• 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.

Scared and in need of encouragement

K

karingal

Junior member
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
6
Location
Helsinki Finland
Hi everyone:XXLhug: I'm so pleased I found my way here! It's helped a lot reading all of your stories and experiences but....trouble is I always assume i will somehow be different from everyone else and the thing that worked for you all will somehow not work for me. My problem is this. I've avoided the dentist like the plague for almost 20 years (a result of horror movie style dentistry experiences as a child). Having been ashamed of the state of my teeth for almost the same length of time, covering my mouth to smile etc etc. I finally got up the courage to make an appointment a week ago for a full check up and cost evaluation for the full monty. I went to a dentist who specialised in phobic patients and have to say he was wonderful. He came out to get me from the waiting room, sat with me in a seperate room to talk about my teeth and let me look at all the equipment and told me what it was for before I decided myself to sit in the chair. In short the guy was a saint and I really liked him and decided if I was ever going to let anyone near my teeth it would be him. Anyhow, I got the money together and am booked in next friday 23rd november for 5 hours of work using i.v. sedation. At first I was thrilled thinking how brave I was, imagining my lovely new white straight teeth and how my life would change. But now with every day that goes by I'm getting closer and closer to cancelling the appointment. Panic is setting in. I.v sedation seemed like the greatest idea ever but now I've psyched myself out reading other peoples horror stories about waking up, cardiac arrest etc etc. I read that the benzodiazepines they use in sedation can cause respiratory arrest and I'm asthmatic. I'm terrified and turning into a total hypochondriac imagining my imminent death in the dentists chair and how they'll inform my husband and all this crazy idiotic stuff. Somebody PLEASE HELP! I desperately need this work done but feel like yet again I'm going to fail when I've got so far.......:cry:
 
'ello missus, and welcome - you are experiencing the high's and low's of all this dental phobia, horrible stuff. You found this site high, you found your ideal dentist - in one fell swoop by the sounds of it - extremely double high on that one, and you have got a treatment plan sorted out, so that you will be sorted out, for the better I am glad to say :)

Then you walk away and...... think, and Google, and anything dentisty check out everything the good and the BAD!!

Now, your dentist is qualified and trained and has extra training with IV sedation. They will also be well versed on checking our vital signs and all that stuff - if ever it came to it. Now with IV sedation, you are not as fully under as you would be with GA, and so it is therefore that much safer to start off with. Your dentist will know of your asthma and will take all of that into consideration when administering your medication.

I am a total convert to IV sedation, but certainly know that we are not all the same. In saying that, there are only 1% of people (as far as I have heard) that it doesn't work for - I had me in that 1% - but whoopy dhoopy I wasn't in that 1% and I daresay you won't be also.

I had the same sort of dreams and worries many moons ago, when I had an ingrowing toenail out under GA - I had just had my first child and didn't ever think I would see her again. I remember opening my eyes and being surrounded by 'white everything' and thinking I was in Heaven - then I heard a man's voice saying - I need a p*** and realised I was in recovery :XXLhug:

You will be fine sweetiel, try not to cancel your appointment, and you will end up having the treatment you need to give you the smile that you want, and done by a dentist who you trust - I wish you well xx
 
Hi karingal, :welcome: come on in and sit down, we need a word. What a lovely dentist you have found, how considerate and kind he sounds, it is a really good dentist that can put you at ease on the first visit the way he made you feel. Someone that takes the time to make you feel ready to be able to face the work, is not going to let anything happen to you next Friday. I also have an appointment on the same day that I am not looking forward to, so we can face the day with each other in mind.

You are going to be fine, they will do everything to make you feel relaxed and comfortable, don't worry about waking up or feeling anything they sound as if they won't let this happen. All you have to do is get yourself there, then put your trust in them and let them do the rest.

If at any point you feel you have had enough you can always stop things and continue another day. I have a feeling you will just have the work done. You should feel really proud of yourself for going and having the assessment, keep that feeling and let it stay with you to get you to your next app.

Give yourself a really big pat on the back, and congratulate yourself. I walked around with a silly grin on my face for a week after I went to a new dentist last year. You will feel so much better after next Friday and it is all over and done with. You will be floating on air and feel really pleased as punch after. Try and concentrate on how well your first visit went and keep that feeling. Don't read negative things on the internet they will scare you half to death, and they are very rare. A lot of things on the internet are done for the shock value.

I wish you good luck and please do keep your appointment, you can do it, and you will be fine. As long as the dentist is aware of your medical condition he will be able to deal with it, they really are quite clever you know. :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:
 
ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

BACK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!
DO NOT GOOGLE!
I REPEAT....
DO NOT GOOGLE!

DO NOT YOUTUBE!
I REPEAT....
DO NOT YOUTUBE!

I had 7 teeth pulled under IV sedation. Unless YOU have some underlying medical condition, (i.e. bad heart) you will be absolutely FINE.

I freaked out on my oral sedation tables because I HATE taking prescription meds and I never took any sort of valium or xanax or what have you but my dentist prescribed oral sedation because they don't do IV. So I panicked!! I did what you did or have done. But all was absolutely fine with me because I'm not a medically challenged person. LOL!!! My sedation works great.

YOu made the right step and am so glad you found your dentist. So wow... 5 hours? Lucky you... I wish mine were like that but not to worry.... like you it took me over 20 years to go as well. A year later and nearly at the end, I'm already smiling like crazy!! Although I admit some appointments were upsetting (not painful or hurtful or any of that) I did have some set backs but I'm female... I tend to get over emotional sometimes but all my appointments have been nothing but fine and easy and pleasant.

You MUST think of the outcome... this is what will push you through long hauls. The outcome. My family has made a pact that they wouldn't have steak until my treatment was done. In which we are all going out for a steak dinner to celebrate! I"m gonna eat NUTS! Nuts of all sorts!! I miss my nuts. LOL!! Sounds wrong..... it's little things like this... smiling at little kids without them commenting. Eating out at restaurants and not being picky about what to eat and being able to buy REAL food again! :)

So glad you made that step!!! OMG you won't regret it! You may be freaking out now... but do not let that mindset control you. Stop that fear monster in it's tracks. Yell out loud if you get that funny fleeing feeling. These are just a few little tips to get you through the upcoming days for your appoinment.

Can't wait to hear back!!
 
:hug5:Wow thanks a lot for your replies. Honestly, you can't ever know how much your kind words have helped. Just knowing that what I'm going through has already been gone through by others helps enormously. And I know you're all right! Funny how sometimes it only takes the voice of reason to get you to snap out of it and man up. It's true, dental phobics should have an automatic block on google and youtube because I did exactly what you said....watched every dentistry related horror video imaginable and read every story I could get my hands on which of course sent me spiralling into wild panic. I actually just had a look on the website of the dentist who's treating me and he says something very smart. There's a video on there of him talking about what causes dental phobia in the first place and (this is translated from finnish) he says people can be afraid of the dentist even though they've never had any work done. They hear what has happened to others and it plants the seed of fear. He says "no one is interested in a story where everything went well" and this is true isn't it? I've been basically self sabotaging by reading all these stories. On some subconscious level I don't want to go to the dentist so by reading horrible things I'm giving myself a reason not to go. RIGHT! That's IT! Between now and next friday I am NOT going to google the following words: I.v sedation, midazolam, versed, dentist fatalities, dormicum experiences, and I am not going to watch any videos except the ones on my dentists website.:)
 
LOL!! You GO girl!!!

If you read my blog you'll see just how easy things were for me and now most of my crankiness is because my appointments were cancelled, postponed or I had to wait.... UGH!!

I'm now so over going... it's now no big deal to me anymore. HUGE HUGE difference from going from panic attacks to "I can't wait to go!"
 
ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

BACK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!
DO NOT GOOGLE!
I REPEAT....
DO NOT GOOGLE!

DO NOT YOUTUBE!
I REPEAT....
DO NOT YOUTUBE!

I'm so glad that this site is one of the first I came across, and I stopped and read for a while. I saw this post, then went back to my google search, and then remembered these words in capitals, and decided I was done searching. I'm staying here with the sensible people, I have enough of my own horror stories in my head without falling over anyone elses. I have found the info here, don't need to go any further, this is good advice:)
 
Back
Top