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Possible broken tooth and chair anxiety

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Impulsecontrol

Junior member
Joined
Aug 19, 2016
Messages
2
To preface this, I often like to pride myself on my dental hygiene. I'm the only member of my family who actively flosses and uses a flouride mouthwash on a daily basis, and though I have many fillings, I've turned over a new leaf in the past two years and haven't gotten a cavity since. I have a very big fear of loosing my teeth, which stems from an overall fear of permanently loosing a part of my body (hair excluded) and teeth are the easiest part to loose. On top of this, I have an anxiety disorder that causes me to impulsively act out. A few examples are ripping out dentist tools from my mouth, or forcing myself upright- interrupting the entire procedure. This embarrassment that stems from these actions is what caused me to be more vigilant about the health of my teeth, and each checkup is usually a quick cleaning that I can usually keep myself calm for.
Recently my younger sister completely shattered one of her canines, sparking up a new fear of breaking my own teeth. This fear brought up a hypervigilance of what I eat, and how I eat. Though I don't like to let my fears drive me to the point of starving, it does become difficult when facing my favorite foods. I had recently tried to eat a mix of corn nuts, and had little to no problem. Anything that felt too hard to bite I wouldn't force myself to eat and simply spit it out into a trash bag. A few days after I sat eating a bag of chips, which were oddly tough but far easier to chew than the corn nuts. Later on in the day however, I found something oddly hard in my meal as I was chewing it, and upon further inspection it appeared to be bone. I know that when eating sausage, sometimes the process allows bones to be in the meat but my thoughts immediately went to my teeth, and I assumed I had broken one of them. It was a sizeable piece (larger than any regular filling I've had, with an indent in it as well that had a reddish tint which only added to my horror) but upon first inspection I hadn't felt any pain in my mouth, any sensitivity or any difference in my teeth. It wasn't until later that I cleaned my mouth and further inspected that I began to feel something off about my second to last molar on the top of the left side of my jaw. I began nervously comparing it to the one on the other side, and even felt a sore ache in the gum area near that tooth. I'm fearing a dentist appointment because fillings are always the toughest parts to go through, as they take a long time. I've gone through therapy and explained my nervous "tick" to nurses, but this doesn't save me from the embarrassment and inconvenience caused by it. Is it possible that maybe the tooth fracture was all in my head and the piece really was a terrible piece of bone that managed to get into my food? And am I the only person who goes through these impulsive and unavoidable anxiety attacks? I hope to see a psychiatrist soon about the impulse attacks as well, as it seems that medication is my last resort to feeling some semblance of control over my own body (and I've tried laughing gas before, which unfortunately had no effects on me).
 
If such a big chunk had broken off your tooth, you would most likely be super aware of it. Even tiny holes in our teeth feel huge when our tongue touches them. It could easily have been bone in the sausage. "Feeling something off" and even feeling pain can happen when you get anxious and overthink, desperately combing your mouth for problems to the point where you trick your brain. Human brains are quite easy to trick in this way!

It's always best to get your teeth checked out if you have worries, even if just for the peace of mind. It's good that you're in therapy for your problems - keep at it. :) And is IV sedation available to you? It's much more of an effective sedative than laughing gas.

Hang in there :)
 
You have became the right path by improving your diet and personal care. Great this is the most frustrating part for me as a dentist. Now the next steps are actually fairly straight forward with the appropriate dentist and a therapist is beneficial.
 
I broke a large part off a tooth and just went to the dentist to get it looked at. It did not hurt and he put a temporary filling in and I have to go back to get the proper filling done. It did not bother me because I do not have any fear of the dentist or about my teeth. Not sure why I am on this forum really
 
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