I have been reading forums on dental phobia for a couple of weeks and I feel compelled to write something, hoping it may serve as inspiration for those out there who are considering confronting their fears and going to a dentist.
I am 23 years old and I had not been to the dentist in 8 years. I was ALWAYS anxiety ridden about going to the dentist even though I had braces for years and my parents mad me go for my regular check-ups. I had a bad experience at the dentist on my first filling, where they shot me directly in the nerve in my jawbone for a filling (non-intentionally, of course) and I just jumped out of the chair in pain. That was the last time I went to the dentist until recently and like I mentioned, it had been about 8 years.
As the years passed my parents constantly reminded me that I need to go to the dentist. It started to effect how I functioned daily – I was always worrying about my teeth but fear would take over and going to the dentist wasn’t even a consideration. A lot of my dreams would consist of my teeth falling out in public places and such. I used to tell my parents that no matter what, I would not go to the dentist unless I was in so much pain that I absolutely had to go. No questions asked, my fear was that great. My mother shares a similar phobia and as a result has no natural teeth of her own left. A couple of years ago her bottom implants started falling out and she is more or less without teeth on the bottom, though she still has not gone to the dentist. Anyway, what really pushed me to go in recent weeks was the fact that I found out that I will be getting laid off at the end of January and therefore will lose my insurance when my 8 weeks of severance runs out. I normally wouldn’t even consider taking advantage of the dental insurance, but my teeth and gums were slowly falling apart. I noticed heavy plaque build up on the inside of my bottom front teeth, and this was probably because I never floss. Also, I had a baby tooth still that was fused to the bone, no root, and it was hanging on barely and I never ate on that (left) side of my mouth because I was afraid that it would fall out. The right side of my mouth started deteriorating too, one of my back molars split in half a little over a month ago and the jagged tooth was cutting into my tongue and really causing me anxiety, for some reason there was no pain involved. I also have many visible cavities that I can see on my gumlines and I would look at them in the mirror and freak out but still it wasn’t enough to make me want to go see a dentist.
Based on my story and my unbelievable fear, I have a couple of recommendations to those that are riddled with anxiety about the dentist and I hope that I can provide some inspiration for those that are considering going to the dentist, whether it’s been 10 or 20 years, or even if you’ve never gone.
My first recommendation is to go dentist hunting. Do NOT settle and do not feel down on yourself for being incredibly picky. Don’t just look in the newspaper for dentists and compile a list, actually begin dialogue, written (email) or in person with dentists that you are considering. A couple of weeks ago I went to a dentist who specialized in sedation dentistry because their ads said that they cater to those with great dental phobia. I went in there, had x-rays, and ultimately I came out of there crying and in much worse shape than I was when I walked in. I was told I had several extractions, root canals, and cavities, bone graphing etc. needed and this dentist (and his hygienists) did ANYTHING but calm me. At first I thought that it was my dental phobia that caused this reaction, that I was just too scared, and that I should either suck it up and let him do all of these expensive procedures on me, or just give up. I felt hopeless and I felt like a loser for caving in and losing it emotionally in this dentist’s office.
I ended up seeking a second opinion from a dentist that two friends referred me to and this dentist was absolutely spectacular. I never thought I could walk out of an office with so much hope and so little anxiety. He was calming, gentle, reassuring, and also practices sedation dentistry, which for me is a must. I also experienced a completely different diagnosis! No root canals, only 8 fillings, one extraction and an implant (the baby tooth), and all 4 wisdom teeth extractions, and a crown. They have wonderful payment plan options and I decided that I could overcome my fear and get all of this done. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t like a dentist, just keep trying, there are wonderful ones out there with all of the patience and understanding in the world. In fact, a lot of his staff had dental phobia at once and they were even telling me about how they locked themselves in the staff bathrooms before procedures because they were so scared. This really helped me to relax.
My second recommendation is sedation dentistry! Before my first procedure a couple of days ago I was given a pill called halcyon to take an hour before I went in. They gave me an IV when I got there and honestly my only recollections are going to the dentist and getting home into bed. They pulled all 4 highly impacted wisdom teeth, my baby tooth, and installed an implant into my jaw. Yeah, I have been looped up on pain pills the past couple of days but I cannot express to you the relief and happiness I feel that one of my procedures is over with finally. And I don’t remember anything. Before I went in I googled and read about people’s sedation “horror stories” and they freaked me out! I was convinced that I would be awake for part of the procedure, or feel pain, or be aware, but I absolutely was not at all. Reading those stories online only made things worse for me and made me lose sleep. I now only have one more appointment to get fillings and a crown, and a “deep cleaning” and since I am so comfortable with the dentist and know that I can more or less be unconscious (as far as I am concerned) for the procedures, I plan on going regularly to prevent all of this from happening again.
I understand that there are worse cases out there where, for example, people have to face the fact that they need to have all of their teeth pulled and get partials, but it is never too late, and if I can do it, you can. Believe me I couldn’t sleep at night before even my dentist x-ray check-ups, I was so nervous. The longer you wait the worse it gets, and if you can find a nice sedation dentist you can sleep through everything that you are afraid of.
Visiting all of these dental phobia forums has made me start to think that society would really benefit from having a dental reality series, where people with extreme fear have cameras follow them to the dentist and through their recovery. I think it would help that part of the population that is struggling with this so much.
If anyone would like to talk any more about dental anxiety, I am happy to share dialogue. My email address is [email]( REMOVED)[/email]
I am in Colorado too if anyone needs a dentist recommendation.
Best of luck and strength,
Megan
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