Dentists

[B00]

I've got an apointment at my local dentist for the first time later today after moving from one miles away.

I'm only going for a check up seeing as its my first time there, but to put it mildly im bricking it already, sweaty palms and everything (I'm such a baby)

Anyhoo...

Can you tell the dentist "look, unless my teeth are in danger of literally falling out my gob, im not having owt done" ? Or is that not the done thing to do? I'm only going really to 'keep on the books' so to speak.

[B00]

Thanks douglas. Yes i know im being irrational, and that it's better in the long run. Though i have to be honest I tend to refuse the scale and polish bit too, not that it hurts (it's just uncomfortable) it's just that I want to get the hell away from them ASAP.

[Bbbananas]

I almost picked the same avatar as you have now Boo - so cute!

My childbirths were dreadful - quick but horrendous. I would rather have teeth extracted than go through another birth. We're all different. (At least with childbirth you have something nice and lovely at the end of it. With teeth extractions you just look gummy and divvy...)

[B00]

oh c'mon craft- scared of me? look at this post for heavens sake, im reduced to a blubbering wreak by a dentist!

[joannie10]

I have a lovely dentist who has changed my whole opinion of dentists and I feel absolutely fine going. What is it you are afraid of? I told my dentist from my first visit that I was scared and now she talks through everything she does and totally has me relaxed. I have had quite a bit of treatment (some now even voluntary) as dentist equipment is so advanced now that there is no pain or anything envolved. My sister was the same (we had a bad dentist as children) and she has just text me as just been for a crown - I had text how was she (knowing how worried she had been) her response 'absolutely fine'!!

[andy-hughes]

Actually - as any dentist phobic will tell you, plain is not the issue.

My phobia had nothing to do with the fact that my dentist might hurt me - he very rarely does, and i accept that as part and parcel of treatment anyway.

No, it's the entire sensation of having things stuck into your mouth while you feel helpless andf imobilised - that is what matters.

Even now, I intensely hate brushing my teeth - but i put myself through it twice a day. If I see someone on TV or film brushing their teeth, i will mute the TV and turn away, or simply cringe at the cinema until it's over - that aspect of my phobia remains.

So no the 'it won't hurt ...' argument is utterly redundant.

[annie0000]

I was so scared of the dentist that I didn't go from when I was 15 until I was 35. I then thought that as I had had 2 kids then surely I could cope with the dentist. Was nervous as heck the first few visits, but absolutely fine now - quite happy to go - and show a good example to the kids.

[Sqad]

Andy........I was going to question you on the difference between a fear of something and a phobia.......as you had mentioned this previously in this thread.

Your description is that of a true phobia.

[andy-hughes]

Indeed sqad - that is what I had, and what Boo has now - so as I said, rationalising is pointless - Boo and i could do that ourselves, if it worked!

Anyway, I have just come back - forty minutes' treatment, sixty-quid lighter, and feeling like a hamster, and talking like David Jacobs / Rula Lenska / Richard Briars / John Craven, and Margaret Thatcher!

At leasy my wobbly speech is only temporary!!!

[B00]

oh you're so lucky, you've got it over and done with. Mine's still to come :-(

[ladybird49]

Good luck Boo , hope you dont need anything doing , i too am scared $hitless at the dentist, xx

[B00]

Ta Ladybird. My clammy hands have got clammier the closer it's getting, im so pathetic, lol.

[DEN53]

B00 - I feel your pain {:0 ( - My Dentist is lovely, but I am still a quivering wreck come the day of my appointment. I have had every procedure there is to have except implants, so I am well seasoned Dentist phobic. You are not alone. x

[ladybird49]

Be brave ! easier said than done i know but itl soon be over , try to concentrate on a time that your check up will be over , eg 10mins and itl fly by , if i lived near you id accompany you even though id be woozy with the thought .....lol xx

[tamborine]

try Mind over Matter....pinch your leg hard while dentist works - that blocks dental fear for me. Pinching yourself is controlled pain that your brain will concentrate on.

[andy-hughes]

I have learned to breathe very slowly and deeply, and think of someone that I find gorgeous to look at, and picture them.

So today, while breathing deepy, I imagined a seriously close-up vision of Halle Berry's tuimmy - I was fine after that ...

[B00]

awww ladybird, that's so nice! Thank you :-)

Tambo and Den (as well as everyone else) it really is nice to know im not the only one who feels a total wuss about a dentist trip.

[DEN53]

If I have teeth out, I always pay to be sedated. Its quite expensive, but worth it.

Trouble is, you are not in control in what you are saying apparently. I once came home with a handbag full of extracted teeth..............it turns out I was shouting 'I want to take my teeth home' they said it was not allowed, to which I shouted 'fill my fecking bag up with teeth' - so they did (:0 (

[B00]

At my old dentist Andy, they used to have the radio playing in the background, so i'd try to listen and concentrate on that.

As this is my first trip to a new dentist, im not sure if they have a radio on or not.

[andy-hughes]

Mine does too Boo, but it's strictly background, and when he's drilling, i can't hear it, so i rely on my visual imagination instead - and Halle was right there smiling at me in her orange bikini.

[DEN53]

My Dentist has a 50" Plasma TV in each treatment room - usually playing some tunes from a music channel, but to be honest there could be a live floor show and I still would be pooing my pants with fear {:0 (