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The threat and fear of losing a front tooth

RustyRebecca

RustyRebecca

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2019
Messages
101
Location
Plymouth
I have posted before a few times. I have dental phobia and suffer also from anxiety, health anxiety, fear of losing control and agoraphobia.
My canines were removed as a kid and have had severe problems as a result. I did have bridges but they were removed due to them affecting my front teeth. So I have been living without my canines and have modified my smile.
Now one of my front teeth has an infection, all around it. It is a little loose. It is lower than the neighbouring tooth. One dentist said it had to be removed. He said my only choice was a plastic plate. I just can't tolerate an acrylic plate. Had one for my canines and panicked when wearing it. Cant stand it on my palate. He said there wasn't any other options for I don't have enough teeth and bone loss means no implant possible. This dentist said my tooth might be fractured, that he could do a root canal and have to remove it anyway.
I got a second opinion. The new dentist said he could be wrong. She examined the scan and could not see evidence of a fracture. The treatment plan is to do a root canal treatment and a retainer to stabilise the tooth in order for her to be able to do a deep cleaning and bone graft in the future to enable her to save the tooth.
Does this sound right?
And it will take about two hours.
For the first time ever I will be having IV sedation. I am scared of this. Fearful of the effect and side effects. I was advised against IV sedation with a dentist years ago because of my fear of losing control. But I can't see how I can have this done without support, I can't be in the chair for two hours. I don't fully trust the dentist because I can recall I saw her a few years ago and came away in great pain (with ironically the same tooth).
Can they give you less sedation? Can you get up and walk out with sedation if you feel the need to?
I am just so anxious about all of this but I have to have this/or something done because I will lose my front tooth if I do nothing. The appointment is Wednesday.
Thank you
 
Can they give you less sedation? Can you get up and walk out with sedation if you feel the need to?
Yes. The big advantage of IV sedation over say oral sedation is that you can control the doseage very accurately.
No, you can't. You can tell them to stop what they're doing and just wait in either the surgery or a separate recovery area, but it would be unsafe to let a sedated patient wander away unsupervised.

You can ask for your escort to stay in the room with you during treatment if you want (assuming they're up for it) so you can have a friendly face to turn to.
 
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