Whos afraid of the big bad dentist

I used to hate the dentist, and didn't go once I came out of the RN until a wisdom tooth started to grow out of the roof of my mouth so I then had no choice. I went to a local private dentist and she is just brilliant - the practice has won loads of national awards and they specialise in treating nervous patients. I now go every six months and although I might not look forward to going, I don't object either. Finding the right dentist is SO important!
 
I think it is probably my only phobia! Last time I went it took 4 injections for her to get the right area numbed... spent the next 24 hours chewing the inside of my mouth off
 
I don't understand fear of the dentist. If you go for a checkup and there is nothing other than a scale and polish needed, then there is no pain. If you have toothache then, in my opinion, that pain is far worse than anything you will feel at the dentist, and it will only get worse if you don't do anything about it.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
I don't understand fear of the dentist. If you go for a checkup and there is nothing other than a scale and polish needed, then there is no pain. If you have toothache then, in my opinion, that pain is far worse than anything you will feel at the dentist, and it will only get worse if you don't do anything about it.

Dave
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There speaks a man who has not been traumatised by the school dentist who used to pull fillings out so they needed to be redone without anaesthetic. It is amazing how much pain you will put up rather than endure that again.

It took me 14 years (and to be in agony for months) before I was forced to go back.

Things are very different now than they were in the sixties and seventies in my experience!


Heather
 
Tigger.ufo said:
There speaks a man who has not been traumatised by the school dentist who used to pull fillings out so they needed to be redone without anaesthetic. It is amazing how much pain you will put up rather than endure that again.

It took me 14 years (and to be in agony for months) before I was forced to go back.

Things are very different now than they were in the sixties and seventies in my experience!

Heather
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Yeah, that was pretty much my experience too, although it probably dates from the early 60s. The school dentist had rooms above the main street in Stirling,and he was a butcher. The last time I saw him was for an extraction, when I must have been about 8. The gas wasn't taking effect, and the anaesthetist clamped the mask over my face and held it hard. I can still recall having some sort of panic attack, because I couldn't breathe. The next thing I remember was my old man holding me and saying we were going home. He took me to a private dentist who was better but not great.

Fear of pain is often worse than the reality, and I don't think it's any coincidence that inflicting dental pain was used in torture, from at least the Tudor period. There was a particularly nasty device known as "The Brakes" (period spelling, you can work the rest out for yourself!), and I've heard that this sort of thing persisted right into the Vietnam era and beyond in some places. Most people are more comfortable with doctors, even though they can give you more devastating news, but I've never really understood why anyone would want to be a dentist.............
 
My Dentist is scared of me.
 
I well remember dentists in the 50s and 60s - fillings done without anaesthetic, and when anaesthetic was used it was gas, rather than injection. But that was then, things are so much better now.

Dave
 
I'm not bothered about dentists in any way shape or form. I've had loads of dental work, had teeth pulled without any anaesthetic, had teeth ground down for crowns without any also. At one stage when I did have anaesthetic I had 3 teeth out in a row and then had the gum sewn up and I had to go to the orthodontist at hospital to have a wisdom tooth out. It had only slightly come through the gum and was giving me abscesses frequently, my dentist wouldn't touch it and said I would need to be put under for it to come out. I saw the orthodontist and they had it out in 5 minutes flat with a quick injection and a good tug.

My most laid back moment in a dentist chair has to be when I fell asleep while having fillings put in, only the white ones though that didn't need much drilling, but I scared the dentist cause he thought I'd passed out but then I started snoring so he realised. I've not seen a dentist for a while now but I recently broke my dental plate so a visit is in order sooner rather than later.
 
Had my 3rd set of extractions this morning - thankfully the last for a while! Just some fillings left to do now to repair the damage done by neglect while I was ill. Unfortunately, the illness also cause me to miss too many appointments at the NHS dentist I was with so I got dropped from their list, meaning I'm now having to go private. :(
 
As i posted earlier in this thread i have been suffering for months (and i mean 12 months) with a problem with one of my teeth i finally plucked up courage to go to a dentist on Tuesday, i was absolutely terrified when on examining my teeth he said 'yeah that wisdom tooth needs to come out, i'll do it now' every fibre of my being wanted to get up and run outside, but, i stayed and after the anaesthetic kicked in he pulled it out painlessly in less than 30 seconds lol.

This tooth that had taken over my life for 12 months, was removed in less than 30 seconds, it was over, i wanted to kiss him but thankfully i showed restraint lol

Afterwards he showed me the tooth and it was completely split in half apart from a couple of millimetres at the bottom, no wonder i was in pain, i'm off out now for a few pints to celebrate :D

On a side note, i don't have a regular dentist, and i can't find one round here who will take me on as a new patient, so i go to the in store dentists at my local Sainsbury's it's a BUPA dentist and it cost £98 to have it out, but worth every penny.
 
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I had a bad experience when I was very young involving having gas. Later I had another painful incident with a dentist that did a filling without anaesthesia. Since then I am always up front with Dentists and do a simple deal with them. You hurt me and I will hurt you. They always smile as they think I am joking :thinking:. I am not and the look on my face usually convinces them. I have had some serious work done in the past few years (bridge and four teeth removed) and not a bit of pain.
 
I am terrified of dentists, when I was a kid our local butcher was stopped from practicing as an NHS dentist for doing unnecessary work, and I have a small part of my jaw missing from anothers attemps at taking a tooth out.
I will not go now unless I am sedated, and I still have to be dragged kicking and screaming :)
 
I was OK with dentists, until one guy had to give me about 8 injections before the area went numb, and then last year, another guy wanted to give me a temporary filling WITHOUT any injections - until I objected.
He gave me an injections, and when I got home, the temporary filling had somehow gone!!!!!
 
Bad experiences as a child, gums ripped with the metal tools, bad extractions, etc, I hated the dentist then and I still don't like them now - if I have to go I have to be driven there by my partner because she knows that if it's left to me I'll go somewhere else to purposefully miss the appointment, although the current dentist I have is very understanding and will stop the second I start to get stressed - but he's still a dentist and hence, evil.

andy700 said:
I was OK with dentists, until one guy had to give me about 8 injections before the area went numb, and then last year, another guy wanted to give me a temporary filling WITHOUT any injections - until I objected.
He gave me an injections, and when I got home, the temporary filling had somehow gone!!!!!
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That was definitely a temporary filling then.
 
Went for my regular check up last week, albeit I only go once a year now, instead of every six months. Everything in good order (been that way for several years now :)). Had them cleaned and polished, then left £52 lighter.

Dave
 
DaveS2 said:
Went for my regular check up last week, albeit I only go once a year now, instead of every six months. Everything in good order (been that way for several years now :)). Had them cleaned and polished, then left £52 lighter.

Dave
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I think you got off pretty light mate.
 
Yep :), but my wife didn't, as she has to go back for a filling (circa £95) :D

BTW, our Dentist went private years ago :(

Dave
 
terrified - not been in 24 years - have my own stuff and take the DIY approach
 
colda said:
terrified - not been in 24 years
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Its all in the mind :)

When I was young, the dentist's drill was mechanical, driven by belts and pulleys, and slow, Not nice :(

Now they are air driven, very fast, and not at all uncomfortable. No big deal :)

Dave
 
Dentists have never bothered me. The only unpleasant thing I've had done was when I needed a front tooth crowned, the injection into the gum always hurt at the front. Only a bit of pain though. I almost fell asleep last time I was at the dentist having my teeth cleaned.
 
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