Tate's Journal

[Tate]

Feel free to reply.



Hi, welcome to my journal. I'm Tate. I'm 24 years old and I found this site while snooping across the web trying to find some form of relaxation before my huge dental appointment tomorrow.

But I should back up first.

I had a nightmarish dental experience at age 11 that provided me with a life-long (so far) fear of dentists. In other words, I never went back to the dentist after age 11.

Being 24 now and not being the best brusher/flosser... I have a mouthful of dental work to be done.

I had an abcess at 22 that was giving me so much pain - I decided to go to a local dentist for an immediate fix. Upon going, I learned of the massive amount of cavities I had , etc. Being naturally avoidant, I got the abcessed tooth fixed that day and never went back again.

Since then, the teeth have only gotten worse so I made a consultation with a sedation dentist this year upon a recommendation from my "general" dentist.
Who said that sedation dentistry was built for someone like me. (I can hardly bring myself to sit down in the chair, etc.)

I located a sedation dentist about an hour from me. I liked him best because his staff were angelic. Very caring, very soothing. They didn't make me feel ashamed - I never once heard the words, "You should floss more." They were very understanding and treated me so gently.

The dentist himself is a chubby, funny man. He has a really "buddy" approach to his patients, and that's relieving. He makes jokes and acts goofy and then gets sincere when he needs to. He was also very generous in the cost-evaluation consultation - giving me several financial options, etc. I didn't feel like he was scamming me.
Also since he forgot to include the price of the 2 crowns from the root canal in my print-out sheet to take to my loan officer, he decided to throw those in for free , on him. I thought that was really something!

I have 14 cavities and the need for 2 root canals. And I'll be having all of that, along with a cleaning, done tomorrow under conscious sedation.
I was given 2 trialozams and 2 sleeping pills to take the night before.
He wants me to have a good night sleep (not to be awake, being frightened all night) before I come in the next day.

I don't have any dental insurance - so luckily having various family members who work at a bank, I got a loan for all of it.

Needless to say, I'm petrified. I've been online for hours looking up sedation dentistry stories (most of them were successes, a few scary ones here and there) and I think what frightens me the most is the amount of work I'm having done and the amount of time I'll be in the chair. He proposed 8:30am - 4:00 pm to fill the 14 cavities, a deep cleaning, and two root canal treatments.

The sedation dentist is great. He's friendly, informative, very nurturing.
He assures me, along with his staff, that everything will be fine. He even wrote on my evaluation sheet -- "On your next visit, you'll see us in your dreams, Tate" - which I felt was funny and scary at the same time.

I had a pre-op physical by a doctor yesterday - blood pressure, blood test, breathing test - etc. He came back with me being a "low risk" for sedation operation.
That calmed me a bit.

My appointment is for 8:30 sharp and he proposed that it'll all be done with by, at most, 4:00 pm. He cancelled all of his appointments that day, so basically, I'll be the only person he's working on. Also comforting.

Even though I'm staring at the packet of trialozam (2 pills) that I'll take an hour before the appointment - I'm still full of fear and anxiety. I've been praying and praying that it'll turn out alright, that I won't freak out when I lose control, that it won't be a horrific experience. I take comfort in all of the people who say, "Sedation dentistry is the way to go!"

But I'm so highly phobic that I don't think God coming out of the sky and patting me on the head could make me feel at ease with it.

I have fear on the unexpected. I'm not sure what it's going to be like. The amount of awareness I'll have, etc. Dentist says he can only legally give me up to 8 pills in one day. And that he's only had to do that with one patient. It mostly works with the two or three pills initially. But I just can't get over the length of time I'm set to be in operation (eight hours!)

I'm hoping and wishing that the time will go by fast for me. That I won't be aware that it's been hours and hours.

He's assured me the drugs have an amnesiac quality, that I won't remember much or anything of the appointment. This relieves me a little bit.

But yeah, I still feel so anxious.

Right now though, I'm just relieved , in a sense, that it's almost over with.
Apart from cleanings and getting the temp. crowns replaced, I won't have to go back much unless my teeth begin to derail again.

I'm thankful I am getting it all "done" at once.

It's so hard being phobic about something that betters your health.
Being this scared really makes simple problems much worse - because of the amount of time you let them go untreated out of fear.

I'm praying that my sedation appointment will be one of the success stories.
That my ideas of dentistry will be changed, etc.

At this point, I don't think I can handle any more horror stories.

I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[SC86]

"But I'm so highly phobic that I don't think God coming out of the sky and patting me on the head could make me feel at ease with it."


Great way to word it   I feel exactly the same (Aly's Journal <-- thats me). I hope everything DOES turn out to be a success story for you.

 

[Tate]

The Next Day


Wow. Wow is all I can say.

Woke up at about 10 after 7 am yesterday - after having a basically awful nights rest with the prescribed diazepam. It made me feel hot and itchy and woke me up every few minutes.

I put on my comfortable clothes and my mother, my escort, was already in my apartment (she has a key) talking on the phone to one of my aunts.

I smoked my final cigarette, so to speak, and then took the two little blue pills of Triazolam at approx. 7:30 - 1 hour before my appointment.

We got in the car and mom started driving. I took a pillow and put it against the window and leaned into it. She began talking about vacation, etc. Different things and when she would stop talking all the sounds were muffled or distant - far away sounding. I asked her to keep talking because it comforted me.

One peculiar thing - when I would open my eyes and look out at the road, the oncoming cars looked like there were five or six of one car stacked on each other.
It was really crazy, so yeah, don't drive on this stuff.

Now my dental office is about 1 hour away from where I live.
After seeing the trippy cars, the next thing I remember is seeing the building and sign of my location. Weird, huh? yeah. That's how fast the time went by.

Mother helped me out of the car. We sat in the office for a few seconds.
The assistant in the orange jumper asked if I was ready to come back. I said yeah.

When I got back, another assistant was putting the finishing touches on the chair. (they covered it in this heavy navy-colored padding)
All of the instruments were covered. I sat down with ease - something I would never do rationally. I mean, I got right into the chair. That shocks me now.

Then the orange-jumper assistant sat with me and talked about her morning. I had the strange feeling the conversation was a set up and I made a joke about her trying to "lure" me further into sedation. The next thing I remember is the hygenist (already cleaning my teeth) and she said something comforting. Out again.

I remember the suction tube only once, at one point , and I remember being fitted for crowns (the goo you stick your teeth into to get a shape).

I never saw/heard/felt the dentist. I don't remember him at all.

I never once heard/saw/or felt the drills.

I was never once nervous.

It was A MIRACLE.

I was worked out from 8:32 am (sharp) - 4:20 pm.

The next memory I have is waking up my bed at 10:30 pm and asking my mother what happened. LOL

I was shocked at how fast the sedation pills took over - I think if I were anxious (and I was before taking them) it completely erased those feelings in no time.
I was also impressed by how fast the time went by. If you asked me honestly, I'd have to tell you that for me - it felt like the morning before the appointment and me in the bed the evening later... That was the entire day. The appointment itself, the sleeping and the car ride back never happened - in my mind.

A 24 hour day was reduced to about 1 hour. Wild.

I loved it, the sad thing is the dentist didn't even get to finish all of my work.
Three teeth were left unfilled and of course, I have to get crowns replaced from the root canal teeth.

The happy thing is that I'm not scared to back because I know I'll be receiving sedation again.

And it really really really works.

 

[SC86]

Wow ... thats what I have to say too. I feel like a ton of my anxiety has just lightened up. Your account of your experience with the Triazolam and LONG day at the dentist really makes me feel so much better ... I pray I have a simular experience. It must be the greatest relief to have the majority done.

 

[Tate]

Update - Minor Flaws

Well there's no real after-pain. Just some normal sore jaw feeling.

The only flaw with the experience is a general sense of wooziness/dizziness that hasn't really worn off.

I have slept tons - hours upon hours - so maybe that's why.

If I still feel this way tomorrow, I may call the dentist.

It seems like a long time to feel kind of "out of it".

But then again, I was under for eight hours.

So maybe it's normal.

 

[SC86]

I don't care if I feel out of it for as long as it takes ... I just dont want to be too IN IT ... ya know

 

[Tate]

If you're having triazolam - you'll be fine. Trust me.

I am so scared of even taking medication - but in about 15 minutes, I was out of it.

LOL

And a good thing is you don't feel out of control? You don't sense yourself losing it.
You just lose track of time.

A tip would be to have the person you're with talk to you about regular mundane things.

My mother talked about this year's vacation plans for herself and my aunt's new job and I listened til eventually I was in la-la land. Never once sensed myself slipping.


And I was in operation from 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.

The next memory I have is waking up at home at 10:30 pm.

I have no memory of being taken to the bathroom at the office, being brought to the car , the car ride home, my brother helping my mom take me in the house, etc.

Nothing. zip.

And apart from a few blurry memories (the suction tube only once and being asked to open my mouth a bit wider) I have no actual legit memory of the appointment itself.

A god-send, really.

 

[SC86]

I'm deffinately going to print this out ... big time moral support to hear things like that from someone who ACTUALLY went through it. I'm so much more relaxed now ... And I'm glad things went well for you

 

[SC86]

Hi Tate ... I'm just wondering, do you feel that you were still conscious the whole time because I've read that falling asleep or loss of consciousness is something that is deffinately not supposed to happen. Thanks again for your great story & I'm really happy for you that you've been able to get over the really big step

 

[Hotrod]

Update - Minor FlawsIt seems like a long time to feel kind of "out of it".

But then again, I was under for eight hours.

So maybe it's normal.

FWIW - My dentist puts me out for only four hours at a time, and it usually takes me about two days before that somewhat cotton-y feeling fully disappears. It's not bad enough that I pay attention to it, but I definitely feel "off" for a few days.

 

[Tate]

Update!

I go this Thursday for the rest of the procedure.

I get the temp caps replaced with crowns.... etc.

I'll be under sedation, he estimated this time would only take 3-4 hours.
As he has to fill a few more cavities.

I'm not as nervous as I was before, thanks to sedation.
I really trust it.

I'll tell you how it goes.

PS: I'm serious to anyone interested - if you're scared, nervous, panicky and can manage to afford or take a loan for sedation dentistry DO IT.

It's so worth it.

 

[SC86]

So great to hear such encouraging ... and TRUTHFUL words

 

[Tate]

I'm back (have been) from my final appointment at the sedation dentist.

I still feel a bit groggy, yuck.

But it went wonderful the second time too.

I don't remember anything after getting into the chair except a waiting period where the nurse sat and talked to me and asked me if I was warm.

I once remember them putting something into my mouth to hold it up, and a suction feelign, but other than that - nothing. zip.

This is wonderful stuff and I am so relieved to know that my work is finally over.

Now all I have to do is go back in six months for a clean up just like a regular person does!

AYAYAYAAYAYAYAY

 

[shell022]

wow..;
I am so so glad that i just read that, you have no idea how much that one post has helped me. i don't have to get a much work done but i'm still in bits. I've to get a tooth out, going for sedation, but terrified of needles. going to see a hypnothearapist tomorrow. fingers crossed it works.
So thanks again and i hope ur doing well.