• 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.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Re: Fear of local anaesthetics

L

Linda45

Junior member
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
2
Re: Fear of local anaesthetics

Hi all, I'm new here and it looks like I've found a home :) I have panic disorder and it keeps me out of the dentist chair ONLY because I fear the feeling of being numb....it scares me stupid, stupid enough to keep me out of the chair until I absolutley HAVE to go and even then, I have to have my husband go with me to hold my hand....this is absolutely humiliating to say the least. My mouth is in bad shape....I think I actually have an abcess going on at the moment that I am DREADING having to go in for...the tooth will have to be removed....ugh...
I also made it through have a "roundhouse" (connected caps) put on the the top teeth as they were deteriorating and it's lasted about 5 years. Unfortunately it's time for a denture and I have 6 teeth that need to be pulled after the roundhouse is removed to have the denture put in. I have been avoiding this like crazy too, ALL because of the stupid fear of being numb!! I'm also petrified of being put to sleep so that's not an option for me...the laughing gas scares the crap out of me too, so much so that I haven't even tried it. I've actually had 2 root canals done withOUT being numb because I've been so frightened of it....didn't matter at the time, I was in so much pain that I was able to get through it. This SUCKS!!! All support and any advice from others experiencing this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and it's good to know I'm not alone in this although I wouldn't wish it on ANYONE.
 
Re: Fear of local anaesthetics

Oh dear Linda you poor thing.

I can see you really do have a complete dental phobia and its not easy to overcome, but if you dont have the treatment it will only lead to more and more pain and distress. Is your dentist sympathetic to your phobia? If not, i suggest you find a center where there are dentists who understand just what going to a dentist means for you. I know of some dentists who dont like going to the dentists! Anything to do with having treatment on the head is magnified as far as worry is concerned, i think mainly because we cannot see whats happening unless there is a mirror to look into. I dont think anyone likes the numb feeling, but if you want it to last a lot less time, ask for that injection without the epi, the numbness wears off so quickly!

How about having the teeth pulled one at a time? It will take longer to complete the treatment needed, but at least you wont be in the chair as long. The abcess will probably need antibiotics first before you get that tooth out too.

I hope you resolve your situation. Is there any chance that you dont have to make an appointment whereby you are thinking of it all the time, but just come to an arrangement when you are feeling in the mood to have treatment you can go to the surgery? Just a thought, as sometimes we feel stronger than others.

Good luck.
 
Re: Fear of local anaesthetics

Hi Suzie,
Thank you for the kind words :) Yes, I've been down the abcess road before so I know I'm going to need antibiotics, I'll be calling them in the morning...ugh..
No possibility of having the denture teeth pulled one at a time, they now do an "immediate" denture where they put the thing in as soon as the teeth are pulled, I thought about that too but it's not an option. So I'm going to have no choice but to bite the bullet here and get it done. I do get the novicane without epi, I've been doing that for years but it doesn't take away the fear of being numb. I can't stand the numb tongue, throat, ANY of it!! It always sets off a panic attack no matter how much I prepare myself knowing that it's not going to hurt me. With people that have panic disorder, anything foreign in the body that makes the body feel "different" is enough to set off an attack....having the mouth numb feels different! I do see a guy who is pretty patient with me but they can only be SO patient, they have to get the work done. So I continue to struggle hoping that one day this will not be an issue for me. Thanks for listening :)
 
Re: Fear of local anaesthetics

I was also VERY scared of the gas for years and never asked for it because I was 1) afraid of the machine and that the gas would kill me vs. making me feel good 2) embarrassed that I'm the only patient to ever ask for it and 3) feeling nauseous afterwards (common side effect of gas after several hours later).

Well, I avoided the dentist for over 5 years because I hate the entire experience but I finally had to go last week because the pain was too much and it was infected, 1/2 my face was swollen so I asked for the gas (nitrous oxide) and they gave it to me and I was panicking at first, very short quick breaths and eyes were too wide open and petrified to close and I was looking the ceiling wondering if this was it - was I going to DIE in the dentist chair with gas and my gosh - it was AWESOME and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Have them do the GAS first, wait until your fingers and toes feel kind of tingly, that's what he asked me and when they were, he administered the novo/lidocaine shots and I didn't even notice. I was in happy-land.

So I highly recommend it. Maybe you can go to your dentist's office on a separate visit and tell them about your fears and see if you can just experiment with the gas machine - they'll put it over your nose - it's a little oxygen mask kind of thing except white - and he'll tell you what to expect etc. And it doesn't put you out or anything, just relaxes you. And then he turns it to 100% oxygen for two minutes before I get up so I have my bearings, etc.

But I was the biggest skeptic and coward of it for years and now I wonder why I didn't try it sooner. It's worth every penny for people like us.
 
Back
Top