Scared of Novocain Injections

[newbeginnings]

Hey all,

I’ve decided to join this forum because I’ve been really struggling to see the dentist and get things done. I am hoping for some advice as I have been contemplating getting stuff done.

My worst fear is getting a reaction to the Novocain injections. It doesn’t help that I ended up going down the rabbit hole and ended up googling reactions with it. From what I can remember I’m not sure if I have ever gotten a bad reaction to it or if it’s just my anxiety taking over. Around 3 years ago after receiving the numbing injections I immediately got a panic attack and started shaking due to it. I’m not really sure if it was a reaction to the injection or if it was just me. Again, I was already super nervous just sitting in the chair.

I usually don’t freak out at the tools and things they do, just the shots. I’m scared about my heart racing, the shakiness, the dizziness, and the feeling of that I might die from it. I read somewhere that someone ended dying from an injection due to a heart attack and now I’m scared.. I don’t know if it’s true though. I know it may sound silly, but I’m really struggling with this as I have severe health anxiety due to a health scare years back.

I actually do need 5 extractions (4 premolars and one decayed wisdom tooth) and a root scaling deep cleaning. I’m super ready to do this for my oral health, but also for my braces! It’s just my fear of the reaction to Novocain scares me..

If anyone can give me any advice, it’d be appreciated..I really need it.. I really want to have the smile of my dreams and it makes me really sad I can’t face my fear..

 

[kitkat]

I personally have a fear of not being numb so this is a tough one for me to help with. The only thing that I can say is, reactions are incredibly rare…you probably have a higher chance of getting into a car accident on the way to the dentist than having a reaction to the injection. If the injections weren’t safe for the general population, they wouldn’t be approved for routine use. The dentist is also trained on how to respond during a medical emergency should something happen. There will always be outliers and we hear about them because of the internet but I have never personally met anyone who has had a reaction and I work in a hospital as a speech pathologist so the odds of me meeting someone who has had a reaction is much higher than most people. I have seen hundreds of patients over the years due to various reactions to medications and various procedures gone wrong and none of them have ever involved dental injections. I don’t know if that helps but I hope it does!