Phobic and panicking!!

Yes. My childhood dentist drilled and filled at every appointment. It's a wonder I haven't got mercury poisoning. The smell and the drill that was worked by a foot pump!! As a consequence my previously filled teeth are now falling apart and I'm too old (or mean) to consider paying the enormous amounts for implants

I feel your pain,I always ask for gel to be put on my gums first so I can't feel the injection, Funnily enough I was there yesterday having the first half of root canal treatment, I remember the gas mask at the dentist it was horrendous I hardly told my mum I had toothache when younger cos I couldn't face the mask,in fact it left such a horrible impression on me I refused the gas n air when having my daughter and had to give birth without any pain relief.
I hope everything goes well for you and you get the treatment you need soon.

Granmarderby10

The blame for dentist phobia lies firmly at the feet of those vile old school dentist clinics that most kids were sent to. The untold damage both physical and psychological.
Why our parents allowed it ? It has been pointed out many times that “in those days” parents rarely questioned health care professionals … Ha!

My experiences were in the early 1960s and 1970s but since then no sympathy or empathy has been shown or offers made to help “victims” - yes really - by the modern health service.

I was also a victim of the awful school dentist. Very cruel people. I remember being 13 or 14 and going there straight after school on my own and the torturer, who paraded as a dentist, was drilling with no anesthetic and I had to pull the drill out of my mouth to make her stop. She was very angry. I can't remember what happened after that but I know I have ended up with almost every back tooth filled and even some nerves removed. When my new dentist asked why, I replied that I had no idea. I didn't even know the torturer had removed nerves. I remember that dentists got paid per filling so many of my generation experienced fillings for no apparent reason and no anaesthetic either. Must have been to save money. Barbaric.

Some excellent posts here, very helpful, but although it’s no help I have to say that I’m angry with your husband.

Azalea99

Some excellent posts here, very helpful, but although it’s no help I have to say that I’m angry with your husband.

Yes, some reassurance.
I think he means i need to face up to it, it's got to be done sort of thing
Obv i know this, but it doesnt stop me being scared

I’m 74 and my family insisted on bringing me here to Fuengirola for dental treatment. I had all the butchers starting aged 10 at a village school with unnecessary removal of a perfectly good tooth with the gas mask. Terrible experience of wisdom teeth removed by private dentists who couldn’t cope as they were impacted. All my friends in the 70’s went to hospital for two weeks and were put asleep to remove all wisdom teeth whilst I covered for their jobs in the square mile, also known as the City in London. Why wasn’t I offered this treatment?
So here we are in Fuengirola against my wishes. Recently I lost my bottom two teeth. Time has meant the gums moving closer so I only require one implant. Looking like a rabbit stuck in headlights I sat in the dentist waiting room checking my resting heart rate. When I was called in I was so stressed and scared I could barely walk and was frightened to fall on the hard marble. Worse still I lost my hearing totally from the stress. I had an interpreter which I appreciated but I speak Spanish and none of it helped as I couldn’t hear anything. The dentist was Mexican with a very strong handshake. Looked about 45. Couldn’t speak English. Not a problem for me. I had a round the head X-ray and as expected it was very uncomfortable because of a bottom tooth infection the dentist told me about. When I bit on the thing required for two minutes it hurt. How can anyone sail through a dentist appointment?
I didn’t choose to come as have no toothache. Can’t eat peanuts anymore but that’s sad but OK.
Family forced me to do this but I didn’t cave in. Dentist told me despite my not visiting a dentist for 10 years I really only need a couple of fillings to ensure my top teeth don’t deteriorate.
I need time to think.
I’ve used Paul McKenna in the past for weight control. It worked a treat. So will definitely consider. I feel for us all treated badly by dentists.

I've been terrified of dentists all my life too (after treatment aged 7 by a dentist I was convinced was Hitler and about to gas me!)
I now have a lovely private dentist, who treats me like someone with half a brain, and if he says it won't hurt, it won't! He explains everything thoroughly.
I had a tooth out a couple of weeks ago and am proud to say that I did it without being fully sedated. I think you'd be surprised what modern anaesthetics can do.
Goid luck

Narnia

That's reassuring, unfortunately i have no choice in location. My own dentist doesn't offer sedation. I have tried private and they have criteria also on bmi.
Not that I'm very overweight, but deemed to have a higher bmi than they like.
So I've been referred to the local maxillofacial dept of a local hospital.
This also makes the whole thing seem more daunting as i won't know anyone.

I went to maxiofacial at my hospital by choice in the end.
I felt that if anything were to go wrong at least I had A&E available!
It was over pretty quickly.

Thinking of you.

I had to have all except 3 teeth out last year and due to dental phobia was offered IV sedation. My dentist was very good and understanding from the start (I hadn't been to a dentist for about 15 years due to the intense fear), and the sedationist very reassuring as well. I had a job getting up the stairs to the surgery room, my legs were so weak with fear. It was a long surgery - booked as 2 hours of sedation though in actual fact was about 1.5 hours. I drifted in and out, was aware of some of what was going on and do remember parts of it, particularly as the sedation began to wear off towards the end of the process, but certainly could not have gone through it without being sedated.
Wishing you all the best with it, there's so many of us with you, you're not alone, even if we can't physically be there.
Have a nice treat planned for yourself for a couple of days later, when you are feeling better, and focus on something positive while the sedation takes effect.

I had a major dentist phobia until, and this is really weird, I had my first son! I had a horrendously long and painful labour and it took me a long time to get over it. So when toothache was driving me insane and I finally got to the dentist I made myself think about the labour I’d gone through and suddenly it didn’t seem too bad … Still had to have sedation a couple of times but no longer dentist phobic. BTW I am not suggesting you get pregnant to get over going to the dentist!

Liz13

I had a major dentist phobia until, and this is really weird, I had my first son! I had a horrendously long and painful labour and it took me a long time to get over it. So when toothache was driving me insane and I finally got to the dentist I made myself think about the labour I’d gone through and suddenly it didn’t seem too bad … Still had to have sedation a couple of times but no longer dentist phobic. BTW I am not suggesting you get pregnant to get over going to the dentist!

That's never happening 😂

When I was about 10 my mother sent me to a Polish dentist who was "good with children". She started drilling and said "If you move this drill will go right through your cheek" Need I say more? I didn't say anything at home because I would just have been told not to be silly.

Now, at the age of 79 I actually have a lovely African dentist who has given me so much confidence that I hardly worry at all now.

My mum had a camera down her throat to look for stomach cancer. She had sedation in hospital and I visited her a few hours after. She genuinely didn't even know she had it done and thought she was just waking up from a nap. Thankfully no cancer was found.
I doubt you will have any memory of this dental treatment as sedation almost puts you out.