A
ajp13
Junior member
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2024
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- SD, USA
I have C-PTSD and am autistic (sensory issues, etc). I deal with a good bit of medical/dental trauma and fear, as well as a debilitating fear of needles. I have had bad experiences at the dentist and a final one in 2021 led me to decide not to return for work I needed done. I was also almost finished with Invisalign around that time, but due to my poor mental health I was struggling to take care of myself. I was not wearing my trays and consequently had to keep putting my ortho appointments off since I hadn’t progressed. They basically sent me a letter after a while saying I had to come in immediately or I was being dropped as a patient. Of course I decided not to go back. But that meant I was left with the brackets on my teeth and no permanent retainer. Fast forward a few years, one of the brackets fell off my top right molar, revealing a cavity. I ignored it, as I would quite literally rather die than go back to my last dentist. However, the tooth eventually broke. I began looking at sedation dentists, but fear still prevented me from acting on that. It wasn’t until a year and half later that my wisdom teeth started causing me serious pain, that I decided it was time to do something. I got into the sedation dentist about 3 hours from where I live. I had a consult and they confirmed my wisdom teeth are impacted, and came up with a treatment plan for my cavities. The broken tooth may need to extracted. They will also remove my Invisalign brackets. My appointment is tomorrow and I’m terrified. I’ve only had one surgery and the IV scares the hell out of me. I’ll be under conscious sedation, and I’m so terrified of still being able to see and hear what they’re doing and feeling the pain. Especially because I think one of my old fillings has an infection (they prescribed antibiotics which made it a little better) and I know that that can mean anesthetic doesn’t work as well. I’m also very scared of the numbing shot. Those have been painful for me and my last dentist appointment they actually hit a blood vessel and my cheek was swollen and bruised for a week. I know rationally it’ll be ok, I have numbing cream I use for blood draws for the IV, and the clinic has outstanding reviews and the staff have been great, but I can’t help but feel like crawling out of my skin. The needles, the sounds and smells… I’m really squeamish and I can’t stand the thought of having any kind of medical work done on me, my body integrity compromised, consciously or not.