• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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overcoming my fear!

B

blazertoad87

Junior member
Joined
Feb 2, 2023
Messages
3
Location
Pocatello ID
I went to the dentist pretty regularly as a kid and into my teens. I even had braces, headgear, all that. When I was 18 I went for the last time. I got pretty depressed and basically stopped taking good care of my teeth, sometimes going weeks without brushing. My teeth got bad and I could tell and I was so embarrassed. I would never smile in pictures, covered my mouth when I laughed, and try to talk to people without showing teeth as best I could. When I turned 21 I got better about brushing doing it about once a day or even 2 days. I got pregnant at 21 which made my teeth even worse. I had a back molar tooth break off a piece and I looked in the mirror and it was dark. I got scared but thought i’ll just brush and it will be fine since no pain. Then when I was 22 it started bothering me. Not toothache pain but the nerve itself. I could still eat food with it though, so I figured it would still be fine as long as my tongue never touched it. Then a year later(couple weeks ago) at 23 my mom asked if I wanted her to make me an appt to get a cleaning. I was terrified but decided I needed to for not just myself, but my son as well. After she made me one I searched online and found this website and spent all day and night reading stories. It helped so much and gave me the courage to go. I still had the worst anxiety all 2 weeks leading up to the appt. BUT, I went this morning and I know everyone says it, but the days and years leading up to it are FAR worse than the actual appt itself! I told my dental hygienist I hadn’t been in awhile and i’m embarrassed about the state of my mouth. She was so kind and nonjudgmental. She said what matters is you’re here now and we can fix it! I ended up having 7 cavities! 2 pretty bad ones and a wisdom tooth growing in sideways which caused my broken molar and exposed the nerve. I got a deep cleaning which took about two hours! My teeth look so much better! 6 years of plaque and build up removed. I’m so excited for my next appointments to fix everything and be able to smile and laugh and not feel embarrassed. I even set up my next cleaning appt in 6 months and that will only be 1 hour and I can’t wait! I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Reading everyone’s stories truly helped me :) and i’m so glad I got to share mine!
 
Good job! I'm glad to hear that you got it done and are on track with a plan towards having good dental health!
 
Wonderful!

Well done. 🙂
 
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