My phobia is the dentist

I had an appointment to have a root canal today. Went to the dentist sat in the chair went over the procedure and rescheduled. I don't know what is about the dentist but I get sick just thinking about it. I mean, it's not really the pain, there is tons of anesthetic for that. It's the sound, vibration, and smell of your tooth being drilled away. I sat all day at work thinking about it, and having every co worker make the drill sound in passing doesn't help. When I arrived I was a total mess. Sweaty palms, lighted headed, nauseous, one touch with that pick and I would have fainted (I've seen myself do it in the past)! So I have gathered my composure and am all set for first thing Thursday morning. luckily I will have the GWJ con call to get me through it.

So what is your phobia? Clowns, little dogs, my misuse of commas and bad grammar?

(Any positive experiences with a root canal would also be helpful)

I didn't go to the dentist for almost 9 years! I took my sons first tooth to get me back in the chair. Luckily I have been flossing all this time, and got away with only 3 cavities. I've NEVER had a cavity before, but I figured after 33 years my time was due. That, and those 9 years of not getting my teeth cleaned. The good news was that my gums were in "surprisingly good shape" and needed no ridiculous "root planing" or "Deforestation of the gums" or what-have-you.

Good luck with your Root Canal!

I will be going to the dentist here in the very near future and I am pretty sure at least one root canal is in the cards.

I don't have a phobia about them, but I can do without them. I am just going to suck it up and get it over with. A future without teeth is much scarier to me than a few days of pain.

Sedation dentistry my friend.

I had a root canal as a teen, it wasn't that bad.

My phobia is flying insects, made even worse since... The Incident.

Man, I hate dentists. Having weak teeth and a strong resistence to novocaine certainly doesn't help things. I'm only 24 and will often catch myself trying to see if I can make a good argument for letting them all rot and fall out and just getting dentures.

Maybe after I find a wife would be better.

I'm not proud to admit this, but I've had two root canals (I'm only 25 :(). I grind my teeth at night and managed to chip two of them. I waited longer than I should have to get them checked out and suffered for it. I'm not a fan of dentists either. I'm also a person who has panic attacks often. Every single time I'd go to the dentist to get a filling, I'd have a major panic attack after the dentist injected lidocaine into my gums. I managed to pull myself together for the root canals because I didn't feel like losing two teeth. The procedure took a hell of a long time and the noise/smell wasn't very pleasant. Sorry, I know this isn't helping. I've been told that the sign of an excellent dentist is one that refers you to a specialist (endodontist) for procedures like root canals. My dad had a root canal done by an endodontist and said it was a breeze. Just something to think about.

As for my fear, one of my big ones is having my blood drawn. I had a really bad panic attack and I went blind for a few minutes. I also have a fear of heights and cockroaches.

lunabean wrote:

Every single time I'd go to the dentist to get a filling, I'd have a major panic attack after the dentist injected lidocaine into my gums.

That's because it jogs the nervous system. It is basically an andrenaline-like drug which can give panic attack to people with sensitive nervous systems ... bah, I'm starting to have a panic attack just remembering how it feels. Damn it.

The worst thing is the butcher-dentist who tells you its just in your imagination or that you "hyped yourself up" for this.

As for my fear, one of my big ones is having my blood drawn. I had a really bad panic attack and I went blind for a few minutes.

I have a blood test tomorrow. I have a fainty ("vasovagal") reaction to this usually, but I'm so sick of being a baby at this point that .. whatever. No postponement. I'm supposed to be a man, damn it !

(they better have that nasty smelling sh*t in place)

I also have a fear of heights and cockroaches.

You and I have completely identical phobias, congratulations.

CLOWN DENTISTS.

I've had dentists prescribe me valium beforehand to take; I just had to get someone to drive me there once I was good and stoned. And make sure you go to a dentist who will not only do that but give you nitrous oxide as well. I've had one, two root canals and six crowns. Y'know how dentists give you that "you won't feel a thing" garbage? This one time with valium and nitrous--I didn't.

Remember, you're a consumer. Kick your current dentist to the curb if he won't get you stoned.

It seems like almost everything in life gives me stress these days, but I have a special hatred for the dentist, clowns, public speaking and anything to do with blood. Whenever I have to get blood taken I faint, and then when I wake up I puke. It's non-fun, for all parties involved. I had a really bad dentist experience when I got my wisdom teeth out 2 years ago. The actual process of taking them all out was not as bad as I thought it would be, but then the antibiotics or something made me violently ill for like 4 days and I had to go to the hospital. It sucked. I did a creepy painting in school last year to celebrate my fear of the dentist. But it ended up being more tedious than therapeutic.

Many doctors have a nurse who is especially skilled with needles. You might to ask. Or they could send you to a professional phlebotomist who is more skilled. They should sit you in a chair, anyway, and let you close your eyes, talk, that sort of thing.

You'd be surprised how quickly a needle phobia can go away with a person who knows how to make it damn near painless.

Same thing for dentists. Get enough work done, like regular cleanings, without real discomfort can help with the phobia. If you avoid, though, you won't be able to change it. I had enough work done that I just fall asleep in dentist chairs, these days, if I'm left alone. Comfy, comfy dentist chairs...yawn...

I need some work done too, I just have not scheduled it yet. One of my capped teeth is twinging now. Bother. Should be easy enough to fix, but it could be a root canal too. I guess I'll find out.

Robear wrote:

You'd be surprised how quickly a needle phobia can go away with a person who knows how to make it damn near painless.

Been there, done that, its not about the pain. I even did "zen breathing exercises" and remained as calm as I could last time Ihad my blood drawn. I never saw a single needle or drop of blood.

The medical term for this is "vasovagal reaction" .

shihonage wrote:
lunabean wrote:

Every single time I'd go to the dentist to get a filling, I'd have a major panic attack after the dentist injected lidocaine into my gums.

That's because it jogs the nervous system. It is basically an andrenaline-like drug which constricts the blood vessels in the area but also can give panic attack to people with sensitive nervous systems ... bah, I'm starting to have a panic attack just remembering how it feels. Damn it.

Right, that and the fact that epinephrine is usually combined with the lidocaine. Thankfully, I taught myself to stay calm when given a lidocaine injection and I no longer have panic attacks.

I see doctors at least once a month so I don't think I could survive if I had this problem with any of them. :/

My phobias are all about fun.

- Centipedes. Not spiders, roaches, millipedes... Only centipedes.
- Airplane Flights

and my personal favorite:

- Social Phobia

That last one always makes you the life of the party!

Popsickle sticks and dense crowds, not necessarily at the same time.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

Popsickle sticks and dense crowds, not necessarily at the same time.

It all has to do with this one time Danjo was in a dense crowd, and someone had this popsicle stick....

Robear wrote:

Same thing for dentists. Get enough work done, like regular cleanings, without real discomfort can help with the phobia. If you avoid, though, you won't be able to change it. I had enough work done that I just fall asleep in dentist chairs, these days, if I'm left alone. Comfy, comfy dentist chairs...yawn... :-)

I used to go every 6 months, but every six months they'd say I had another cavity or two. I still brush at least twice a day and floss every night, but the frustration at the fact that my efforts seemed to be worthless eventually just turned into animosity against the dentist... and then the entire dental health industry.

Sometimes... I hate things.

wordsmythe wrote:

I used to go every 6 months, but every six months they'd say I had another cavity or two. I still brush at least twice a day and floss every night, but the frustration at the fact that my efforts seemed to be worthless eventually just turned into animosity against the dentist... and then the entire dental health industry.

Sometimes... I hate things.

I know how you feel, friend. I also have genetically weak teeth. Also, in Russia they used to drill without anaesthetic injections. That was always fun.

I have a vague but primal fear of being eaten whole. I give jet engine intakes a wide berth and don't eat many shrimp.

Until about a year ago, I'd never brushed my teeth. Well, "never" is a strong term, but "almost never" isn't. I'm twenty-five and have always had a fondness for sugar (I used to drink approximately a dozen cans of soda a day), so you can imagine the shape my teeth are in. I've since started taking care of them; since October, I have had two root canals and about a dozen fillings. I've always been dento-phobic (someone must know the proper term), I have a strong novocain resistance, extra nerve endings in the teeth, so on, so forth.

With twelve years of anticipation and a quarter-century of abuse, I can still tell you that my root canals were pretty much painless. The most discomfort I was in was the initial numbing shot, with a couple of "hit me again, Doc" shots during the procedure in and around the inflamed nerve tissue. It's a long procedure and I can't say I loved the smell - my teeth were abscessed pretty badly - but I'd say that I was in more pain when I had my upper-ear cartilage pierced than during the whole of either root canal.

I've heard stories that some dentists will prescribe Vicodin or other relatively strong (compared to, say, ibuprofen) painkillers, but they seem to be few and far between. Honestly, if your dentist feels the need to give you something that potent to deal with the aftermath, maybe you should find another!

If you were in northeast Massachusetts, I'd recommend you my dentist, but that 1,600-mile drive might be a little much. Let us know how it turns out!

Edit: I have a strange and near-paralyzing fear of wholesale nuclear annihilation. For some reason, there's no other horrifying manner of death that really terrifies me, but nukes make me tremble in my size-nines. I used to have a similar-in-intensity fear of tornadoes, but I've gotten over that one since we haven't had one in my area in, uh, ever.

I have a paralyzing fear of horses. Well, I guess it's not so paralyzing: Once, I was at a farmer's market, and I saw a cop on horseback. I started running in the opposite direction. That did not end well.

Odontophobia

Razorgrin wrote:

I used to have a similar-in-intensity fear of tornadoes, but I've gotten over that one since we haven't had one in my area in, uh, ever.

You wouldn't make it down here, we're under a tornado warning right now!

Thanks for all the kind words, I just want to get it over with. My wife did make things a bit better, she showed up with Dr. Seuss's "The Tooth Book".

Razorgrin wrote:

Edit: I have a strange and near-paralyzing fear of wholesale nuclear annihilation. For some reason, there's no other horrifying manner of death that really terrifies me, but nukes make me tremble in my size-nines.

I recommend this film to alleviate your fear of nukes.

(evil cackle)

Oh, oh and this one.

I originally was supposed to have just a crown put in, but no, still having pain with the temporary, so a month later, still pain. I have to have a root canal on the 5th of march before they can put the permanent on, great.

KaterinLHC wrote:

I have a paralyzing fear of horses. Well, I guess it's not so paralyzing: Once, I was at a farmer's market, and I saw a cop on horseback. I started running in the opposite direction. That did not end well.

Horses are the devil. I don't fear horses, I hate them. Do you see their dead eyes like a Great White Shark's eyes staring and staring? All they do is stand around and plot how to kill people. Why is it okay for a horse to kick a person but not okay for a person to kick a horse? F'ck that! Ain't no horses gonna kick my head. Horses will bite you for no reason at all.

Any kind of needle freaks me out. It's not the pain or anything like that, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I just can't handle them. I've foolishly skipped a few immunisations because of this.

Just thinking about it has made both my arms turn to jelly. I hope nobody tries to break into the house in the next half an hour.

Edwin wrote:

Odontophobia

Also dentophobia, depending on who you ask. Pretty much interchangeable, though.

I have (ordered by severity):

arachnophobia (creepy, crawly, spider things *shudder*)
acrophobia ("high" places - I can't even get two feet up a ladder)
ochlophobia (crowds - can't be in one for more than a minute before I start breathing heavy, 'tis why I don't do the whole party/concert thing)
dentophobia
claustrophobia (very minor, only popped up once in my life in middle grade at a sleepover birthday party for a former friend of mine - I won't get into it, there's not much to tell)

I don't have the best teeth - I had two wisdom teeth removed a few months ago, a molar that's broken and needs filling/a crown/whatever the hell they want to do with it, and my front teeth are really misaligned and could really do with some correction, but we just can't afford it at the moment. I'd love to get those Invisalign thingies, but they're butt-rapingly expensive, or so I've heard. No insurance either (stupid Oregon heath care...).

RandomHero wrote:

Just thinking about it has made both my arms turn to jelly. I hope nobody tries to break into the house in the next half an hour.

Ha ha, the same thing happened to me since I started reading the thread. It's rather frustrating when you can't clench a fist properly because of a rogue thought in your head.

bad, bad timing for this thread. I have my first dentist appointment in 5 years+ tomorrow.

magnus wrote:

bad, bad timing for this thread. I have my first dentist appointment in 5 years+ tomorrow.

Just keep reminding yourself about that lollipop you get afterwards. Here, I'll get you started:

Lollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipoplollipop

Wow, that looks weird...