• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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What's Your Worst Fear?

What is your biggest dental fear?

  • Pain

    Votes: 57 46.3%
  • Gagging/nausea/vomiting

    Votes: 23 18.7%
  • Needles

    Votes: 36 29.3%
  • Lack of Control/feeling at the mercy of the dentist

    Votes: 43 35.0%
  • Other - please specify (N.B.: The options below weren't part of the original poll but added in 2019)

    Votes: 15 12.2%
  • Embarrassment/shame (newly added)

    Votes: 22 17.9%
  • The dentist (newly added)

    Votes: 12 9.8%
  • The numb feeling (newly added)

    Votes: 6 4.9%
  • Panicking, crying or making a fool of myself (newly added)

    Votes: 18 14.6%
  • Bad reaction to local anaesthetic (newly added)

    Votes: 8 6.5%
  • The sound of the drill (newly added)

    Votes: 15 12.2%
  • Unnecessary treatment (newly added)

    Votes: 12 9.8%
  • Choking or drowning (newly added)

    Votes: 9 7.3%
  • Issues arising from past sexual/physical/emotional abuse (newly added)

    Votes: 10 8.1%

  • Total voters
    123
F

Franca

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2010
Messages
62
Nobody's really afraid of the dentist, I don't think. I've never heard of anyone seeing a dentist and yelling, "AHHHHHHH! :scared: IT'S A DENTIST!"

So what are you really afraid of when you think "dentist"?
 
Me - because of my fear of vomiting, it's the gagging.

:hidesbehindsofa:
 
The noise is the worst.
 
For me it's probably needles. Most of my life I've been terrified of needles because as a child I had to have numerous blood tests over a period of years due to a health problem.
I am getting better with them though... :)
 
The Drill Noise and not being able to Swallow (panic mode kicks in) lol.
:drool:
 
For me it's the unknown. I like to know exactly what's going on, and I get freaked out if I don't know. I have an additional problem in that I'm slightly squeamish, so I have to know what they're doing, but if it involves something that makes me squeamish I panic.... As long as it's a basic procedure I'm fine, but anything like an extraction freaks me out.
 
Definitely not having control and of criticism.
 
Going to the dentist and being told "It looks like it's going to have to come out".
 
I have a fear of being sick and the needles just urgh!
 
gagging and Dizzy.


Dave.:redface:
 
For me it has to be the fear of pain and of 'loss of control'. Tough thankfully in the last 19 years or so of regular attendance I have experienced no pain and the three lovely dentist's I have had have always been very caring and listen to me I have always felt in control with them unlike the childhood experience I had which started my dental phobia.
 
The #1 thing for me is pain.........I had a dentist in my early 20's (I'm 47, well almost) pull my wisdom tooth out and didn't give me enough Novocain. I was moaning and groaning...yet on she went. Finally, I raised my hand and she said "What is it?" I asked for more Novacaine because I still had a little pain. She told me to stop being a big baby about it, she was almost done and she didn't give me any more.
The #2 thing for me would be loss of control for the above reason. Although the dentists I have now make me feel that I am in control so maybe not so much now....even #1 not so much now.
The #3 thing is the needle. Even though I don't have a needle phobia, and usually the needle doesn't hurt (it pinches a little), I STILL don't like it!
I must admit that these things aren't scaring me AS much as they used to.
 
Franca,
I have to respectfully disagree with you on the idea that nobody is afraid of the dentist themselves. And yes, I was one who actually did yell "DENTIST!!! "
There are at least 3 dentists that I am indeed terrified of. Its not just the items listed in your poll, its the way their behavior towards me, their attitudes, their cruel commentary, etc. That has everything to do with them and the way they choose to treat people.
 
Loss of control.

And gagging. When i was a kid they gave me some bubble-gum flavored tooth polish stuff and it made me gag and then throw up right there in the chair....

To this day I cannot stand that or any other 'sweet' taste in tooth stuff, i always ask for mint.
 
Definately the pain, i'm hypersensitive to it, and the loss of control, I need to be able to move under my own control, being forced to lie still is nightmareish for me.. that's why sedation is almost a MUST for me, so that I dont even know it happened..
 
In my case, I rank "Loss of Control" 1st and "Pain" 2nd...the needles and gagging aren't as much of an issue for me although it always does send my heart racing when I hear the dentist say "okay, I'm gonna get you good and numb now...you may feel a small pinch" but once she starts the injection, I'm actually okay and can calm myself back down. But she's VERY GOOD at delivering painless injections and I usually don't even feel a pinch (and she doesn't use the wand or numbing gel). Gagging is at the forefront of my concerns with cleanings because I almost always gag during those at least once from either the toothpaste or the massive amounts of water but it doesn't bother me enough that it causes a phobia. Pain only really concerns me with actual procedures like fillings but cleanings I'm okay with...still nervous because of the control thing but alright.

The reason I rank "Loss of Control" over "Pain" is that I feel that if I'm in control and pain, or as dentists call it "discomfort," does occur, then I can at least do something about it such as using a stop signal, receiving more anesthetic, etc. I am also one of those people who needs to know what's happening at each step and what sensations to expect. My dentist knows from experience that I am EXTREMELY JUMPY and pretty much anything can send me up and out of the chair (even with procedures I'm familiar with) so she always warns me ahead of time of noises, pressure, vibration, air, water, etc., and if I know whats coming I can cope much easier. I think if you're fearful of sensing pain, your body will look for any trace of a sensation that might be pain so it's easy to misconstrue a sensation like pressure or vibration as a painful thing. However, if your expectation is changed in advance, by being informed of the true sensation before it occurs, then it can disarm or short circuit that reaction before it happens...just a theory.
 
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I am always so embarassed when someone has to look into my mouth... add to that the needles and the noise, and it's horrifying
 
I'm getting my wisdom teeth out Novmeber 19th. My dad had some weird heart thing where it would speed up and race really fast, and wouldn't slow down, just go fast, and then go slow. Something was too close to his heart and he had to get it burned off.

So now I have to go in and get my wisdom teeth out, but have read about someone dying from cardiac arrest under IV sedation. I have to get all 4 taken out, and am afraid of death!
 
I don't handle needles very well. :devilish:
 
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