@kcrazygirl74 Hey there!
I completely understand your fears. On the 11th, I’m getting (at least) four teeth extracted under general (so fully asleep, completely unconscious) and ooh boy are there are a lot of fears that go with that!
Firstly, that fear you have of not waking up: very, very,
very rare. As long as the dentist you go to employs an actual anesthesiologist, you’ll be fine! That being said, if it truly is a huge fear and you feel you can’t do it, I agree with Nervous. Talk to the dentist, negotiate with them over what they can do for you. Remember you don’t have to agree to anything you don’t want to. I chose general myself, because I don’t want to be aware of anything that’s happening and I want to know that I’m for sure going to be out like a light and not know what’s going on. That’s what’s best for me, but maybe not for you and that’s okay.
As for the holes, I can’t speak to that because I haven’t gotten those extractions done yet, but it’s something I’m afraid of too. Please remember this: the mouth is, I think, the fastest if not, one of the fastest, healing parts of the body. It heals so fast! So for the first day or so, you’re going to have these holes that are awful, but they’ll start closing up pretty quickly. Before you know it, they’ll be super tiny and you’ll barely remember what they looked like before hand.
As long as you follow the instructions for post extraction care, the chances of infection are low. It’s scary definitely (I’m terrified of infection/dry socket, I mean aren’t we all? It’s a thing you read about and it sounds like a horror movie!) but you have to remember that the risk of it happening is lower than you think. A lot of people on forums, and definitely on Google, always talk about their negative experiences, not their positive ones. That’s why this forum is so helpful! We have plenty of success stories that can give you a bit more confidence.
Getting to the dentist is really hard, it’s much easier to just ignore the issue and say: hey I can live like this. But those teeth are hurting you and hurting your overall health. Think of it this way: the longer you leave it, the higher chance you have that things continually get worse in your mouth, and the path to healing takes longer and is more involved. I know it sucks, but you need to do this for yourself. And you can do it. You can. You just have to take that first step and call the dentist again.
