@candy-eater I would say don't be ashamed to be afraid of going to the dentist, or embarrassed you haven't been back since July. I think it is totally normal and natural that we become afraid of situations where we have had a bad experience, just a natural instinct. My belief is what makes dealing with dentistry hard, we have to go against our natural instinct to avoid what feels like a threatening situation. You probably have seen this too, but the website has a page of advice about dealing with common fears which includes the drill, gagging, smells, noises, and embarrasment or shame
https://www.dentalfearcentral.org/fears/
Maybe you could find some ideas that would help you deal with your specific dental fears.
In case it may be any use to you, what worked for me to get treatment while very scared was to go ahead and decide to move forward with treatment while afraid, and tell myself it was really the best option I had and I must do it. To kind of do the treatment while accepting I would be feeling that fear and trying to understand how it affects my thoughts, and do what I needed to do anyways. I did a lot of things to relax while dealing with the calling to book an appointment, setting up appointments, attending appointments, etc, including taking anti anxiety supplements that were amino acids, yoga, box breathing, and the 54321 coping technique. I constantly used this website for support, and still do. I struggle a lot with calling the dentists office but can calm down enough to do that with box breathing. Hopefully some of this may be of use to you. I sympathise with you, setting up an appointment is really hard to do, I know.
