D
danceypants
Junior member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2025
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- Canada
Hi everyone! I am starting a thread for advice on how to best support a partner who has extreme anxiety surrounding the dentist and their teeth. We have been in a relationship for over 3 years and they have never shown me their teeth. They have trained themselves to smile with their mouth closed and even speak in a way that conceals their teeth as much as possible. They adamantly refuse to go to the dentist, but will not tell me why other than that it makes them anxious. My partner is normally very open with me, but this is the one issue they will not elaborate on further. I have tried to be very patient and understanding, but I also don't want this anxiety to debilitate my partner for the rest of their life. I have offered to scope out multiple dentists and dental hygienists to find one that is friendly and supportive. I have tried to create a safe space where we can discuss this, but they just completely shut down and tell me they don't want to talk about it. I dropped this for almost a year, but I brought it up again yesterday to ask them if there was something I could do to support them and they said that they are creating a boundary around this topic and will not talk about it. I don't know what to do. People need time and space to process things at their own pace, but I'm worried there might be a health concern that they aren't addressing. Is it way out of line if I recommend that they join a support group or see a therapist for this? It's fine if they don't want to talk to me about it, but it might be helpful to work through this with someone. Any advice is appreciated.