'd get physically ill and start crying from the stress and fear, and I simply couldn't take the endless number of visits that it was going to require to fix what I knew was needed. And that didn't even get me to the stuff that I didn't know about yet. If you're still following my age progression, I was 44 when I tried the dental school.
So there I was. I'm now 46, I had one completed root canal that needed a crown, one root canal that was partially done and needed completing plus a crown, an infected tooth on the other side that I figured I'd lose and plaque so bad that I needed root scaling and a massive cleaning. Oh yeah, I also knew that any dentist who checked my mouth would immediately want my wisdom teeth out. And this is just what I KNEW about. I was terrified of what else they'd find. My front teeth had started to become numb. Nothing seemed lose (yet), but that numbness worried me in a big way. I also had convienced myself that I was seeing dark areas along the gumline in the front and so (I figured), I had developed cavities in the front surface of my teeth. I couldn't begin to imagine how they were going to fix that and allow me to keep the front teeth looking decent when I smiled.
Last summer it hit me that my instincts all those years ago about being sedated to extract the wisdom teeth was absolutely right. Recently, I began hearing about 'sedation dentistry' and the thought started to grow that this might be the solution for me. So after the disaster with the dental school, I realized that the ONLY way to save my teeth was to (quite literally) knock me out first and then do the work. So after looking around and asking friends and co-workers, I found a dentist that did sedation dentistry.
I think that I love him! LOL The very first visit, I put it on the line ........... looked him right in the eye and said (yes, literally said this) 'you are probably a very nice man, but the truth is that I would rather be audited by the IRS than sitting here right now. And I KNOW that all you're going to do is look at my teeth. No work. Just look. And I'm flat out terrified.' He said 'um..... have you considered sedation?' And I replied 'that's the only way we'll get the work done.' hehe So that's what we did.
Since my first visit in August, I have completed the two root canals on the right and will be back next week for the permanent crowns, I've had a root canal on the left to fix the infected tooth, had root scaling and cleaning AND (!!!) one of my wisdom teeth has been removed. He convienced me that since I was going to be out anyway, why not take the one on the right while he worked on the two teeth next to it. I can't say that I enjoy going to the dentist, but I finally feel like I can handle it now. When he doesn't sedate me, we use gas to keep things mellow. And I'm even willing to discuss extracting the remaining wisdom teeth, plus tackle the vast unknown that I'd feared for so long.
The thing about the vast unknown is that it's not so scary now. As things turned out, I didn't lose any teeth. They weren't even loose. Even the one that had been infected for close to ten years (it was pretty bad; I could get pus out of the gumline) was fixable. What I thought was cavities in the front turned out to be nothing more than discolored plaque. And now that we fixed the three major problems (the root canals on both sides), probably 90% of the dental pain is GONE. So I figure that while there are going to be things that we'll still need to do, they can't be that bad because I'm not in pain any more.
I know this is long, but I wanted you to know that I know how you feel when I read about the fear of what the dentist will find once the work begins. And to the extent that it helps you to know this, I wanted to say that it wasn't that bad for me. So maybe it won't be as bad for you too.
But if I could say one thing to the many people whose posts express a deep fear of what the dentist might discover, it's this ............ it may not be as bad as you fear. It wasn't for me, so maybe you'll find the same pleasant surprise too.
I can't pinpoint why I came to be deathly afraid of dentists and what they do, but I am. Even the thought of going to a dentist twists my stomach into knots. And as a result, I can probably count the number of times that I have willingly been to the dentist on one hand. I say "willingly" because there are also another handful of emergency visits when the pain became too bad.
If I were to think back to the last time that I had all of my dental needs addressed, I think that I was 17. After that, I avoided dentists like the plague even though I could see the plaque building up and even though I constantly worred that the dark areas under it were cavities.
After my son was born and I finished my degree, I dipped my big toe in the dental waters again at age 28 ....... maybe 29. By then I knew that I had a pretty big cavity on one tooth and suspected that there were many other smaller ones throughout my mouth. BUT for whatever reason, the dentist said that he couldn't do any of the work until I'd (1) had a complete cleaning and (2) had my wisdom teeth removed. Okay, I'll grant you that the wisdom teeth DO need to come out. I've seen the x-rays and the bottom ones literally came in sideways. But having the prospect of oral surgry (I absolutely refused to discuss extractions unless I was sedated first) as the bridge that I had to cross to getting the cavities filled was far far too much. I tried to steel myself and had the cleaning done, which was pretty painful considering the amount of plaque that had built up in the ten years since my last dental visit, but the thought of the extractions proved too much and I never went back.
Over the next several years, I broke not one ...... but two teeth -- a molar on each side. Plus I developed an infection in the tooth that had the big cavity (the left side of my jaw), which was also one of the teeth that broke. AND two molars on the right side (one of them is the other tooth that broke) became so decayed that they both ended up needing root canals. Btw, this is just the bottom teeth. I figured that if I knew about these problems, then God only knows what was waiting for me that I didn't know about.
So I worried every day, and I spent every day in pain. But I didn't go to the dentist. Not until the pain on the right side became so bad that I very literally couldn't stand it. My solution was to try the local dental school. It's part of a major university and has a very good reputation. Plus I didn't have dental insurance, and it would be cheaper. Again, I steeled my self and resolved to fix all my teeth rather than just the emergency. And again, it overwhelmed me.
First off, what they don't tell us about dental schools is that it takes several appointments for ONE procedure. I completed a root canal with them ........... not the crown, mind you ........ just the root canal. AND IT TOOK FOUR VISITS!!!! Plus, it hurt. The student did his best and he was very nice, but he was learning as he went and it hurt!! It also stressed me to no end. I'd get physically ill and start crying from the stress and fear, and I simply couldn't take the endless number of visits that it was going to require to fix what I knew was needed. And that didn't even get me to the stuff that I didn't know about yet. If you're still following my age progression, I was 44 when I tried the dental school.
So there I was. I'm now 46, I had one completed root canal that needed a crown, one root canal that was partially done and needed completing plus a crown, an infected tooth on the other side that I figured I'd lose and plaque so bad that I needed root scaling and a massive cleaning. Oh yeah, I also knew that any dentist who checked my mouth would immediately want my wisdom teeth out. And this is just what I KNEW about. I was terrified of what else they'd find. My front teeth had started to become numb. Nothing seemed lose (yet), but that numbness worried me in a big way. I also had convienced myself that I was seeing dark areas along the gumline in the front and so (I figured), I had developed cavities in the front surface of my teeth. I couldn't begin to imagine how they were going to fix that and allow me to keep the front teeth looking decent when I smiled.
Last summer it hit me that my instincts all those years ago about being sedated to extract the wisdom teeth was absolutely right. Recently, I began hearing about 'sedation dentistry' and the thought started to grow that this might be the solution for me. So after the disaster with the dental school, I realized that the ONLY way to save my teeth was to (quite literally) knock me out first and then do the work. So after looking around and asking friends and co-workers, I found a dentist that did sedation dentistry.
I think that I love him! LOL The very first visit, I put it on the line ........... looked him right in the eye and said (yes, literally said this) 'you are probably a very nice man, but the truth is that I would rather be audited by the IRS than sitting here right now. And I KNOW that all you're going to do is look at my teeth. No work. Just look. And I'm flat out terrified.' He said 'um..... have you considered sedation?' And I replied 'that's the only way we'll get the work done.' hehe So that's what we did.
Since my first visit in August, I have completed the two root canals on the right and will be back next week for the permanent crowns, I've had a root canal on the left to fix the infected tooth, had root scaling and cleaning AND (!!!) one of my wisdom teeth has been removed. He convienced me that since I was going to be out anyway, why not take the one on the right while he worked on the two teeth next to it. I can't say that I enjoy going to the dentist, but I finally feel like I can handle it now. When he doesn't sedate me, we use gas to keep things mellow. And I'm even willing to discuss extracting the remaining wisdom teeth, plus tackle the vast unknown that I'd feared for so long.
The thing about the vast unknown is that it's not so scary now. As things turned out, I didn't lose any teeth. They weren't even loose. Even the one that had been infected for close to ten years (it was pretty bad; I could get pus out of the gumline) was fixable. What I thought was cavities in the front turned out to be nothing more than discolored plaque. And now that we fixed the three major problems (the root canals on both sides), probably 90% of the dental pain is GONE. So I figure that while there are going to be things that we'll still need to do, they can't be that bad because I'm not in pain any more.
I know this is long, but I wanted you to know that I know how you feel when I read about the fear of what the dentist will find once the work begins. And to the extent that it helps you to know this, I wanted to say that it wasn't that bad for me. So maybe it won't be as bad for you too.
