What caused your fear or phobia?

[DentalDespair]

I'm not really sure how my fear started, always been nervous going to the dentist and definitely have general anxiety, but it never sets in the way it does when I try to go to an appointment. I've tried the anesthesia thing, and sometimes that helps, but I don't like being out of control to that degree...

 

[cober6711]

1. A horrible Pedodontist that believed in strapping kids to her chair if they were bad

2. The "Horse Needle" used by her. She was bad at giving injections - they were so painful.

 

[jakesmith]

At the time I found the dentist relaxing and always had, and I thought I had a good filling, well it didn't work oh well, a failed filling. The dentist brought me into fix the failed filling but never explained what that entailed. I guess it was a root canal because I was sitting in that chair for so long, and whatever he was doing looked so involved, and he was being rather curt about my building anxiety, so I started having a panic attack and left early. I then went to emergency dentist for extraction and it looked like the sketchiest place ever, she was using forceps in a way that felt amateur hoping it would just pull right out, well it didn't, i explained I was nervous and she explained I'd need sedation, then I left early with basically very little tooth left. I then self-medicated with antibiotics for weeks to prevent any kind of infection and kept going to an oral surgeon but kept chickening out. My second or third visit he asked if I wanted to go ahead, I said no, and he did it anyway. I was thankful he finished but since then i haven't been able to do any dentistry.

 

[MaximEss]

Growing up my dentist knew which parents would keep bringing their kid back even if he was sadistic to them. He would do the whole needle prep in the air all the way down to the flick with the liquid coming out the tip. Still makes me feel queasy thinking about it. He would make the shot as painful as possible, then he'd leave for a good 20-30 minutes. I shit you not. I wish I was making this up. By the time he was working it was already fading and I would try to get his attention and he told me it's just pressure. Never told me what was going on. Never explained anything. I had my first panic attack in his office, they had to drag me and hold me down in the chair. He makes fun of me for that panic attack to this day. I went there til the end of highschool. Obviously didn't go back to a dentist until my mouth was falling apart. I avoided that office for 8 years. Then I had to beg my parents who never stood over me and made sure I got into the habit of brushing my teeth. I don't even remember anyone teaching me honestly. Anyway, she brought me back there. I had a major panic attack the first day with his son. His son is pretty understanding but he's got his downfalls. He was pretty good at handling my panic attacks. He quickly caught on that when I get too much saliva in the back of my throat and start struggling to breathe I start panicking. It's not even the pain or pressure that bothers me, it's things that cause genuine fear. Like I can't breathe, it's not resolving, I'm going to get panicked. They ended up doing 12k worth of work on my mouth, and I haven't been back since my insurance isnt valid anymore. They got all that work done in 2 years. Got my front teeth capped. Mostly because in 2nd grade I was trying to jump onto a sub wall and I kinda jumped at the wrong time in the run up to it and you know what happened. Well that repair eventually fell off and the air HURT SO MUCH I started sobbing when it happened and called mom immediately. I'm trying to keep from crying writing all this out. I never had anyone to talk to about it. It's a big part of my life and my trauma. But all my friends parents gave a fuck to teach them how to brush their teeth and got the habit started early. I don't know why I avoid it. 3 years ago I made a goal to brush my teeth everyday. Then I realized I don't know how. This is really sad I'm sorry guys