Severe Phobia here,lost count how many yrs

[notme]

Well I don't know exactly where to begin . I hope in here I will find some sort of support and find the courage to go through this once and for all. I hear a lot of of people all the time say how they hate to go to the dentist because they are afraid of needles or any kind of pain in there mouth. Well pain or needles are not my fear. I would take 100 needles . Let me begin at one of my most memorable dentist visit.
I was a preteen and my mom was taking me in to one of these huge orthodontist children centers . We walk in and my knees are already jello and about to fall .My mom brings me to the counter and one of the dental assistants asks my mom exactly what our plans were,a cleaning?,X-rays?first consultation? Well My mom gently holds my face and sort of squeezes mouth open and tells the assistant "Just look at these teeth,she needs braces desperately!" I felt like a freak on display as I notice several other workers get off their seats or look over the counter so they can have a look at my crooked teeth.My eyes just stared at the assistant and I see "the look" of OMG poor girl. I swear my eyes filled with tears but not one tear fell.Then we wait for my name to be called and the orthodontist says the most dreaded words "Open Wide" well I was trembling inside and I opened up and he was like "oh man,yes mam we can take a mold of her teeth ,she will need to wear them 2.5 yrs or 3 max. Then he calls in another partner and tells him "take a look at this one I have in my office"
Now I'm a mom who's teen daughter needs braces but not terribly she has like 2 teeth that are slightly turned but she asked me for braces and she is not afraid at all.She wants them bad so now I'm getting a loan just for that. Now I'm 35
and my two main molars on each side are 50% gone because I chose not to take my prenatal vitamins that made me puke all the time. With loss of calcium I lost almost my entire molar and I have half of it still left. To make a looooong story short
my husband asked me if I wanted to take advantage and get braces along with my daughter at the same time. I said yes. But till this day I am petrified about just having to see the orthodontist expression when I open wide.
I HAVE to do this for me, I want to do this so bad and now I have the chance to do it. I am just scared of this so bad .I took my daughter already to the orthodontist and he was super nice and I was impressed with him.But with me ,that's another story. My fear is not of pain it's just horrible embarressment.

Anyone have a similiar situation???

 

[plagued]

Just do it.

Think how much more embarassing it will be if you let the problem worsen rather than fix it now.

 

[melodyl]

Hi there. You have absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
If the orthodontist was super nice to your daughter, he will be super nice to you.
why not write him a short note or email him and tell him what happened to you in the past.
I bet you'll be surprised at how he responds.

You'll do fine. Because you don't have an actual phobia of the dentist, believe me, you'll be fine.

all the best,

melody

 

[notme]

I'm going to look him up and see if he has a site andor email address so that I can contact him. I have been mentally been preparing myself for that dreaded visit. I havent even made the appt yet since we are getting a loan in order to pay for my daughter's braces and my own. I know I will deffinately need 4 molars removed to get the braces plus two molars (one on each side on my bottom teeth) because they are half gone. If I can take it , I will ask to have at least 4 removed on one visit. I want to get extractions over with ASAP.I've been thinking about it when I go to sleep every night like if my appt was the next morning and let me tell you that I can't sleep and end up finally exhausted and fall asleep around 2 am every night. That's after being in bed for 4 hrs! I know he will most likely be understanding and in fact he wore braces when he was little and he mentioned how much he hated the fact that he had no choice to get clear braces,gold or metal. Back then they only had the dark metal ones. He offers clear,metal or gold even the wires are in colors. All same prices $4,500 if you pay up front or $5,000 if you pay monthly. This is a really big,big investment that we are going to pay slowly. After blowing up yesterday in front of my kids,because I'm so touchy on this topic.My hubby asked my daughter to smile so he can take a look at any problem and then he asked me to smile and I nearly had an anxiety attack right there. I kept saying " just stop it ok" or Let it go and he kept on insisting " what's the big deal? we're just your family" Well he kept insisting right there at the dinner table and I finally slammed my plate down and left the table.That is when I did a google search and found this forum. I found a story that is almost identical to mine and printed it out and gave it to him and asked him to please read it if he really wanted to understand how I felt. At first he shoved it away and said "Oh Please!" That got me really pissed so I tried to snatch it away and said to just forget it ! He looked at my face and saw that I had tears in my eyes and took the paper and started to read. I came back like 15 min later and had the first talk about my fears,embarressment and stuff. I told him it was ok if he did not understand . I asked if he ever got teased about his teeth growing up. Of course I knew he didnt because he has PERFECTLY straight upper and lower teeth.He said he could not understand why I was afraid to show him because we've been together for so many years but he could see how bad I felt about it. He's totally understanding about it now .So as soon as we do the closing for this loan within a week from now I will set my appt.I dont know how long after my first appt will I get the braces but once I do get them on I will see if I can post a picture on here. I havent even gone to my first appt but I already feel that a huge ,humongous weight has been lifted off my very soul.