My DS (14) has had a fear of the dentist ever since he was little, nothing traumatic has happened but I guess it’s typical dental anxiety. But It often means fighting for weeks up until the appointment and him panicking so much that he’s been sick.
He’s a teenager now so I encourage him to clean his teeth but obviously he can do it on him self, the last dentist visit we had the dentist told me he has two cavity’s wich will need to be filled (on opposite sides) so will need 4 injections (DS also has a huge needle phobia).
His dentist knows how much DS struggles so try’s to be patient with him but his ‘tantrums’ can go on for hours and we’ve had to leave before because it’s to much drama for him to even sit in the chair. We are already seeing a private dentist for him and trying to get him an appointment with a specialised dentist that deals with phobias but the waiting list is about 3 years long and will be a 2 hour drive away.
The appointment is booked for tomorrow and i haven’t told him yet because I know it’s going to turn into a massive argument. Would I be being unreasonable to not tell him until we are there so he practically can’t make much of a fuss or should I tell him now so he can prepare himself (this may lead to him doing some self harming behaviours though)
I feel like a bad parent and I hate seeing him upset but we really need to get this sorted and I don’t know what to do!