Terrified of dentist - getting tooth out - am going round the bend!!

[Strelitzian]

I've got an abscess and it's been untreated for a while - the pain went away etc, but it's been too long and I know I can't let it go on for much longer so I've finally taken the plunge and gone to a dentist. He's a perfectly decent and lovely, chatty man who does everything he can to put me at ease.

The problem is, I'm terrified of him!

I let him know from the very beginning that the thought of a dentist makes me so nervous I can hardly speak. So he was good enough to perform a more minor filling on one of my teeth as a "confidence booster". A nice idea, but I'm still majorly scared.

Particularly because of upcoming extraction. It's coming out next Friday and I've got all these awful images of my jaw collapsing running through my head. I keep telling myself, "he wouldn't have offered extraction if he didn't think it was the right thing to do."

Then I go, "Or would he?"

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Fear of dentists/need for urgent work done/fear of that urgent work going awry?

 

[GrahamDee]

A good dentist will never extract teeth unless its the last option left and has no other choice. You need to relax and think of the positive reasons why you are having this done. The danger here is your imagination fuelled by fear will run riot and paint the worst possible scenario - and you will convince yourself it will happen...and all based on "the unknown" of what happens when teeth are extracted.

Your jaw will not collapse. That is your dental fear talking. Teeth extractions are totally painless. A bit of pressure maybe, but the whole thing is over in less than a minute. When it is over, you will feel so much better.

If you feel your fear is going to overwhelm you, get in contact with the dentist and get him to talk to you and put your mind at ease. Discuss the possibility of some oral sedation (a pill you take to relax you), IV sedation (an injection of a drug which will take away all memories of the procedure) or maybe a GA to "put you out" and sleep through the whole thing.

Other alternatives are take someone with you for support, take an Ipod or something to take your mind of it. Don't be ashamed to express you fears to your dentist as its in his interests (as well as yours) to make sure you are comfortable and without pain.

You can do this. Hang in there!

 

[silvers]

I've got an abscess and it's been untreated for a while - the pain went away etc, but it's been too long and I know I can't let it go on for much longer so I've finally taken the plunge and gone to a dentist. He's a perfectly decent and lovely, chatty man who does everything he can to put me at ease.

The problem is, I'm terrified of him!

I let him know from the very beginning that the thought of a dentist makes me so nervous I can hardly speak. So he was good enough to perform a more minor filling on one of my teeth as a "confidence booster". A nice idea, but I'm still majorly scared.

Particularly because of upcoming extraction. It's coming out next Friday and I've got all these awful images of my jaw collapsing running through my head. I keep telling myself, "he wouldn't have offered extraction if he didn't think it was the right thing to do."

Then I go, "Or would he?"

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Fear of dentists/need for urgent work done/fear of that urgent work going awry?

As a dental phobe I recently completed a course of treatment, after not having been to the dentist for 30 years !!!!!!!
This included two exractions ...

I assure you, these days it is absolutely pain less .... I promise you ...

 

[Strelitzian]

Thank you so much for your replies I will certainly ring my dentist and get him to go through the after effects in more detail before Friday.

It's just that I've been told that extraction is the wrong thing to do at this stage, because I'll suffer more bone loss and that the teeth with "float" in the gums and that I might lose more teeth...

What???

I'm sorry for being so ridiculous, guys, but I truly have an awful phobia of dentists.

 

[Lesley]

Can I just say I WAS one of the worst phobics ever, and finally conquered my fear due to a great dentist, IV sedation and the realisation that dentistry in 2009 really is pain free. (I am nearly 50 and in my childhood, the dentistry I experienced certainly was NOT.)

My main fears were (look at that!! WERE!! ) the drill and root canal treatment, but I was not too happy at the thought of extractions either. I had a large molar out a couple of years ago while I was still a major phobie, and I have to say it was seriously easy, and I was so annoyed at myself for wasting so much time getting so worked up. (You will be typing exactly the same thing after the extraction.) The tooth was out before I even knew he had started.

It is my understanding that remaining teeth don't really move around in healthy gums, even if there are spaces. If you have advanced or chronic gum disease and loose or missing teeth however.... it is a different story.

I decided to fill my gap with an implant. I also had two front teeth removed and immediately loaded implants placed also. I was someone who had not been to the dentist for over ten years and was terrified of even walking through the door. I now have a brand new healthy mouth and I can't stop smiling.

Please, please don't worry about the extraction. It really is absolutely nothing to worry about. Will be thinking of you
x

 

[Strelitzian]

Thank you, Lesley, that's really kind of you

I guess I'm just really nervous that something's going to go wrong because I've left it for so long - it's been a year now, and I've lost a bit of bone beneath the tooth, not to mention the fact that I have a bit of rotten bone around the rest of the tooth so I guess I just have visions of something major going wrong.

But you're all absolutely right, it's just my dental fear talking. Unfortuntately I haven't had the chance to talk to my dentist yet, because of how busy he is.

Grr.

 

[Strelitzian]

Well...the tooth's out. I can't exactly say it was a good experience - I felt a little pain once the thing came out, and the dentist didn't beleive me. Still, that didn't last long and afterwards it was just a matter of taking care of the thing while it's healing.

Really can't beleive I made such a fuss. Ah well. It's overwith now. Now there's the small matter of (possibly) impacted wisdom teeth