Really really afraid of upcoming surgery

[Cheque]

I'm in so much pain mentally...I really hope someone could help me. I googled for the longest time & I came across this website. I've realized that so many people are really supportive of one another. I've voiced out my fears but as usual, the comments I receive are always..."Don't be silly". It upsets me a lot to know no one understands the situation I'm in.

Anyway, I recently went to the dental clinic in hope to get invisalign done. However...after my X-ray, I'm told that I've lots of bone loss in the right side of my mouth!! I WAS PETRIFIED. I swear, I wanted to cry at that point of time. It feels like the end of the world, really. It didn't occur to me that I would have to go through a couple of surgeries. Apparently, the dentist have no idea what's the cause as it's partially only on the right side. Not to mention I'm only 22 this year! I went home thinking really hard & thought it might be due to the grinding of my teeth vigorously every night since young.

That aside...I'm done with my deep scaling about a month ago. And in 4 days time, I'll have to undergo gum flap surgery on the top right quadrant first. The dentist suggested that since I'd be numb, I might as well extract my upper right wisdom tooth as well. I'M REALLY REALLY REALLY SCARED. Nothing could express the anxiety in me now. I wish I'm not such a wimp. I haven't felt so lousy about myself in such a long time. I'm located in Singapore. I'm not sure if they have the gas or IV sedation here because most of the procedures are done only through local anesthesia. I wish I could just go ahead with a general anesthesia so that I've no idea what's going on. However, over here...they do not encourage it due to a slight risk still involved. I've gone through ZOOM's teeth whitening & it hurts, but still tolerable. It's the thought of a blade through my gums that scares me a lot. I dare not imagine the pain even after local anesthesia is injected.

Even as I'm typing this...I feel like crying. I wish Tuesday is here asap so I could get over & be done with this procedure. On the other hand, I dread the thought of what is going to happen. I'm afraid I'll chicken out. I don't want to.

Can anyone let me know the procedure of gum flap surgery & wisdom tooth extraction? My main concern is how painful is it? I'm afraid I can't take the pain. And the thought of the procedure of cutting through my gums, scares me to death.

How??

How to you all cope with the anxiety?? And pain??

 

[tabatha7]

I'm sorry you are having to go through so much mental anguish. I understand completely how you feel. You are not alone. I just want to say though that if the part that scares you the most is an incision in your gums, please don't be. You will not feel it. You probably wont even know they are doing it unless they tell you. If they dont give iv sedation would it be possible to have some kind of oral sedation? Like halcion, valium. or xanax? It wouldnt hurt to ask them. Also, I have had my top wisdoms out before and they are usually the easier ones. You more than likely wont feel any pain at all. If you do feel any discomfort let them know so they can numb you up more. Please don't be afraid to let them know you are scared so they can help you with that. Let us know how everything goes.

 

[icosagon]

If the local anesthetic is working, there will be no pain from the scalpel. When the gums are pushed off of the bone, I felt a weird, scrapey pressure, but it was not painful. I can't comment on the wisdom tooth removal, as I haven't had mine out, but it also should not hurt during the removal.

With my most recent (hopefully last) bit of surgery to my gums, I wasn't given time to get anxious about the procedure in advance. I went in for a quick look at an issue I had noticed, and was told "Surgery today or Monday, needs to be within a week". I picked that day, as I was already there, and got into quite the panic while waiting the couple minutes for the room to be prepared. And so I got to experience multiple methods of trying to get me to calm down, ranging from sitting me up and giving me apple juice (before any incisions were made), to bad dentist jokes, conversation, and talking me through parts of it. The most effective, though unintentional, method was the fire alarm going off and evacuating mid-procedure.

While the surgery should be painless, I have experienced incomplete anesthesia during surgery to my gums. What it felt like during that incision was a papercut. Immediately after noticing that I felt it, the anesthesia was topped up and the dentist apologized.

 

[Cheque]

I'm sorry you are having to go through so much mental anguish. I understand completely how you feel. You are not alone. I just want to say though that if the part that scares you the most is an incision in your gums, please don't be. You will not feel it. You probably wont even know they are doing it unless they tell you. If they dont give iv sedation would it be possible to have some kind of oral sedation? Like halcion, valium. or xanax? It wouldnt hurt to ask them. Also, I have had my top wisdoms out before and they are usually the easier ones. You more than likely wont feel any pain at all. If you do feel any discomfort let them know so they can numb you up more. Please don't be afraid to let them know you are scared so they can help you with that. Let us know how everything goes.

I'm so thankful for the response. Yes, the thought of incisions in my gums scares me a lot. I hope to overcome it by closing my eyes close the entire time. Also, in hope that the local anesthesia works well enough to numb me up so I have no idea what's going on in my mouth. Yes, I'll voice it out to them. I just have to hope my dentist is an understanding & patient person. I've met impatient dentists from the past (Eg. Free dental services provided by our local schools.) & that makes visiting the dentist such a horrible experience. I'm hoping the dentist on Tuesday can change my opinion of them. Also, I hope the procedures are actually not as bad as I imagined. I tried googling and all, and I'm not sure if I'm scaring myself.

 

[Cheque]

If the local anesthetic is working, there will be no pain from the scalpel. When the gums are pushed off of the bone, I felt a weird, scrapey pressure, but it was not painful. I can't comment on the wisdom tooth removal, as I haven't had mine out, but it also should not hurt during the removal.

With my most recent (hopefully last) bit of surgery to my gums, I wasn't given time to get anxious about the procedure in advance. I went in for a quick look at an issue I had noticed, and was told "Surgery today or Monday, needs to be within a week". I picked that day, as I was already there, and got into quite the panic while waiting the couple minutes for the room to be prepared. And so I got to experience multiple methods of trying to get me to calm down, ranging from sitting me up and giving me apple juice (before any incisions were made), to bad dentist jokes, conversation, and talking me through parts of it. The most effective, though unintentional, method was the fire alarm going off and evacuating mid-procedure.

While the surgery should be painless, I have experienced incomplete anesthesia during surgery to my gums. What it felt like during that incision was a papercut. Immediately after noticing that I felt it, the anesthesia was topped up and the dentist apologized.

Thank you so much for replying despite reading such a long whole chunk of essay. It really feels so much better hearing from a person whom has been through the actual procedure before instead of just reading it off from the internet. I hope I really do not experience any pain, really do hope the anesthesia works well. I'm alright with pressure as long as it doesn't hurt & I don't know what's exactly happening. How I wish I'm not such a wimp. Also...around how long does the anesthesia last? Is it able to last through the stitching of the whole procedure? Or halfway through, they'll top up on it?

 

[icosagon]

Normally, the anesthesia lasts a couple hours, long enough for the procedures I've had. I did need to have it topped up before stitching, but having to evacuate and sit outside for a while wasn't anticipated. If you feel anything, let the dentist know and you'll get more anesthetic. Even though I didn't explicitly tell my dentist, he realized what had happened because my breathing pattern changed, and added more.

 

[tabatha7]

I'm sure everything will be fine. Please don't google. It will do nothing but scare you. I've been there. Hope you get someone who is nice and understanding.