Dentist Phobia

I have four wisdom teeth, the hygensit would love to see them removed but my dentist has all four of his wisdom teeth too and he insists they stay since they don't cause me any problems.

I LOVE to go to the dentist. If I could afford it I would go every three months for a cleaning. It feels so good and honestly it makes my whole body feel better.

That said, I would never let my dentist give me anethesia - he is not an anethesoligist. My vet won't even knock my pets out without a full blood panel so you can bet nobody is doing that to me.

Boomer- The dentists use nitrous oxide. You are not "out", but sort of in "la-la land". It is actually quite enjoyable.

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/n2o/n2oc.htm

I am right along with you.

I have not seen a dentist for , 12? years if not longer.

Until recently, and it was because my jaw hurt so bad , I couldn't ignore it.
In a span of 3 days, I got a large bump on my gum, about the size of a pencil eraser, that was painful..
oh GOD.. it was painful

And, even with all that pain, I kept telling hubby and myself, it will go away.
And doing the -
well, I will go when (this) happens
or when I cant do ( that)

and finally, hubby got tired of me complaining and not being able to eat and took me in.

Even in my pain, I was too scared.

The Dentist told me I had gingavitus ( i think i am spelling that right..? It isnt in spellcheck..)
And that it started with a piece of popcorn kernel.

I am one who brushes 2 times a day and flosses like a nervous habit.
It was strange to me to actually have something wrong..

How to get over that fear?
Oy, i wish i knew.

The wisdom teeth will be removed by a surgeon, not the regular dentist, thankfully. I haven't had a consultation yet, but I assume they use an anestheseologist (sp?). They will do all 4 at once and the lower two are still in the gums so I really hope to be asleep for that. I'm not sure what the big deal is with them. He said that they can't reach them for cleaning and such and that the lower two are crowding my mouth, which is probably true. Still, I would've like to keep them.

shewolf, you are so lucky that they didn't find other problems while you were there. You must have really strong teeth.

shewolfnm- It's gingivitis:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gingivitis/DS00363

Oh I know, Phoenix, I'm probably completely irrational about anethesia. I have my reason for being a coward and I'm sticking to it.

I had gum surgery a few years back and they wanted to use gas. I insisted they just shoot me full of novacaine instead. I really think the gas thing makes it easier on the dentist and not the patient. Part of that could be because, like I said, I like to get my teeth cleaned and I am not afraid of the dentist.

I've had the gas before and it helps me a lot. I just have so much anxiety that i tense up like a ball. I've left the dentist chair before with muscle aches, but not from the procedure, from me clenching up all my muscles in resistance. It also makes the shots less painful. I know I'm a pussy.

FreeDuck- I once learned in a psych class about the relationship between emotions and physical reactions. I wanted to test this out, at the dentist. (I was still a little shaky about dentistry at the time).

When the dentist came at me with the drill, I consciously allowed myself to become absolutely limp. I could not feel anxious, being limp. When I found myself tensing up, I made myself go limp again. It really helped!

A trick I learned, and I know this sounds absurd, is to wiggle your toes while getting any kind of shot. It seems the concentration required to wiggle your toes provides enough distraction to get the shot down without having to think about it.

Try it! It is hard to wiggle your toes and do anything else at the same time.

boomer- I think that is a good idea. When I was getting bone marrow biopsies, (which is not the most fun thing to do) I would take my Walkman, and put in a favorite tape, with the music that I used to do aerobics, like disco, or rock. When I was becoming nervous, I would turn up the music louder and louder. I found that to be really helpful.

I will definitely try the toe wiggling. I've learned to deal with shots in the arm and whatnot, but for some reason, the whole open-wide-and-let-me-put-sharp-instruments-in-your-most-sensitive-area thing is one I still have trouble with.

A kindly doctor told me that trick when I was having to have a biopsy in an area a bit more <ahem> sensitive than my mouth. Music, like Phoenix said or a thrilling book on tape can really help keep your mind occupied during stressful situations.

You'll be fine FreeDuck. I'll bet you will feel so much better after it is all done.

My dentist does a local anaesthetic with stuff on a piece of cloth, before he does 'the prick'. He makes sure the gum is absolutely numb before he puts the needle in. If you don't have your eyes open, you'd never realize he was moving onto the next stage.

I love my dentist. I continued to go to him even after I moved a 6 hour drive away. I think I moved back, in part, because of him. Gotta love a man whose middle name is Gin :wink:

I had about an eight year gap in dental treatment, as I found my hometown dentist a bit of a brute. I used to be one of those patients who went through their whole dental appointment with only their feet and head touching the chair. Can we say "arched-back-in-anticipation-of-pain?

Now - I fall asleep in the chair. Of course, I'm not your regular dental patient. When I broke half a tooth off on a Saturday night a year or so ago, I bought a home dental kit and filled the tooth myself - so I wouldn't have to go to the emergency dentist.

No one but Ron or Tamara touches my teeth or gums.

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Dental techniques have changed so much in the last few years. It's really quite wonderful how painless the experience can be.

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I love my dentist, and the hygienist.

Great (and somewhat cute) dentist, great and funny (as in ha ha, not as in weird) hygeinist.

Shhh don't tell RP I think our dentist is cute.

the lady who scrapes my gums is nice-lookin' too...

Ok, toe wiggling doesn't work for me. But, they have this new computerized anesthetic thing that, when combined with laughing gas, makes it more or less painless. Now if I could just learn to not crawl out of my skin at the sound of the drill.

You got through it, though!

Yeah, the sound of a drill is one of my unironic "sure glad I'm deaf" moments.

Hah. I'm not even sure deafness would save me since the vibration is creepy too, but yeah, it would probably help if I didn't have to hear it. I still have more work that needs to be done, but today's was the worst of it. Glad that's over with. Looking forward to smiling with my teeth more often.

dentist
"...haven't seen you for a long time - make yourself comfortable !..."



"...Why did the guru refuse Novacaine when he went to his dentist? He wanted to transcend dental medication..."

That's a killer!