Skittish's Journal

[Skittish]

Guess I'm the first one here to vent all my dental problems, so here goes.

I'm 29, and haven't been to the dentist in 12 years, maybe more. As a child I never had very good dental health, every visit I had, I got at least a filling. I've had 6 baby teeth removed that I can remember, 5 of those at one time by an orthodontist that told me he was only going to remove 4. To this day I still have a very strong feeling that over the 5 or 6 years I went to him, he did many procedures that were not necessary.

My main fear of dentists is mostly of the needles and the "unknown" of what could be wrong with my teeth and what possibly horrific things may need to be done. The smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings of laying tilted towards my head also make me extremely incomfortable, and the thought of any one of those is enough to start my heart beating faster.

My current "self diagnosis" is pretty bad, in my estimation. There are about 2 teeth that I can feel cavities in, so I'm expecting root canals for those due to the length of time it's been. I have a broken molar that is, at the moment, infected and tastes and smells pretty darn gross not to mention painful on and off. I can't bring myself to look at it to see how bad it is, so there's a good chance it may need to come out. I have numerous "old fashioned" fillings that may need to be replaced- I can feel a small one that has already fallen out. Most scary of all is that this last year a wisdom tooth has grown in, straight but halfway. The others have not made an appearance, but sometimes I can feel those areas throbbing, which is never a good sign. There may be gum disease too, as I often bleed when I brush. So things are pretty grim.

As it currently stands, I had an appointment for a consultation with a sedation dentist in 3 weeks. The man is obviously pretty busy. He's mostly cosmetic, but does do all the major general dentistry things, and caters to phobics.

I'm both looking forward to and dreading the diagnosis. I just know that I want to get it over with and be able to use my entire mouth again. Heck, my dream would be to get so comfortable that I could get all sorts of "optional" stuff done, like whitening and veneers, without anxiety, but for now, baby steps. I'm actually contemplating trying to move my appointment up, because the rational part of me knows that whatever pain or discomfort I feel can in no way match everything I've feared for all these years. But again, baby steps...

 

[squiggles010196]

Hello,

You should be proud that you have taken that first step. Remember baby steps. It took me almost a year to make my first consult appt. I went to that appt last June. I finally have booked the dental sedation appt for Feb. 2nd.

It is nice to find others that understand the fear.

 

[Dana]

Dear Skittish

I see how you feel but I also think you're really really brave and I'm sure you'll do just fine Sometimes the "self diagnosis" are worse than the reality and it's better not to think about all your problems

And you're absolutely right. Why hurry, baby steps are just fine!

Good luck!!!!!!!!

 

[Momzilla]

Good for you for making the first step! I haven't rallied enough nerve yet... so I wish I could be like you.

I'm going to follow you... so I can work up the nerve to do some thing... I seldom smile anymore!

 

[Skittish]

Back from the consultation, and still kind of shaky, as I was really nervous and rather naseous from the anxiety throughout the morning. The dental office is very nice, clean and done in a sort of cutesy southwestern decor that is very disarming. I heard some faint drilling, but there were no alarming smells or sights, aside from some before and after photos- I don't like looking at people's teeth. I'm weird that way.

Once I filled out the paperwork, the nice nurse took one xray of my broken tooth and the doctor came in and used a little pen camera to take a look at it. I didn't have to lean back or anything, so that was good.

He explained that my old-fashion fillings leak and allow bacteria in, so it caused decay under it, popped out the filling and got down into the root, causing decay in the jawbone (ie an abcess.) So he said I had the option of extracting it (cheaper) or getting a root canal and a crown ($2,800.) I opted from the root canal. He then said that he could actually do it right then- give me a pill under the tongue and wait 30 min to get started, but I was so freaked out by this (I was only prepared for a consult) that I'm scheduled for the first available appointment on the 23rd and am on the standby list for any cancellations.

I asked him if it was possible to check out the rest of my mouth, see what needs to be done (from the one xray we can see there's a cavity under the filling of the adjacent tooth, and I noted to myself that I have an impacted wisdom tooth) and do it all together, but he said it would be better just to address the broken molar, as that's about 2 hours of work in itself, and then look at the other stuff when I might be more comfortable. He didn't want me to be overwhelmed. He seems intent on getting me over the whole phobia thing, and it kind of seemed that he was trying to downsell the oral sedation thing, but I insisted on it. I'm thinking that I will do oral sedation for the major work, and then hopefully just get valium for the more minor cavities and stuff, and end up not needing it at all. Well, that's the plan, anyway.

So, keep your fingers crossed for me for the 23rd at the lastest. I'm pretty scared but I also really just want to get this over with.

 

[squiggles010196]

Hi Skittish,
Well you just conquered the first major hurdle ...just sitting in the dentist chair. I go back to the dentist this morning to check on my extractions. While I am nervous, it isn't nearly as terrifying as the first major consultation appointment or the work I had done last Thursday. I am all for sedation now, the less I see and know the better for me at least. It was nice to have no memory of any of the dental work.

 

[Skittish]

I'm back from my root canal and temporary crown, weeeee! I knew it would happen, but the relief and the "Wait, I was scared of THAT?" is just so amazing. I'm actually looking forward to my other appointments, since the worst part is over, and what's more... the "worst part" didn't even hurt! Not one bit!

The night before I was up with bad tooth pain, with the whole right side of my mouth throbbing and sore. I don't think I slept for more than 10 minutes from the pain and the anxiety of having that "hot tooth" numbed.

When I went in, they give me one halcion, a tiny blue pill, which worried me since I read here that most people get at least 3. I figured they would add more if I didn't feel anything. Then I lay down and watched TV for about 30 minutes while the assistants were bringing in the various implements, which kind of freaked me out with the faint clinking sounds. When the doctor came in, I pretty much felt nothing from the halcion, so when he said he was going to numb me, I consented because he was so confident that it would be nothing and that the major part of my anxiety would be over. Well, he used that little vibrating needle (with no numbing gel!) and... it didn't hurt! At all! There was a very minor pinch that I might not even have felt if I wasn't so hyper-aware from nerves. The following shots were absolutely nothing. First hurdle over!

Next the drilling, which sounded and smelled just as I remembered , but it was painless and mercifully brief, and I just turned up the TV headphones and breathed through my mouth, and it was over. The root cleaning was just some small humming, then a few x rays to see his progress, and finally the post, temporary filling, and some impressions, and I was done! Easy peasy!

Even the novacaine numbness that I remember as always causing me to chew up my cheek wasn't an issue... the numbness was pretty much wearing off as I walked out the door. There is some residual soreness in the tooth, which is apparently normal since it was very infected, but a couple of advil are taking care of that.

I go back in for my crown fitting on the original date of my appointment, the 23rd. And I'm not afraid.... Since the halcion didn't do anything, I think I might pop a valium for the next one as a precautionary measure, but I really think it would just be a set of training wheels, and that I won't even need that after the next appointment. I'm really very happy.

 

[Skittish]

Well, it turns out that I didn't even need a crown, it's just a gold onlay over where the hole used to be. I wasn't numbed for the fitting and didn't feel any pain from the procedure. After that was over I had a full set of x-rays and then a cleaning, which was way more unpleasant than my actual root canal. I could taste my mouth filling up with blood and was sore for the rest of the day. Turns out that I have bad gums and major buildup on my bottom teeth and will need a deep cleaning there. For some reason I don't need it on my top teeth, but I'm not complaining!

So the real scary part was figuring out what ELSE was wrong with my mouth after the root canal. Turns out it's a LOT. Aside from the gum problem I have cavities in all my molars, one which I knew about since it's been bothering me quite a bit, but he didn't seem to think that would need a root canal, but two other teeth might. Sigh.

I'm due to go in April 6th to get the entire right side of my mouth done, scaling, cavities, and possible root canals all done in one big swoop. I'm debating whether I should undergo sedation since that's a pretty big chunk of time I'll be in the chair. I'm getting a little anxious from the scaling and from the soreness I know I'll experience, as I've heard that your gums are really tender afterwards. Also, I could hardly chew on my root canaled tooth for a week, so that compounds my fear a bit. At least it's just dread and not outright terror I'm feeling.

In the meantime I've gotten a sonicare toothbrush and a waterpik to hopefully alleviate the gum disease a bit. I'm not exactly looking forward to the procedures anymore, now that I know what's coming, but I figure I'm on my way to a healthy mouth, and I really want to work towards that goal.