To be embarrassed about gagging at the dentist?

[AutumnalNights]

Went to the dentist today and he did a quick clean of my teeth. He knows I find it painful. Anyway I struggled through it but unfortunately near the end gagged hard. The dental nurse looked horrified and him a bit irritated.
Feel really embarrassed. Has anyone else had this and how to stop doing it ? It has happened before but never this bad.

Maybe he was annoyed at his nurses over reaction to your normal reaction

Are you sure he wasn't frowning at her OTT reaction, which was unprofessional? They surely must have had patients who've gagged before! It's kind of a hazard of the job when you're sticking things in people's mouths! Please don't be embarrassed, you've done nothing wrong 💐

And i know he was irritated because he shouted at me. Sometimes people are right in suggesting we may be projecting but othertimes i wish we would just be believed. It's because of those dismissive 'of coure they wouldn't!' reactions that things don't get reported or complained about.

I ALWAYS gag at the dentist. I can’t have normal x-rays, I have to pay and get it done privately so it’s a tiny little thing that I bite and the scanner rotates round my mouth. My dentist has never made me feel uncomfortable, I’d change dentist.

I've gagged, spat on the hand of the dental nurse ( not on purpose) , ,gagsnorted and bitten (again not intentional) my orthodontist! You'll be fine they see it day in day out it's not like you are trying to wind them up it's a natural reaction x

She's a twat. A DN that reacts like that to gagging is as much use as a chocolate tea pot!

are you sure his reaction wasn't to her pathetic behaviour? Was she temp staff??

I have a very sensitive gag reflex, doing at the dentists is the least of my issues 😂😂

if they didn't want you to gag, it would be a better idea to make the cray things smaller than billboards, for a start

Name change fail @AutumnalNights?

Yes! I was surprised at how effective it is. I always gag for dental X-rays and sometimes can’t even get them done. Once the dentist sprinkled a little bit of salt on my tongue it was so easy. No gagging.

The salt confuses some particular nerve. Vagus nerve maybe? Doesn’t work for everyone but it was super effective for me.

I not only gag a LOT but once the gagging starts I also start sobbing. I’ve had a fair few dentist and they’ve all been really understanding. Get a new dentist if you can.

The only time my dentist has ever been annoyed was at her own assistant as she was putting the suction thingy too far back and setting off my gagging and the dentist had already reminded her not to do that.

my hygienist is great and works very carefully, but I have an extremely strong gag reflex. If I feel it about to trigger, I raise my arm and she moves tools out of at all possible . That helps to keep the gagging smaller and makes me less likely to bring anything up.

im not going to be embarrassed by a biological reflex. Having people poking around in your mouth is unnatural. There are occasionally consequences when we do strange things.

I remember the impressions being taken as the WORST bit of having braces. I forewarned my son and he had his teeth scanned by a laser! No physical impressions at all any more.

He was probably annoyed at the nurses reaction not you

I was once having impressions taken and I was biting the dental technician's finger. She was all like, "can I have my finger back my dear" and filled the room with her boisterous laughter. It was embarrassing, I said sorry but she just laughed again and said it happened all the time. I've gagged when they've hit the sweet spot with the water spray or the suction pipe and missed the spittoon. If they can't cope with common occupational mishaps, they shouldn't be in the job.

People always say that the nurse is the one "flooding" them with water. She's the one trying to suck it all up. It's the dentists tools that produce water. Depending on where in the mouth the dentist is working and if he gives her a chance to actually try and get it all it can often feel like there's a lot of water I understand.
I'm a hygienist and work alone. So I'm doing both jobs. The amount of people that tell me and point at the suction and say they "don't want that in their mouth because of the water they feel like they're drowning" but I try and explain that's the thing sucking up the water but if it's water they dont like I will just use hand tools then then say no they want the ultrasonic scaler but just not "that thing" that drowns them while pointing at the suction again.
I was a dental nurse before being a hygienist. Lots of dentists tell you to get something then start drilling while you're away so the water fills up and you're frantically trying to get back and catch up! Also some practices the suction is really poor and no amount of suction will actually keep up with the amount of water the dentist is using.

@Mukey thank you for explaining, it makes sense. The dentist later apologised while the assistant stayed silent, I wasn't looking at either of them but inwardly thought it was the assistant's fault and the dentist taking it on the chin! I hate how powerless and vulnerable I feel at the dental chair... i'm hyper alert at every sensation yet try not to jump and stay still. I'll certainly know from now on that the suction tube is the good guy! 😅that's one less worry thanks!

I mean that's you gag REFLEX , you can't do much about it. * *