Wonderful dentist helped me overcome

[Teresa M]

I suffered severe dental phobia for decades. It started in childhood with an incompetent dentist who was a friend of my parents. It wasn't too bad in the early days because at that time (in the 1950s) they only had the slow drills, not the high-speed ones. But at that time they didn't have very good suction equipment and I always felt like I was going to drown. Having severe hayfever and being unable to breathe through my nose didn't help. It was when he first started using the high-speed drill that my real troubles began. I was utterly terrified of it and my great fear was that if his hand slipped the drill would go straight through the roof of my mouth and into my brain (!!) or that it would rip right through my tongue. After I grew up and left home I didn't go to the dentist for about ten years, and then I found a dentist who used laughing gas, so that was my solution for the next twenty years. Once I noticed that the dentist had written at the top of my card, 'Very difficult patient'. Not 'Very anxious patient', but 'Very difficult patient'. I was so embarrassed and angry that I never went back there. Finally, when I was in my fifties, I found a wonderful female dentist called Susan. When I explained to her that I was extremely anxious about going to the dentist she didn't seem to think that was anything peculiar. She had a wonderful, calm, understanding manner and for the first time in all my dental experiences she made me feel that it was quite normal and okay to be anxious, and that she would do everything she could to help me relax and FEEL SAFE while she worked on my teeth. I was SO GRATEFUL and indeed ever since I've been seeing her (about fifteen years) I have never felt so at ease. This doesn't mean I don't get tense and anxious in the chair, but she always notices when I start to tense up and she stops, asks me if I want a break, and tells me I'm doing very well. OMG, if only all dentists were like her! So a big THANK YOU to Susan!

 

[Geraint]

That's really good to read Teresa M that you have found a dentist who is really caring and you trust her. I similarly after having a bad childhood experience have managed to find a caring dentist who I trust. Have you posted the details of your dentist on the recommend a dentist part of this forum?