I need some encouraging...

[WillParkinson]

I have a dentist appointment on Friday with Paul's dentist. I'm scared to death to go. A bit of background on my previous dentists...

The company I work for has insurance that allows us to only go to one specific clinic. I went there for the first time when I got my insurance for a cleaning. The lady doing the cleaning hooked my gum and said, "Oops." It hurt like a mother-feather! I left there and really did not want to go back. In fact I didn't until my wisdom teeth finally came in.

Well, I went in to get them pulled because they were hurting my mouth and they pulled all 4 of them. Everything went swimmingly because I was unconcious at the time (I have a VERY strong aversion to needles). I got home and lay down only to wake up about an hour later with my chest covered in blood. Paul called the dentist and told them I was bleeding and they said it was normal. Paul said, "No, you don't understand. He's BLEEDING." So they said come back in. I went in and the dentist checked them and told me to go home and they'd call me and tell me what I should do. I came home and waited. And waited. Finally I called them back and they said, "Well, we told you to go to the emergency room." No, actually, they did NOT tell me that.

So, off I went to the emergency room. I paid $50 or $75 out of pocket and sat in the waiting room spitting blood for about 1 1/2 hours. Finally I got in to see the doctor. The doctor was really upset because he said the dentist should have handled the situation himself and that there was no reason I should have been sent to the emergency room. How did they finally stanch the bleeding? They had to give me shots directly into my gums and I got to hold my mouth open while they did it! I was scared witless.

After that episode I didn't go back to the dentist again for a very long time. Until I developed a gum infection and one of the teeth came loose and it hurt badly so I had little choice. The doctor told me that I would need a deep cleaning and scheduled the appointment. I went in and they were going to give me shots in the gums to freeze them. That didn't go too well. According to the nurse I was shaking so badly that they were afraid to continue. But they got the area frozen (it took double the normal shots...oh joy) and I went to have them cleaned. Most of it went OK until she got the middle bottom of my mouth. Then she hit a nerve which shot me out of the chair. She told me that some people have nerves that connect in the middle and that freezing may not affect both sets of nerves and that I would pretty much have to suck it up and deal with it. I left there in a great deal of pain again.

SO...to make a long story a bit longer...

Now I have to go to the dentist and I am almost deathly afraid to do it. After 3 bad visits I really just want to run away and hide but I know I can't do that.

So could someone please just give me a few encouraging words?

Thanks.

[Brucey]

1. I sympathize,

because I too was very afraid of dentists due to bad experiences. But I recently broke a tooth and had to go. Everything went great... no problems whatsoever... modern dentistry can be very good... I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Just get through it, it won't take long, and later you will be fine. I wish you the best.

[soleft]

2. Your trepididation is more than understandable

Think about the relief you will feel when it's over, when you have overcome your fear and pushed thru this challenge you will a tremendous weight lifted, and the experience of feeling that lightness and sense of accomplishment will be worth the effort.

Let me know how you do.

[XanaDUer]

3. Here is a hug from me to you

:pals:

[WillParkinson]

4. Hey now, watch those hands!

:-)

Thank you very much.

[XanaDUer]

5. You're welcome.

If it makes you feel any better, this morning I just lost my dental coverage.

Not that that would make you feel better.

[WillParkinson]

6. Dental coverage...

I willingly gave mine up. I talked to our union and the lady there told me that the members weren't willing to pay the extra it would cost to allow them to choose any dentist. So, I cancelled my coverage and decided to pay out of pocket.

And I'm very sorry that you lost yours. Another sign of the 'great economy'?

[XanaDUer]

7. Yeah,

I am lucky in the teeth department, though (knock wood).

I brush and floss like a maniac, no real problems. With dentists, you pay now, or pay later. I will do whatever I need to to avoid problems with my teeth.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

15. If you're not going to the sadist dentist office of days of yore,...

you shouldn't have a problem. Ask around. There are some really great dentists around who KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING and will do it with the least amount of pain possible. I've always loved going to the dentist. The hygenist is great, and my dentist is this old dude with a great sense of humor. Good luck!! It really does depend on the dentist. It makes me sad there are people that have such bad experiences with their dentists, because there are such great ones out there.
Duckie

[roughsatori]

8. I hate dentists too but it is worse not to go

The last time I went I took 6 Xanax an hour before the appointment (I am allergic to Nitrous). And I was fine. I was slurring a tiny bit.

I hope you are not offended but I just said a prayer for you. Even if that is meaningless it can't hurt.

Besides if I were ready to go under at the dentist's, I might want to repent first. LOL I'm kidding about the second part, but not the first. Good Luck.

[thom1102]

9. When I had my braces as a teen...

I had my molars pulled. The dentist came up to my chin. I had never been afraid of the dentist. The dentist numbed me up and after a lot of pulling and tugging they pulled them out. The roots of these molars were not straight down, they were bent out like the hooks of a grappling hooks and shredded my gums.

Next, when I was in the Navy, I had a cleaning, and I was shaking so bad that they had to stop 5 times. Later, I had to get my wisdom teeth out. One of them was impacted. I was part of a group of about 6 guys who were being briefed about the procedure, and the dentist pulls out a set of xrays, and of course they were mine. He started explaining what he was going to do to the impacted tooth..."make an incision along the gum line, break the tooth into pieces, and pull them out one piece at a time." As I stood in the back of the room blanching, he asked "Is this you?" I simply nodded. "Oh, well then wait til you see the other side. Do you see this gray line running next to the root here? That's a nerve, and no matter how much novacaine we use, when we start wiggling around, that is going to hurt." I told them there would be no way in hell that I would be awake for that. Even then, I woke up in the middle of the procedure! I haven't been to the dentist ever since. I recently became aware of a cleaning procedure utilizing a laser that is supposed to be painless. I may have to check that out.

[Cheswick2.0]

10. Will, maybe this will help

I realized years ago that no matter how bad pain is we can handle it. It is the fear of what is causing the pain that does us in. In other words try to analyze your fear. Think about the needle and the pain you feel from that. Is it worse than the pain you feel from, say, stubbing your toe on the coffee table? Probably not, but you don't go around in fear of stubbing your toe.
No matter how much you fear the proceedures you must endure and no matter how you dread the pain, isn't the fear really worse?

PS... you are lucky to have dental insurance. I need some work done and have no way to pay for it.

[Lindsey]

12. I've had a lot of problems with my teeth

and have spent a fortune to save them. There are a few things you can do. For one, get a really great dentist if you can. I absolutely LOVE mine. He's awesome at what he does, he makes me feel like everything is fixable, each room has a t.v. to watch as a diversion, the office works with me on the pmts.,. I also take a xanax before going in. I've spent a lot of my own money (my insurance isn't that great) and I've done without on other things but it's really been worth it. As far as the pain goes, take the pain medication (tylenol 3, vicodine, etc) for when the local wears off. Good luck - healing light your way...

[REP]

11. Well, He Hasn't Killed Paul, Right?

I know about painful dental work. It is really MUCH better to go and get it over with.

Ask for nitrous if they have it.

[radwriter0555]

13. how AWFUL! the lessons here are so many; first FLOSS FLOSS FLOSS

FLOSS FLOSS.

Second, it's worth going into debt to go to a REAL dentist, one who cares about YOU, and one with whom you are comfortable.

I had TWO broken teeth, and went the FOUR dentists before I allowed one to work on me. If they scared me, or I didn't like them, got a bad vibe or whatever, I literally simply got up and LEFT. I did this for a couple months until I walked into this one dentists' office and it was like angels singing. My insurance co was SO pissed at me because I would tell them every couple weeks that I was changing dentists again. Well they sure got over it.

Thirdly, some genuine advice. I was totally and completely paranoid about needles for 30+ years, to the point of going to hypnotherapy. (didn't help). I got kicked out of a hospital where I was in pre-op for surgery on my 16-time dislocated knee, because I wouldn't let them inject it with dye. Never had that surgery.

Luckily, when I was preggers, I had to have blood taken ALL THE FREAKING TIME, so I really had to get over that aspect of the inordinate fear and can now just have blood taken willy-nilly.

So I'm in the dentist chair a few years back, and I was only slightly less apprehensive about the needle, then I SAW IT.

Holy crap. Have you seen how TINY that thing is? It's like a thread! AND, if you ask the doc for a new needle, you can't feel it! I CONFRONTED MY FEAR. What a life changing experience!

Take the time to find a dentist you are comfy with. I LOVE my Doctor Mark... his nurses are great. It's worth the money to pay for it out of pocket if you have to.

Good luck....

[Rowdyboy]

14. God, how awful!

I've had very good luck with female dentists. They're much more responsive to their patient's pain and they have smaller hands.

Good luck!

[patdem]

16. I am SO afraid of dentists that I got drunk and pulled my own tooth

a molar...and it was not a healthy tooth so all the root did not come out with the tooth and it took over 10 years for the roots left in to work their way up and out...now I am tooth free and root free..would I do it again...you're damned straight I would!!!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. Take Courage...

and tell Paul's dentist you're terrified. Tell them precisely about the bad experiences you've had. Are they sympathetic to your story?

If not, I'd look elsewhere.
It doesn't have to be painful. I can't even feel the novocaine shot when my dentist works on my mouth, because he knows how to properly apply a local anaesthetic.

You can even find dentists who specialize in people who are terrified of them.

Good luck! ~huggggggggggggggggggs~