Dentist Fail
In an effort to get over this irrational fear of dentists ... I've been scheduling more appointments to do little things without the usual crutch of outright sedation. A cavity here .. a filling replacement there ... there's a lot of work that still needs to be done to fix all the shoddy work I've had done by dentists who just rushed me through a visit to get the phobic who is a great big ball of panic out of their chair - so there's plenty of opportunity for me to face this fear and beat it to death with willpower.
Today - had phase one of a "deep cleaning" done. This is where they numb up half your face and take that little metal torture device and shred your gums in an effort to rip all the plaque off your teeth well below the gum line. I would call this visit a fail. The cleaning itself wasn't so terrible - but the shots ... ugh. A total of 8 shots of novacaine. The gal numbed up my sinuses, my nose, my ear - and a handful of teeth .. but had some difficulty actually numbing up the gums like she's supposed to because she couldn't find the nerve that actually connected to my gums. And, when she finally found it - we discovered that I apparently metabolize that crap exponentially faster than the average person, so the numbing didn't last overly long. It's been less than an hour and I'm completely fine.
Note - that was 8 shots she gave me. And that cleaning - yea, it hurt like hell.
The hygenist was very cool and very patient with me. I sat in the chair shaking so badly I couldn't even straighten the stupid bib they put on. Hell, I'm sitting at my keyboard typing and I'm still shaking. It's downright rediculous. I think I'm probably one of the worst patients at that clinic. A 30-something should not be so afraid of a dentist that she is a ball of panic from the moment she turns off the car in the parking lot.
I really want to get over this fear .. and the desensitizing practice of throwing myself into the very sitation that causes me to react doesn't seem to be working. She "highly" suggested that I take the gas at the next visit in two weeks when they do the other half. In other words - she's about at the end of her patience with me.
I'm officially at a loss of how to deal with this phobia. I want to be done with it. I have been taking baby steps to desensitize myself to the situation and it only seems to be making it worse. Sure - I can get through an office visit - but I'm an absolute wreck before during and after.
Help. Advice. Anything aside from having to pay them $300 for sedation every time I walk through that door.
Today - had phase one of a "deep cleaning" done. This is where they numb up half your face and take that little metal torture device and shred your gums in an effort to rip all the plaque off your teeth well below the gum line. I would call this visit a fail. The cleaning itself wasn't so terrible - but the shots ... ugh. A total of 8 shots of novacaine. The gal numbed up my sinuses, my nose, my ear - and a handful of teeth .. but had some difficulty actually numbing up the gums like she's supposed to because she couldn't find the nerve that actually connected to my gums. And, when she finally found it - we discovered that I apparently metabolize that crap exponentially faster than the average person, so the numbing didn't last overly long. It's been less than an hour and I'm completely fine.
Note - that was 8 shots she gave me. And that cleaning - yea, it hurt like hell.
The hygenist was very cool and very patient with me. I sat in the chair shaking so badly I couldn't even straighten the stupid bib they put on. Hell, I'm sitting at my keyboard typing and I'm still shaking. It's downright rediculous. I think I'm probably one of the worst patients at that clinic. A 30-something should not be so afraid of a dentist that she is a ball of panic from the moment she turns off the car in the parking lot.
I really want to get over this fear .. and the desensitizing practice of throwing myself into the very sitation that causes me to react doesn't seem to be working. She "highly" suggested that I take the gas at the next visit in two weeks when they do the other half. In other words - she's about at the end of her patience with me.
I'm officially at a loss of how to deal with this phobia. I want to be done with it. I have been taking baby steps to desensitize myself to the situation and it only seems to be making it worse. Sure - I can get through an office visit - but I'm an absolute wreck before during and after.
Help. Advice. Anything aside from having to pay them $300 for sedation every time I walk through that door.