Help - Just back from Dentist - Terrified!

belfastgirl23

No advice to offer but just to say good luck, this is one of my worst nightmares and I would be waaay more wussy than you As in I would knock someone over in the street to get the £350 if needs be - so from my perspective you're being very brave by considering any alternatives!!

moggylover

bluenose1 wrote: »

I am going into hospital next Wednesday to have a wisdom tooth out. I have to have it done in hospital as it is very high up (not where teeth normally appear.)
I was referred end of May so that should give you some idea of waiting times, though I suppose all areas different.

My dentist did tell me that the hospital don't class wisdom teeth as urgent and that could explain the lengthy waiting list.

In your situation I would begrudge paying £350 (even if I had it.)
The thought of the needle is a lot worse than the actual needle. I have had several cos of fillings and I get all anxious and upset and afterwards always think that wasn't that bad.

Best of luck.

Thanks for that bluenose. I do begrudge the money - but am terrified! I have managed through 2 pregnancies to get to the stage where I do not pass out at the sight of a needle for anywhere else - but just cannot envisage a scenario where I don't punch the Dentists lights out if he tries to get the needle in my mouth, lol.

Doesn't look as if I can justify the money though. Would mean leaving ourselves a little too tight for comfort, and with 2 kids I do like to have a little emergency money, and a bit of spending money for them in hols.

moggylover

anniehanlon wrote: »

come on...moggy lover, if the dentist knows how nervous you are he will react accordingly. the injection lasts only seconds 3 at the most, distract yourself (distraction is a wonderful thing)
sing a loud song in your head, look up the dentists nose, i promise it wont be half as bad as you think it is. this is the worst part, thinking about it.

Dont go down the sedation or valium route, you will be affected totally for hours, The 'local' route and you will be skipping out of the dentists wondering why you worried so much

Thanks anniehanlon, but I don't think my dentist does "do" compassion. He made it clear that he thought I was being ridiculous and that if I wasn't staying to have it removed there and then, then he had no patience with me I should ring when I had made up my mind what to do - without being able to ask any further questions?:mad:

As I have to be driven there and back anyway for other reasons I could put up with the after affects of the sedation, and tbh I very much doubt if I am going to even get there without the valium unless they would consider loaning me a straight-jacket and having me picked up by padded van!

I have spent a wet afternoon playing scrabble and hop-n-pop with my 10 year old son and it has been equally wet in-doors as I have disolved in tears several times: much to his distress. The irony being that he had to have a molar which had grown with really bad enamel which was rough and kept breaking off, and 4 milk teeth removed the year before last but because he was scared they shipped him off to the same private clinic as they are offerring me and he had a quick injection in his hand and woke up fine and dandy but minus 5 teeth all on the NHS. He is most indignant that I cannot have the same - on the basis that I am not much taller than him:rotfl: .

moggylover

Toothsmith wrote: »

They could be.

You could check yourself with the PCT.

Ask how long it would be for a non urgent, and an urgent wisdom tooth removal as a day case using local anaesthetic.

Thanks again Toothsmith, err, what is the PCT?

And can I just ask, was that a typo - should it not be under "general" anaesthetic?

Thanks for taking the time with me - my own Dentist seemed to think I was making a big fuss for no reason (which I suppose I am if terror doesn't come in to the equation) and had no patience for even saying things like there was a cream he could use to numb the area before he attempted to insert the
you know what!

You must get fed up with idiots like me. It doesn't help that I remember my dad getting a broken jaw having a bottom wisdom removed - something to do with "hooked" roots!

And then my helpful ex told me that he was in the chair 2.5 hours having one tooth removed because it crumbled away and all the bits had to be painstakingly picked out. (Sensitive and compassionate as always then - NOT)

Mad_as_a_Hatter

moggylover wrote: »

Hi, have just been to my dentist and am now terrified!

I have a rear bottom wisdon tooth which although not fully errupted (one corner has never made it through cos not enough room) has only ever given me trouble on about 3 occasions in the 32 years I have had it:D .

However, this year in April, I bit on something hard, and it became infected and I had an abscess which responded to antibiotics.

About three weeks ago now I had another abscess - again after biting into something and feeling something sharp actually dig into the gum. My Dentist at this time advised me that if it happened again he would want to take out the tooth above. I thought then that we was a bit odd - cos it felt like something had actually pierced the gum and caused the problem - not the tooth above: and sure enough when the abscess went down I found a small chip of something that looked suspiciously like bone under the skin flap and managed to remove this with a tooth-pick. However, the area has not returned to any degree of comfort since, and still looks a bit inflammed despite being cleaned two or three times a day (with a little baby toothbrush to get right in to the area) and salt water mouth washes.

Went back today and am now petrified. Dentist says that I cannot have any more antibiotics, that the tooth above must come out - but not the one that hurts (right down into the jaw) and has given me my "options".

1) - he can take it out immediately in the surgery on the NHS with an injection in my mouth.

2) - he can put me on the waiting list to have it removed at the hospital under general - waiting time 18 MONTHS:eek:

3) - I can go to a private clinic within a couple of weeks and have it removed under some kind of anaesthetic whereby I will be awake but unaware of what is going on (? ) at a cost of £350 - which I simply do not have (disabled and on IS)!

To be perfectly honest with you, I am not a scaredy cat about pain (went through childbirth twice without anything but a wiff of gas and air whilst trying not to push:o ) but the thought of a needle in my mouth made me almost physically sick in the surgery - and my stomach is still churning.

Are these really my only options? And should they not at least take out both teeth at the same time if I do manage to find £350 so that I get the whole problem sorted out and they do not maximise their profits by having me back again at a later stage to take the bottom tooth out?

I have been so very lucky up until now to have teeth that have caused my no problems over many years - no fillings, no extractions - but I cannot believe that these are the only routes open.

Many thanks to anyone who can help or advise.

My husband recently had a wisdom tooth removed under general anaesthetic. He had been having loads of problems with it for years and been in loads of pain. He was told by the hospital that the tooth was sat on a nerve, which if caught could have resulted in permanent numbness down one side. He was absolutely petrfied and cancelled the appointment once before. However he went into hospital as a day case and everything went ok. He wishes now he had had it done earlier. He had very little pain afterwards and got plenty tlc from me !!! His friend also had a wisdom tooth out the same day under local anaesthetic in the same hosp - he had a horrible experience and was off work for nearly 2 weeks.

moggylover

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

No advice to offer but just to say good luck, this is one of my worst nightmares and I would be waaay more wussy than you As in I would knock someone over in the street to get the £350 if needs be - so from my perspective you're being very brave by considering any alternatives!!

PLEEEEEEEASE do not give me ideas! I have always been very law abiding and would hate to spoil a pretty much unblemished record!

I'm not being brave really - and part of me says that the kids and cats can go without food for the next month or so to find it - but knows I can't do that:mad: .

Just horrified that this is what the system is nowadays - wish I had had it out years ago when my dentist back in Slough first said that he doubted it would ever come up properly and that one option, should it give trouble, was to remove it. Having it removed then would have been a doddle cos he would have taken it out under general himself, and the NHS would have covered it! Not that it would have needed to in those days cos I had a fancy health insurance through work that would have paid anyway.

[Deleted User]

moggyl I am the most SCARED ever of getting a tooth out. Absolutely terrified but few months ago I had no option when a filled root canal broke. It was done by local and honestly I didn`t feel a thing. The injection into the back gum is really ok, you just feel a sort of thud and thats it. Just sit there and mesmerise yourself under that light and keep your eyes shut. I felt the movements but absolutely no pain at all

Local is much safer than intravenous. Clench your hands and toes and get it done. You won`t want that infection to spread anywhere nasty

N71

I'm the biggest wimp ever when it comes to pain, and i had one wisdon tooth out at the dentist with a local - i had too, i was going on holiday two days later and didn't want the toothache to ruin my hols.

It really wasn't that bad, nowhere near as bad as childbirth (i've had one naturally with gas & air and one emergency c-section). I'm due no.3 now, but would much rather have my tooth out again!!

It might have helped that i have a really, really sympathetic dentist, and while he was taking the tooth out, he made me close my eyes and he talked to me about lying on a tropical beach!!

I had the other 3 out under general at the hospital after waiting a few months. Although this was painless, the feeling of waking up afterwards was horrible!

Just go for it, it won't be that bad - I promise!! And nothing can be worse than toothache!

tomstickland

I don't particularly enjoy going to the dentists, but modern anaesthetics are amazing. I had an injection for a filling and as soon as the needle was in I felt nothing. TBH thinking about it is making me feel a lot worse than the experience.

moggylover

Thank you all so much for your support. I have managed to pull myself together - and as it hurts rather a lot at the moment I just know that I am going to have to be very brave (:rotfl: ) and get myself down there asap.

I rather think that if I take the valium, mix it with a nice dose of co-codamol and then get myself half carried in, then I shall probably just pass out at the sight of the needle anyway and it will be all over by the time I come around!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

Will come back and let you know how it goes - and I shall be asking the dentist for a "sticker" to say what a brave little girl I have been:rotfl: .

God, I am a fairy, I really am - thank you all for being so patient with me. It really isn't the pain - I live with pain every day hence the IB and DLA - but oooooh that needle.