dentist phobia but made appt. How bad will it be?!!

[homelesshedgehog]

Will someone please hold my hand?! I hate going to the dentist, but in the interests of (a) not passing my phobia onto LOs and (b) still having my own teeth at 50, I've booked an appointment. My pulse was racing on the phone to the receptionist, so quite what will happen on the day I don't know!

I've had a longterm fear of dentists, but I did drag myself to one about 5 years ago. Not much work was required, but it renewed my sense of terror. Hard to explain, but the whole thing just seemed rough - during the check up the dentist seemed to be moving my head around by my teeth (if that makes any sense) and pushing really hard and I was imagining bits about to snap off. It put me off going back. Plus in response to my quivery-wreck status he said that teeth are teeth and being nervous makes no difference to what needs done to them so I should either sit down or just leave. I sat down!

I do have some sympathy for dentists who deal with people like me. It can't be much fun staring into the mouth of a patient whose problems are self inflicted! But is there anything that I say / ask for that might make it all less worrying? Should I tell them (new dentist this time) that I am already having nightmares and the appointment is three weeks away? I don't have any pain anywhere, but I can feel a couple of rough corners with my tongue and already predict (in aforementioned nightmares) the dentist deciding to yank half of them out.

Anyone got any advice, or good news stories?

Some dentists are better than others when it comes to nervous patients.
Did you explained to the receptionist when you booked that you were worried? If you didnt then I would let them know in advance, as they will then know how to approach your appointment. You could maybe see if its possible to bring the appointment forward, so that you have less time to worry about it.
A couple of rough corners sounds like a long way from yanking half your teeth out.
I also tend to be worried about dentists, though now that I have a good dentist, I dont worry at all.
Good luck

Have a word with your GP. He/She may be willing to prescribe some beta blockers for you just to take the edge off things. They stop your heart from racing and you feel generally calmer and more able to face things. I sometimes take them for panic attacks and they work very well.

Hope you manage to deal with your dental visit. Two infected root canals cured me of my phobia .

Thank you very much! I'll ring the receptionist and see what happens. She did say that I can request an earlier appointment in an emergency, but is being a nervous wreck an emergency?

I could try the GP route. I'd rather avoid two infected root canals, which is why I'm going in the first place, and who knows, maybe a nice dentist might cure the phobia. Good point Tiger (although I appreciate that pain might sharpen the enthusiasm for dentistry a little as well).

If things go okay this time, it would clearly be in my interests to stick with it. I just need someone to hold me to that promise. See, I can be rational sometimes

If you have a very bad phobia, it might be a good idea to have your dentist refer you to your local dental hospital for sedation.

I have a friend who is so laid back he's nearly sleeping but is terrified of the dentist.

He now has all his dental work done this way and life is a lot easier for him.

Phobias are irrational and if yours is that bad it might be a way forward for you.

Meanwhile, I do hope your checkup works out well.
I would let them know at the surgery that you are nervous though.

Hi, I'm a dental receptionist. I'd suggest you book an appointment again - in person - then you can meet the staff, share a smile and a chat? I see lots of nervous passengers, don't worry about it, really, you're not the only one. Your first appt doesn't have to be a check up, just have a look around, perhaps sit in the waiting room and watch what goes on?

Great - thank you very much. The control freak in me would like to avoid medication (just for the moment I would like to try knowing what is going on!). But the idea of having a look around isn't one that I had thought of. I might ask if I can pop in sometime, or maybe just call in on the pretext of checking appointment time in order to see the place and talk to the receptionist. She did seem very nice on the phone when I booked (was it you, CVK?!), which is encouraging. Trying to focus on the 'getting fixed this side of Christmas' theme. I will be a VERY happy girl if I can pat myself on the back in a couple of weeks because I went, managed to cope, and got myself sorted. Just knowing that I'm not the only one is nice as well.

I'm in Northumberland, in a nice surgery! Pop in and say hi :)

I hated the dentist for a long time but have found that my new local one is so good with nervous people that, on my last visit when I had a large filling, I kept nodding off in the chair!! He is just so good at making me relaxed. Talk to them - tell them that you are terrified and all will be well. Have no idea how old you are but when I was little, it was in the days of no pain relief so that is why I was frightened. But these days, even if you have a major job to do, you have the pain killing injection and then literally feel nothing more - so that's not really too bad, is it?! Also, a large glass of wine beforehand might help!!