Post by Cheryl on Sept 2, 2005 8:40:14 GMT -5
Hello,
This is my first post - sorry about the length.
I recently started going back to the dentist after 13 years. I've always associated the dentist with pain and it seems like such a crazy thing to do to drive myself down to the dentist office so that I can be tortured. My biggest fear is the local injection used to get my tooth numb. When I was young, after the injection and once the drilling started I would still get sharp jolts of pain and they would proceed to give me another 4-5 injections throughout the visit.
Once an adult I no longer had my parents (or their dental insurance) to force to me to go to the dentist. My teeth became very bad over the years. Old fillings were breaking and large pieces of tooth would fall out. I had holes in my back teeth - root canals with temp fillings which fell out leaving large holes. Eating was very scary because I was always afraid my teeth would fall out while chewing.
The intense pain of an infected tooth made me finally go to a dentist recommended by a family friend. Since he fixed that first tooth I've gone back 3 more times to slowly get me teeth healthy again and have many more visits ahead of me. Everyone at this office is wonderful. Without that I could not force myself to go at all - especially due to the embarrassment of having the teeth that I do. I have severe anxiety for about a week before every appointment and I cry throughout the entire visit. The last appointment I went to was just the other day. I was fitted for three crowns (most of my teeth need to have crowns because they are so filled with silver fillings that there's not much tooth left and can break easily) I'm choosing to have multiple teeth worked on at once to lessen the number of times I have to bring myself to the dentist. They had to give me three injections to start because of the number of teeth they were working on and I had a full blown panic attack while the needle was still in my gums. Gasping for breath shaking, my hands when all numb and tingly It was awful. I felt like I needed to get away but couldn't because they were still giving me the injection I was scared I might try to pull my head away with the needle still inside my gums.
They were all very nice about it but they chose not to give me anything to numb the inside of my mouth (they were going to numb that area too because they had to push back my gums to get to the lower part of my teeth)
I know I can call my doctor and get some form of sedative but I'm afraid of not feeling in control while I'm being worked on which might make my fear worse instead of better. Any suggestions on ways to control this anxiety and comments on what it actually feels like if taking a sedative?
This is my first post - sorry about the length.
I recently started going back to the dentist after 13 years. I've always associated the dentist with pain and it seems like such a crazy thing to do to drive myself down to the dentist office so that I can be tortured. My biggest fear is the local injection used to get my tooth numb. When I was young, after the injection and once the drilling started I would still get sharp jolts of pain and they would proceed to give me another 4-5 injections throughout the visit.
Once an adult I no longer had my parents (or their dental insurance) to force to me to go to the dentist. My teeth became very bad over the years. Old fillings were breaking and large pieces of tooth would fall out. I had holes in my back teeth - root canals with temp fillings which fell out leaving large holes. Eating was very scary because I was always afraid my teeth would fall out while chewing.
The intense pain of an infected tooth made me finally go to a dentist recommended by a family friend. Since he fixed that first tooth I've gone back 3 more times to slowly get me teeth healthy again and have many more visits ahead of me. Everyone at this office is wonderful. Without that I could not force myself to go at all - especially due to the embarrassment of having the teeth that I do. I have severe anxiety for about a week before every appointment and I cry throughout the entire visit. The last appointment I went to was just the other day. I was fitted for three crowns (most of my teeth need to have crowns because they are so filled with silver fillings that there's not much tooth left and can break easily) I'm choosing to have multiple teeth worked on at once to lessen the number of times I have to bring myself to the dentist. They had to give me three injections to start because of the number of teeth they were working on and I had a full blown panic attack while the needle was still in my gums. Gasping for breath shaking, my hands when all numb and tingly It was awful. I felt like I needed to get away but couldn't because they were still giving me the injection I was scared I might try to pull my head away with the needle still inside my gums.
They were all very nice about it but they chose not to give me anything to numb the inside of my mouth (they were going to numb that area too because they had to push back my gums to get to the lower part of my teeth)
I know I can call my doctor and get some form of sedative but I'm afraid of not feeling in control while I'm being worked on which might make my fear worse instead of better. Any suggestions on ways to control this anxiety and comments on what it actually feels like if taking a sedative?
,
!! I understand how difficult it must have been to visit a dentist after all those years. 
- again, fair play to you 
!
;D)