I'm truly pathetic and just need to off load

helcat26

By the way if you seriously do need dragging I am only 5'6" but quite strong!

Northern78

Thanks, I'll try. My fear is that deep set that anything to do with dentists,contact, being near the surgery etc brings me out in a panic attack at worse and shakes and.sweating at best. I just thought email I can come back to it if you know what I mean. I can't even believe I'm talking like this. It makes me so mad, it's a bloody dentist!!! What's the worse that can happen!?!? 😐

Northern78

4" taller than me then! I'm only a short !!!! ☺

rach_k

It sounds completely the wrong way round, I know, have you tried to take your kids for their checkups at the dentist? I was horribly scared of the dentist and hadn't been since I was a child but I knew my kids needed checkups so I registered them and hid my fear to take them. Their dentist is absolutely lovely and they actually enjoy going, so much so that my daft 4 year old told me she had toothache just so I'd take her back. I still didn't pluck up the courage to go myself until I woke up with horrible toothache and a swollen face, but knowing what kind of thing to expect made it a little easier. I have a different dentist at the same place and he is also lovely.

Dentists now are very different to 15 years ago, especially if you choose a younger one I think. They are very patient and will go as slowly as you like. You won't be told off or made to feel bad or silly... Or maybe you will feel silly but only for not going sooner once you've done it! Dental techniques have moved on a lot too so you may be pleasantly surprised at what they can do for you. Remember too that unless you go in with an emergency, they won't do anything other than look at your first appointment so you have nothing to fear on that side of things.

helcat26

The worst that can happen is you think "I am not happy" and get up and walk out.
No-one will actually do any treatment without your consent to a treatment plan these days.
Neither of these dentists will hurt you- they never hurt me.
This feeling will carry on unless you fix it. I recommend speaking to them because they are so nice and so professional.
So you go, you sit in a chair, if they spook you, you can run.
But you will have tried.


I am not a fan of snakes. We all have irrational bits!

peachyprice

It might also be worth contacting your nearest dental teaching hospital.

My niece used to be petrified of the dentist, to the point of wetting herself in the chair. Her dentist referred her to a specialist unit down here in London at the teaching hospital where they specialise in teaching dentist how to deal with nervous patients.

It wasn't a quick process, they didn't even look in her mouth until she'd been around half a dozen times, the first appointment was just talking, then progressed to being shown the chair, then sitting in it, then being shown the tools, then her touching them, and so it went, little by little they built up her confidence, I think it was around 2 years of monthly appointments before they discharged her back to the dentist, in that time they eventually managed regular check-ups and even a small filling.

[Deleted User]

I only go to a dentist for tooth abstractions or shrieking in pain. I left a missing filling for 18 months due to money constraints eased by nervousness and didn't I regret that, plus got advised in June the time had come to consider having my front teeth removed (accident with a glass bottle in the kisser at 19 when there was nothing that could be done and terrible teeth grinder at night) and I'm younger than you so by no means alone. x

The corsodyl mouthwash is good but the toothpaste I couldn't get on with, I don't know why dentistry folk have to be so funny just because they have perfect teeth. It's a bit like it in hairdressing too... I remember some of the stuff that used to get said after the professional washing of hair.
Still my lovely gran had all her teeth out at 26 and apparently said it one of the the best day's of her life so wishing I had her courage.

LilElvis

Another who would recommend finding out more about the specialist NHS services that are available to help those for whom a visit to the dentist can be extremely traumatic - the phobic, young children, the mentally ill, those on the autistic spectrum are some of the groups they help. My daughter's treatment took many sessions because they booked in one's where there actually wasn't any treatment - they wanted her to learn that going to the the dentist didn't always mean discomfort or pain. As a consequence she is quite happy to go to her regular dentist for checkups.

coolcait

You have a phobia . Lots of people have phobias, so many (most?) of us can emphasise with just how horrible that is, and how it can mess up your life in lots of little or big ways.

It will be important to find a dentist who is used to/good at dealing with nervous patients, as others have said.

However, if your phobia is so bad that you panic when you see a sign for a dental surgery and have to cross the road, it might also be a good idea to go to your GP and see if you can get some support in dealing with the 'phobia' part of it - in the same way that you might be able to get support in dealing with a phobia of anything else.

There's a good chance that you'll have to wait a bit to get this support, being realistic , so all the more reason to get your name down asap.

It's not really that surprising that someone would develop a phobia of dentists after the experiences you describe in your OP, so most medical and dental professionals - and quite a few folks in the street - will understand it.

Artytarty

You know what? I'm similar in that I can drive and do, but I can't cope on motorways, even our relatively quiet ones here.
I had to do an airport run this week and hardly slept.
My palms sweat and I grip the steering wheel so hard.i feel,sick and think I'm going to die...pathetic?
So I do know a tiny bit of what you describe.
I know I should have professional lessons to enhance my own life.
There is a solution to most problems, we just help to get there.