• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Successful extraction after a lot of fear

C

Charlottie222

Junior member
Joined
Sep 13, 2021
Messages
7
Location
Uk
I found out I needed an extraction last week and was absolutely consumed by fear- it was all I thought about in the week running up to my appointment. I had been for a check up and teeth cleaning a couple of years ago but had a lot of problems with root canals a decade ago and developed a bad dental fear so just always put off visiting the dentist since then.

I wanted to share here to confirm what so many have said before that the anxiety beforehand is the absolute worst part of it! Based on my past experiences I was really careful to seek out an excellent dentist and had an initial consultation first. I told him my fears about getting numb and he did a brilliant job numbing me taking his time and giving me an extra injection. The extraction itself was just a lot of pressure- it was strange but not uncomfortable and because he was a great dentist he got the tooth out in one piece despite it being broken, root canalled and crowned before - the whole shebang.

Honestly my main advice is find a dentist you trust. If it’s an emergency situation you’ll just be desperate to get your tooth out but if not take your time and find someone who will be gentle and careful. Talk about your fears, find the right anaesthetic for you and go slow!

In the early stages of recovery now and it’s not too bad either- sore but fine really. I need to sleep off the last week of worry though… Good luck to anyone else going through an extraction soon- you will be ok and see you on the other end!
 
Congratulations @Charlottie222 and thanks so much for sharing your story here ?! I'm sure it will be really helpful to others who are facing having a tooth removed?
 
That’s awesome I’m so glad it went well! Was it your normal Dentist or a Oral Surgeon?
Did it have decay or a infection in the root? I’m having a root canal extracted with a infected root soon. Like you I’m very very nervous.
speedy recovery!
 
Ah hope it goes well and that you don’t have too long to wait and worry now! Yes was my regular dentist and there was a small infection in one of the roots. It was a very old root canal and what was left of the tooth had broken beneath the crown too. He was super careful and was able to get the tooth out in one piece. He gave me a couple of stitches as well just to help the gum heal but otherwise ended up being no different to a straightforward extraction. I recommend rinsing lots with salt water before your extraction as well as after as it helped reduce any inflammation in my gum. 48 hours into recovery and I’m still a bit swollen and talking with a lisp but mainly just tired and very little pain!
 
That’s awesome I’m glad your doing well! I to have a infected root in my root canal. Soon to be extracted. I’m worried it won’t get numb.
Did you just have injections or Sedation?
 
Just local injections. I was also worried about not getting numb as had happened in the past a long long time ago but no problems this time and he gave me A TONNE of local anaesthetic- it left me feeling really tired the next day but zero pain during the extraction. Did they give you some anti-biotics for the infection? I’ve had roots canals on infected teeth with and without antibiotics and they were able to numb me up both times anyway
 
I’ve been treated with antibiotics when it first happened before the root canal. And again when I found out it failed. Now I have some but it’s not gonna do a lot of good since it’s trapped in the root and tissue. And I don’t have a protruding abscess. So they say the bacteria isn’t “active” and is more or less dormant for now.
I’m having IV sedation for the first time ever & am petrified. ?
 
Back
Top