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Oral Surgery in 4 days...Scared to death!

K

kittykitty

Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2015
Messages
36
Location
Dallas, Texas
Okay...so I've been lurking around the forum for a while and finally decided to create an account.

I'm having oral surgery this coming Tuesday to have two teeth pulled. I have panic disorder and I'm absolutely terrified! This is probably a procedure that could have been done in a regular dentist's office, but because of my anxiety I've decided (with my dentist's recommendation) to get IV sedation. As a matter of fact, when I was at the dentist this past week my heart rate was 109. :(

Okay...so here is what I'm most terrified of. I feel like during the procedure I'll probably be fine because of the IV medication, but I'm worried about waking up afterwards to a huge panic attack. :cry:

Can anyone tell me their experiences (praying they're good ones! :() with sedation dentistry? I'm scared!
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum!

There are some user accounts of receiving IV sedation on this page:


Have a look. You will probably be quite tired afterwards. I've never had IV sedation, but I've had teeth removed under general anasthetic (as in I was completely knocked out), and when I woke up I was too groggy and relieved that it was over to bother panicking, and I have a panic disorder too.

Well done for getting these treatments. I know how awful the dentist is when you have a panic disorder. I've heard nothing but good reviews of IV sedation. I'm sure you'll be fine! :hug4:
 
Okay...so I've been lurking around the forum for a while and finally decided to create an account.

I'm having oral surgery this coming Tuesday to have two teeth pulled. I have panic disorder and I'm absolutely terrified! This is probably a procedure that could have been done in a regular dentist's office, but because of my anxiety I've decided (with my dentist's recommendation) to get IV sedation. As a matter of fact, when I was at the dentist this past week my heart rate was 109. :(

Okay...so here is what I'm most terrified of. I feel like during the procedure I'll probably be fine because of the IV medication, but I'm worried about waking up afterwards to a huge panic attack. :cry:

Can anyone tell me their experiences (praying they're good ones! :() with sedation dentistry? I'm scared!

You are braver than you think! When you come out of sedation yo may be a little disoriented but way too relaxed to panic over anything. I just had nine teeth pulled and barely remember anything of that day other than arriving at the dentist's office, waking up, and going home. I slept nearly all day. You will be fine. Try not to stress over things that have not happened yet. Too much wasted energy doing that.
 
Thank you both for your sweet responses! It really does make me feel better. I've literally worried myself sick over the whole thing. And it's not that I'm brave, the pain just became unbearable! :( I really hope my experience is like yours dealerelite!
 
Boy, I know that it's like to worry yourself sick over things, and I know what it's like when the pain gets unbearable too! Focus on that instead, how nice it will be to not be in pain. You will feel soooo much better with those teeth out, I guarantee it!
 
Thank you Sevena! :friends:I'm trying to stay focused! I promise to post after my experience so hopefully I can set some other minds at ease that are going through the same thing!
 
The sedation drug they will most likely use on you is called Versed. It generally calms people, and more significantly, causes you to forget the experience.

I recently had all four wisdom teeth removed with a local only. Despite the fact that one tooth had to be cut into 5 or 6 pieces, it was no big deal. I drove myself to a movie right after the surgery, went for a walk, and had a regular dinner that night.

BTW, a heart rate of 109 is not terrible under stress.
 
Thank you for sharing your experience Emtgardener. I, in the past, preferred having dental work done without any type of sedation too. I've had 3 root canals, a few fillings, and a couple of teeth pulled without any type of sedation as well.

It wasn't until I developed panic attacks and anxiety that all of this came about for me.

I remember when I was younger having my wisdom teeth pulled with IV sedation and it wasn't a bad experience for me. However, it's been so long since then that, sedated or not, I'm pretty terrified now. My fears are more about freaking out and having a major panic attack than anything else.

Bravo on being able to handle your dental work so well! I hope to get my anxiety under control and back to that point one day! Thank you again for sharing your experience! :)
 
Hi, I know exactly what you are going through. I`m having IV sedation to have two teeth pulled in a weeks time and I`m terrified to. I have anxiety and panic disorder too, I`m not too worried about the sedation part but I`m most scared about coming around and panicking about my mouth being numb (I have a choking phobia). I`m hoping that I will still feel really relaxed and not not really care that I am numb. I`m sure I will get through it ok but I`m still scared!
 
It is definitely scary Sarahmj79! :o
I'm having mine done tomorrow and will post back here and let everyone know how it goes. I'm hoping it's a positive experience! As positive as it can be anyway!

I feel like the waiting is worse than anything! I worked myself into a panic attack last night just thinking about it! Good luck with your appointment next week!
 
Thank you and good luck for yours. I`m sure we will both cope fine, I just want it over with so I can stop all this anxiety and worry!
 
Good luck tomorrow! Will keep an eye out for your update. Try to have a relaxed evening, reading books or watching movies, whatever you like to do. And don't worry if you have problems sleeping, because look at it this way, the sedation will make you tired anyway! :p

Fingers crossed you have a breezy trip :hug4:
 
Okay... So I got a call from the oral surgeon's office today saying they had to reschedule because of the weather. All of our local schools are closed, so they decided to close their office as well. My appointment will now be Wednesday at 1:00 pm. So ready to have this over with. My anxiety has been through the roof!
 
Hey guys! I'm back! My appointment kept getting rescheduled because of the weather we've been having lately in Dallas. However, I went today and I'm all done! I'm going to write a detailed explanation of my entire experience when I'm not so loopy. (I just got home about 30 minutes ago). Thank you so much for all of your support!
 
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Yay!!! So glad it's done. I will check back to see your full report :)
 
I'm so happy for you! It must be a huge relief to have it over with. :)
 
Well done, I bet your glad its all over and done with. :) Hope mine goes as well on Monday!
 
Okay... So here is how my appointment went from start to finish.

I think I've already stated here that I have panic disorder. My main anxieties with going to the dentist have always been 1. The shots making my heart race and 2. Panicking in the chair

I should start by saying that the teeth I had pulled have been killing me for a while now. I mean.. Literally keeping me up at night anytime they would "flare", which was getting more and more frequent. One of my back molars had completely broken in half, and another one on the same side had pretty much done the same thing.

I should also make it clear that when I say "panic disorder", my case is pretty severe, bordering on agoraphobia. I will get out every now and then, but it usually requires me to have a "safe" person with me. I'm just explaining this so that hopefully it helps someone in the same position.

With that being said, you can imagine my fear in knowing that I had to go to the dentist and get teeth pulled. I had originally went to another dental clinic (because they accepted walk ins) out of desperation and they refused to pull my teeth because my heart rate was 122 (again, anxiety). So, I was set up with an oral surgeon.

Fast forward to now. The past two weeks have been hell for me. I've worried myself sick. Had a hard time eating, sleeping, constant knot in my stomach and my heart was constantly racing. Each day closer to my appointment was worse than the day before.

Last night I had to take Xanax just to fall asleep and I ended up waking up at 3 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep. My appointment was at 10 am. My mom called me at 8:00 to let me know she'd be picking me up at 9. Gulp. Total knot in stomach. When she got here I literally kept saying "I don't know if I can do this". She finally convinced me to get in the car and I literally cried on the way there.

Once we were there the people in the office were so nice. I told them about my anxiety and apologized in advance if I was asking too many questions or anything. I couldn't stop myself. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. Once I was back in the room the nurse put a blood pressure cuff on me and a heart rate monitor on my finger. I told her I didn't even want to know what it said because it would make me even more nervous. She was really sweet and said everything was going to be just fine. The dentist came in and talked to me for a few minutes and inserted the IV. It was nothing but a scratch. Literally didn't hurt at all. I could feel my heart race a little (I'm not sure if this was because of the medication starting to go in or anxiety, or a combination of both, but it didn't last long (maybe 30 seconds) and wasn't anything unbearable). I could feel myself getting sleepy and relaxed and literally that was it. I was woken up very gently, absolutely zero anxiety. I didn't feel sick or gaggy or anything. I couldn't believe I was done. It was honestly amazing. I was able to talk normally and didn't feel anxious or weird or anything. The nurse wheeled me out to my mom's car and that was it. I was so worried this whole time I'd wake up in a complete panic and it was the exact opposite.

I got home, chatted with my mom for a while, and ate ice cream about an hour after being home. It was literally one of the easiest things I've ever done. The only thing that was hard was the anxiety I brought on myself.

I'm sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps anyone who has the same anxieties as I did. If you're anything like me, it may help a little but you still may worry. I know this because I would read the success stories on this site, and although they helped a little, I doubted my experience would be so easy. I was wrong! Seriously... Please try to relax. It was so easy!
 
Also.. If any of you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I know when I'm anxious I ask a lot of questions... So I totally get it. Thanks again for all of your support!
 
Yay! Well done you for being so brave - and it is brave. It takes a lot of courage to not run right back out the door, especially when you have a panic disorder and agoraphobia. I've been there too!

I'm so glad that the IV sedation was good for you. You should copy your post over to the success stories boards, then some people might come across it and feel encouraged.

Good news all round! :jump:
 
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