Newb, an agoraphobic booked in for root canal :-(

[Sugar]

Hi all! I'm glad I found this forum. It's good that I have found many people that have the same fears as me!

I'm a 22-year old agoraphobic. I have an extreme fear of fainting, you see, and fainting in public is my worst fear ever (due to bad experiences when I was a child).
So, you can probably guess that I'm scared of fainting in the dentist chair...

Anyway. For the past year or more, I had a hole in one of my second pre-molars. I was in a lot of pain but my anxiety disorder was in it's primary stages back then, which I'm sure as any fellow sufferer knows, is one of the worst times ever. There was no way I was even going to get to the end of my street, let alone to the dental surgery. So, I suffered in silence, and took a lot of painkillers.
Weirdly enough, the pain seemed to fade. I'm guessing the tooth died or something. It would only hurt when some food got stuck inside. Well, the other day, I was eating some Mini Eggs, and the tooth broke...

SO, I booked a dentist appointment. It took soooo much courage to do, I kept hanging up and re-dialing...

My dentist doesn't seem very sympathetic, and she gave me a bit of a lecture about how I shouldn't have let it get this bad. Apparently every single one of my teeth is showing some sort of decay, the enamel is really thin. I have to give up cola I think, which will be hard as I'm a total cola addict.
She took an X-ray and said the tooth needs root canal treatment - She also found one of my other teeth that needed a routine filling. Got that one filled today - I refused the injection (I'm terrified of injections!) and wish I hadn't because the filling REALLY hurt. I had sweat pouring down my forehead!

My root canal is booked for Tuesday 28th April. I am PETRIFIED!

I am really proud of myself for going through with the other filling today though - But I did get lightheaded a few times, and just freaked when she brought the needle out (hence why I turned it down!)
I'm worried about how I'm going to react on Tues with the RC... I mean, if I get woozy with a simple filling, things can't look good for a full root canal!

Basically I'm just looking for some reassuring words, I guess. My dentist and family don't have any, they all blame me for letting my teeth get this way and for drinking cola all the time. I guess it is my fault.
Any other anxiety/panic/agoraphobia sufferers here?

Thanks in advance and I'm glad to meet you all!

 

[Topcat]

Wow, I am not surprised you were light headed having a filling with no pain killer !! Well done for going I know how hard it is to go out as I also used to be agoraphobic.

I am sure you will be fine with the root canal if you managed the filling ( but do have pain killer)! The injections really dont hurt and are over in seconds. I have a phobia of vomiting so when I go to the dentist im always scared I will get sick especially as I have a strong gag reflex, you need to try an control your breathing as over breathing will make you feel light headed but i know it is hard I often find myself holding my breathe in the dentist chair !!

You are obviously stronger than you think getting this far

Good Luck for Tuesday

 

[greenwood]

Wow, I bet you don't know how inspiring you are. It's incredible that you overcame a big fear (even being out in public) to take yourself somewhere that you fear. And then you had the courage to agree to go back again. Many people wouldn't. I might very well be one of them You are clearly very strong so be sure to give yourself credit for it.

As far as your dentist, I don't think (s)he sounds too reassuring. Is it true that you only need one filling besides the root canal? If it is, then I think he or she might be trying to guilt you in to coming more regularly with the doom talk of every tooth having a problem.

 

[Stress Doc]

Good Job!

You are doing great. I am sure you will do fine. I am an anxiety specialist. If you would like some techniques to help you to calm down PM me.

Hyperventilation breathing is what is causing the light head. It comes from over oxygen saturation.

You have taken a huge step in confronting the fear, well done.

All the best to you.

 

[brit]

Your dentist sounds horrible - you can elect to go somewhere else you know, even if this is NHS. If it's private then they should be willing to work to get you over your dental needle phobia.

Even if you did refuse LA because of needle phobia, when it was obvious you were experiencing pain, she should have offered you LA again and again. I.M.V. they shouldn't treat period if the patient is not anaethetised.

I have had fillings without LA inflicted on me against my will as a child (early 1970s and not even the norm back then) and there is no way you should be subjecting yourself to that degree of pain when it is totally unnecessary. There is no way you should try a root canal without anaesthesia unless the tooth is totally dead.

This 'socalled' professional should be congratulating you for finally dealing with your dental issues/agoraphobia not making you feel bad about taking steps to improve the situation and there was no need to show you the syringe...she could have told you to stare at a spot on the ceiling (like good dentists do with kids) and kept it out of your line of sight.

Dental injections can be totally painless (numbing gel then slow delivery - if they do it too fast it stings) but from her attitude I would be surprised if your dentist has good painfree technique although you never know...it's worth a try rather than suffering unnecessary pain.

Seriously I'd go and find myself a nice, probably male, private dentist instead. Dentists with her kind of attitude don't deserve repeat visits from patients.

 

[Razzle3]

Sugar, first off a hug to you. I agree that the dentist should have offered you LA again or honestly said he/she wouldn't be comfortable treating you without it. This actually reminds me of a sealing/filing I went through a couple time with my old dentist. I honestly do not remember if I or possibly my Grandma (who also went to the practice) told her of my extreme fear of needles but she never offered me LA. I managed but in retrospect would have preferred being asked. Yes, I should/could have asked her myself but guess didn't think as much of her as I thought :/ and/or have the courage.

More importantly, perhaps I can offer you some peace of mind in the same manner StressDoc did for me a couple weeks ago. Until this forum, I had honestly never known there were such wonderful things as topical gels. Last week, I went in for the first RC treatment very frightened of the injection despite believing or desparately wanting to completely believe everyone on here and especially StressDoc who assured me of the "magic" of the gel. Anyway how the gel works and you can check out the link:

Numbing Gel

Find out how numbing gel can be used to numb the gums before giving an injection, to numb the skin before using IV sedation, and for dental cleanings.

www.dentalfearcentral.org

My dentist put a q-tip swab with the gel up against the gums near my "bad" tooth. He left it there for maybe 5 minutes. It's important to give the topical a few minutes to "take." When he came back, although, I was already feeling it working, I admit to still feeling a little panicked especially since that was the first time I'd ever had a dental shot and well the first time in many years since I've had any kind of shot, the absolute truth is I felt NOTHING. He (the dentist) made a point of also injecting the novaccaine very slowly which supposedly also prevents pain. Sometime into the procedure, he gave me a second dose, again it was amazing how if not for seeing the needle and his calmly telling me he was giving me a second shot, I would not have known he had. I promise you that is true. If need be ask the dental nurse or assistant if you can hold their hand. That helped me a lot just to have a non threatening human touch.

I wish lots of good luck and go you for making the appointment.

Mona

 

[Sugar]

Thank you ALL for your kind words of support and advice!

I am definitely not going to refuse the injection for the root canal - Actually, I won't have the choice to do so. My dentist said she definitely cannot perform the treatment without the anasthetic, which makes sense really!

greenwood - Thank you. I have never thought of myself as inspiring - quite the opposite in fact! So your words have touched me greatly!

Tuesday gets closer and closer... I'm trying to stay calm, but it's hard.