Never been to the dentist

[tarina1994]

Okay so I've never ever been to the dentist and I dont know how to get over this and fix my teeth before they get any worse.
I'm 19 and my mum and dad are severely dental phobic and as a result they could never bring themselves to take me or my brother, instead they very nicely told us stories of their traumatizing childhood dental experiences.. which of course put me of going even more.
My brother got off lightly and didnt really get phased by the stories and he's been to the dentist a few times.
But I of course have never been.

My teeth arnt as bad as my parents, though still really terrible for my age (they've been like this since I was 15) i have one tooth that just crumbled to a little black stub, one thats broken in half, all the front ones are chipped, most of them have black lines(?) like on the surfaces (like where food gets all grinded up? I hope I'm making sense), theyre really crooked, my top incisors either side of my front teeth are really far back and I have crowding on my bottom teeth and they hurt like ALL the time, when I eat, when I drink something too cold/too hot. All these issues have also made me feel like giving up and I havent bruhsed regularly since I was around 7/8 years old.

I'm really embarrassed of them and I never smile and I find it really hard to talk to people which sucks because its having a MAJOR effect on my job (well... I dont have one atm because I can never talk to people at interviews or work trials) I also do youtube videos and I have to film them over and over if theres a part where you can see my teeth too much..

I really want to fix this but I'm really scared to go, I get nervous and all teary when the mere mention of going THERE comes up I'm scared they will judge me, that they will want to do things like drill them, root canals, extractions, stick needles in my gums. Also I'm EXTREMELY emetophobic and have a really strong gag reflex, I REALLY don't think I'll be able to cope with being sick, that will set me off on a panic attack guaranteed. I get panic attacks a lot, I think I'll just be crying my eyes out and running away if I was to go into the car park.

Please help I don't think I can bare this pain and embarrassment any longer and my little brother needs braces and refuses to get them unless I do at the same time

 

[grace-e]

I understand your anxiety! I feel the exact same way. Although, i haven't been to the dentist for 8 years and the last time i went.. i didn't go back because of bad experiences. I'm trying to find the courage to call places today. I've been doing research on many places and it eases the anxiety reading about the doctors and looking at their before and after pictures. I've recently chipped my tooth and have several missing/cracked teeth since but i've always came up with an excuse to put it off. Maybe it'll help you to look around your area for great dentists. Always a first time for everything and maybe it's a good time to start. Good luck!

 

[CrazyCrafter]

Hi tarina1994! I'm 21 and have an appointment on Thursday the 26th and I haven't been to the dentist in many years. My main reason for going is for the past couple of months I've been have excruciating pain from a back top tooth and a lot of my other teeth have cavities and decay. While I am scared of going to the dentist I am more fearful of being in pain again. Perhaps you could call around to a few different dentists and see if you could come in for just a meeting, no exam just talk to them and see if you like them.