Scaring myself with horror stories, please help!

[Shadsie]

Okay, so curiosity killed the cat and I found this online: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/...Pass-scalpel-said-surgeon-.html#ixzz248Lbd8pE

Want to ascertain truth or fiction of this, also I think the horror has been defanged for me because the procedure I am planning for extraction is, I believe, mere sedation. I was told I'd be "put to sleep" but I'm sure it's a sedation and not a general anesthetic and the oral surgeon I consulted with assured me that they'd use the (local) shots. I also asked for my husband to be present to make sure they give me the shots.

I also noticed that this person is a redhead. I've heard that there is notorious problems with those with ginger-genes. I am blond and have never had any awareness problems before under any kind of "putting to sleep." (I've had it once for wisdom tooth removal and again for a stomach biopsy).

Is there any other way I can minimize my fears and MAKE DAMN SURE an oral surgeon takes care of me correctly?

 

[Sevena]

Anasthesia awareness is super rare, and when it does occur, it's very fleeting and non painful the vast majority of the time. Cases where someone is awake for a sustained amount of time are highly, highly unusual. That is really not a thing you should be concerned about. Also, while something about the redhead gene makes them a little harder drug up, that won't affect you, as you're blonde.

It's the oral surgeons job to take care of you. I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Shadsie]

I know it's the local that blocks the pain, but with sedation, there's supposed to be a higher threshold for pain / a lot of not-caring, correct?

Googling lead me to some stories on Reddit (never go there unless I hit it in a search for something) where people talked about being briefly aware of wisdom tooth extractions, but without pain. I'd like to have not even that because I am easily freaked out, but if it comes without pain, it shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm afraid precisely because what gave me this damned dental phobia in the first place was a local anesthetic fail on a filling. It was supposed to work, at first I felt numb, I felt numb for most of the work, then the dentist hit a nerve and had the gall to tell me to lie back down (which I didn't do. I went to one of the chairs in the room and curled up like a cat. I don't remember if I hissed, but I probably did). I have had an experience where things did not go the way they were "supposed" to.

In a borked-up brain like mine, that erases all logic and reason.

I am trying to tell myself that if the worst happens.... I actually think I've already survived a possible worse pain than the horror story in the above link. As awful as it sounds.... I know what going through shock without blacking out is like for borderline organ-failure. I had a problem with my kidneys last year. Nothing in my life has been as scary as getting into a state of furiously shivering but it not warming my body and feeling an apex of pain I can't even remember the extent of. So, I wonder if repeating the mantra "I've survived worse" to myself will help with fear.

 

[Sevena]

The combination of local and sedation will definitely have you feeling no pain. Though I know what it's like to fear the worst anyway! I had to have GA for extractions, and I was basically convinced I was going to die. There was crying involved. But a dentist hitting a nerve through local is a fair bit more common than sedation not working properly. Honestly, it'll feel like you've just had a sleep.