S
scaredfromsurbiton
Junior member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2009
- Messages
- 1
I have registered to tell my story in the hope it can help some other people.
I am a 32 year old man who until today felt like a terrified child when it came to the dentist. I only recall once being taken to the dentist as a child and my phobia has built as I have got older. I have been hugely embarrassed by my teeth, terrified of having bad breath and frowning in photographs for years now.
Three years ago I experienced incredible pain which turned out to be an abscess. I visited a dentist in Battersea who apparently helped nervous patients. The dentist was horrible and told me I had the worst teeth he had ever seen. He diagnosed an abscess but insisted I visited the hygienist 3 times before he would do anything for me. I managed to go to the hygienist on two of those occasions which turned out to be a lot less scary than I thought it would be, although she was not particularly good with nervous patients and didn't make it that easy. The fact was, there was no way I was going to go back to that particular dentist, so when it came to it , the pain of the abscess had gone away, and I buried my head back in the sand.
About 3 weeks ago, the abscess returned, and "with a vengeance" doesn't come close to doing it justice. You hear of people trying to pull their own teeth out with pliers - after three days, I could relate to this. I ended up taking far too many pain killers. On day 4, when my face swelled up like a tennis ball, it became clear to me that I HAD to visit a dentist. This was coupled with the fact that at the time I was only four weeks from moving abroad permanently. The time had come.
The following morning, despite floods of tears first thing that didn't exactly make me feel much of a man(!) my wife managed to pack me off to see Jenny Pinder, who is recommended on this site. She is a private dentist based in the City of London.
Jenny and her assistant made me feel at ease despite huge levels of anxiety. I think I was most frightened that she would reiterate the previous dentist's comment about how bad my teeth were. In fact she said he was talking utter nonsense.
After X-Rays etc. it turns out all I needed was an extraction where my abscess was, a filling, and a deep clean in two sessions. I was packed off with some antibiotics to kill the infection.
It did take several more days of painkillers before the pain subsided, but the extraction could not be done until the abscess had gone down. This did allow me to bury my head back in the sand for a couple of weeks, until today when "extraction day" arrived.
Despite feeling a lot more at ease with this dentist, I had an award-winning panic attack last night, but this morning I figured I had to go through with it, rather than risk the pain returning once I am abroad in a few days. When it came down to it, I knew I couldn't board a flight to come back to England in the amount of pain I was in a couple of weeks ago.
Luckily I was given a small dose of valium before my appointment, which, although I was reluctant to take it, did chill me out a lot and take the edge of the anxiety, whilst still leaving me feeling in control. Before I knew it, I was in the chair, with two people being extremely nice to me and making sure I was OK.
Let's be honest, it wasn't exactly a pleasant sensation having a tooth removed, but it was all over very quickly indeed, and as this dentist uses "The Wand" I can genuinely say that the injections didn't hurt AT ALL. There was far less blood than I expected and the euphoria I experienced once I knew it was done was simply incredible.
I know I am not out of the woods yet....I am sitting at home desperate for a cigarette that I am not allowed for 2 days
and am terrified of getting "dry socket," but I am not in any way bothered about going back for my deep clean. The filling I have to have is making me more anxious because I have not had one before, but all in all, I feel like I have conquered at least 75% of my fears today. I only wish I had done it sooner!
I am a 32 year old man who until today felt like a terrified child when it came to the dentist. I only recall once being taken to the dentist as a child and my phobia has built as I have got older. I have been hugely embarrassed by my teeth, terrified of having bad breath and frowning in photographs for years now.
Three years ago I experienced incredible pain which turned out to be an abscess. I visited a dentist in Battersea who apparently helped nervous patients. The dentist was horrible and told me I had the worst teeth he had ever seen. He diagnosed an abscess but insisted I visited the hygienist 3 times before he would do anything for me. I managed to go to the hygienist on two of those occasions which turned out to be a lot less scary than I thought it would be, although she was not particularly good with nervous patients and didn't make it that easy. The fact was, there was no way I was going to go back to that particular dentist, so when it came to it , the pain of the abscess had gone away, and I buried my head back in the sand.
About 3 weeks ago, the abscess returned, and "with a vengeance" doesn't come close to doing it justice. You hear of people trying to pull their own teeth out with pliers - after three days, I could relate to this. I ended up taking far too many pain killers. On day 4, when my face swelled up like a tennis ball, it became clear to me that I HAD to visit a dentist. This was coupled with the fact that at the time I was only four weeks from moving abroad permanently. The time had come.
The following morning, despite floods of tears first thing that didn't exactly make me feel much of a man(!) my wife managed to pack me off to see Jenny Pinder, who is recommended on this site. She is a private dentist based in the City of London.
Jenny and her assistant made me feel at ease despite huge levels of anxiety. I think I was most frightened that she would reiterate the previous dentist's comment about how bad my teeth were. In fact she said he was talking utter nonsense.
After X-Rays etc. it turns out all I needed was an extraction where my abscess was, a filling, and a deep clean in two sessions. I was packed off with some antibiotics to kill the infection.
It did take several more days of painkillers before the pain subsided, but the extraction could not be done until the abscess had gone down. This did allow me to bury my head back in the sand for a couple of weeks, until today when "extraction day" arrived.
Despite feeling a lot more at ease with this dentist, I had an award-winning panic attack last night, but this morning I figured I had to go through with it, rather than risk the pain returning once I am abroad in a few days. When it came down to it, I knew I couldn't board a flight to come back to England in the amount of pain I was in a couple of weeks ago.
Luckily I was given a small dose of valium before my appointment, which, although I was reluctant to take it, did chill me out a lot and take the edge of the anxiety, whilst still leaving me feeling in control. Before I knew it, I was in the chair, with two people being extremely nice to me and making sure I was OK.
Let's be honest, it wasn't exactly a pleasant sensation having a tooth removed, but it was all over very quickly indeed, and as this dentist uses "The Wand" I can genuinely say that the injections didn't hurt AT ALL. There was far less blood than I expected and the euphoria I experienced once I knew it was done was simply incredible.
I know I am not out of the woods yet....I am sitting at home desperate for a cigarette that I am not allowed for 2 days
and am terrified of getting "dry socket," but I am not in any way bothered about going back for my deep clean. The filling I have to have is making me more anxious because I have not had one before, but all in all, I feel like I have conquered at least 75% of my fears today. I only wish I had done it sooner!
