Hi Sandra,
I know the extreme anxiety that you've been going through. I have to say that you and the people who have responded to your posts have helped to put my mind at ease. Like you, I've had a terrible dental phobia for as long as I can remember. I avoided going to the dentist for about 13 years, and over that time I had developed some horrible problems. A few months ago the pain in one tooth was so unbearable that I absolutely had to get a root canal. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, but I still had to load up on anxiety meds to get through it. But the fact was that avoiding the dentist and not taking care of my teeth resulted in basically a whole mouth full of problems. I went to the dentist this morning because I've had 3 molars that are absolutely killing me, and I'm finally realizing that if I just take care of it and get it over with, I'll save myself a lot of pain. I went today thinking he'll tell me to get these 3 teeth pulled, but it turns out I also need all 4 wisdom teeth out, for a total of, yes, SEVEN!!!! So of course that scared the hell out of me, but after reading yours and other people's posts, I feel a lot better...I will also be doing IV sedation and getting all 7 extracted at the same time, probably within the next couple of weeks. I just wanted you to know that you aren't alone, and I wanted to wish you luck with your procedure. It's really amazing how anxiety can build up so strong in your mind. Be sure to let us know how it went, and I'll do the same. I'm sure we'll have a huge load off our shoulders after this is all over. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/wink.gif
Pam

Hi ya

Thankyou so much for sharing your story with me well appreciated http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
I am having mine done sometime in September don’t get me wrong im still scared but that is to be expected (fear of the unknown). I have come to realize been scared of the dentist is very very common and if someone ever tells you that they enjoy going to the dentist there lying. You know when you feed a baby for the first few times with a spoon? The baby will spit the spoon out that’s because its not used to having things placed in its mouth. That’s the same with us a tell you what I did before my first appointment after avoiding it for 15 years' I got a metal spoon and lied down on my sofa and started to move the spoon round in my mouth just to get myself used to having metal objects placed in my mouth (This helped me). Just think soon we will be posting back on the bored saying how are experiences was and how happy we feel after facing are fears. Are life is built upon memory’s some memory’s we choose to keep and some we lose sadly we always seem to keep the bad memory’s instead of letting go of them and filling are brains with good ones. I did a search on IV sedation and on one website it actually said that people enjoy IV sedation 'Also known as twilight sleep'. We will be just fine I know its hard to believe and choose how many good things and good story’s we read and hear we will still be scared (Yet again fear of the unknown). Hay at least we don’t live in the olden days were they used to pull teeth out with no pain killers or putting you to sleep imagine that ewwwwwwww. Aren’t we the lucky ones living in the year 2002 http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gifI think what im trying to say things could be a lot worse for us.
I really cant wait to get it over and done with so I can smile with confidence and eat what ever I like. I don’t feel alone any more like I used to. I used to think my mouth was the worst in the world I thought no one had a fear of dentist only me. Its nice to know im not alone and there are people the same as me. Please do let me know how you get on and I will sure let you know how I get on.
Thanx once again for sharing your story with me.

Kindest Regards http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
Sandra