I hate dentists

[trixtah]

I have big issues about getting pap smears done, but I don't think that's so unusual. But I loathe loathe loathe going to the dentist even worse.

Part of the problem I have with that problem is that it's irrational. I have precisely two fillings, which I got nearly twenty years ago. My wisdom teeth haven't come through at all (no laughing in the cheap seats!), so I don't have any horror tales about getting them extracted. It's not even as if I have a full-blown phobia, which would make it somewhat excusable.

There are are some things I can identify as being particularly icky for me. One is that I'm stuck in a place I can't move from. I immensely dislike having to "open wide" and have people shove things into my mouth. (ah. eureka.) Also, that scraping they do to get off the gritty stuff erodes my last nerve.

[...See, this is the nice thing about l/j - one can set down all one's most stupid thoughts, and sometimes, sometimes, there is illumination from it. So, there you go, after my entire lifetime, I finally get to the root of what bugs me about dentists. Interesting. But it's ancient history I don't need to blurb about here.]

On the more prosaic front, I got the hygenist telling me I could get braces. Like hell. My front teeth are straight, they all function, why bother? Also, the dentist reckons I must grind my teeth? Odd. I don't think I clench them that much, and I'm fairly sure I don't grind them in my sleep. I'm positive I would have been informed by interested parties by now if I did so. Will have to think on that one.

Still, all clean and shiny now, until the next time I can work up the fortitude to visit.

Comments

[shangchi.livejournal.com]

I know just how you feel. I really do.

[buddleia.livejournal.com]

I think most people have to overcome a lot of self-protective impulses in order to let someone rummage around inside their mouths. It's just a question of degree. If I hold a pen in my teeth for a minute I feel my gag reflex threatening. Even though it's nowhere near my throat.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Oogh, yes, my gag reflex isn't of the best either. Funny how that works, isn't it?

The whole issue is just something I feel like I should be better about as I get older. Hey, I even get pap smears now. Occasionally. :-)

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

For me, it's definitely not being able to move and someone else controlling metal stuff inside my mouth.

And unless your interested parties sleep very lightly, don't expect them to have noticed if you do grind your teeth in your sleep. James grinds his teeth to the point of getting a guard (which he's wearing out) and I didn't notice.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

I really don't think there's much middle ground with the not being able to move thing - it's either fine, or not-so.

That's interesting with the grinding. I did have a girlfriend who ground her teeth, but that was quite audible. Hell, it was like someone scraping a blackboard with their fingernails right next to me. But I'm sure it's possible to do more subtely. The funny thing is that no dentist has mentioned it before, but maybe it's just gotten observable in the last three years... Well, I'll see what it's like at my next checkup before I start freaking. :-)

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I qualify as having a full-on phobia about the dentist, but if not, it's somewhere in that realm, and it doesn't really make me feel like any less of an idiot. :/ I finally did get a fantastic dentist who was willing to do what it took to make it work for me. All the other dentists would say, "Oh, no, my hygienist is great, I'll go very slowly, you'll be fine. Just give it a try." This usually ended with me in tears and in full-on panic mode, and the hygienist screaming at me, which didn't make it easier to get me to go again. I ended up from about ten years old until about 30 years old not having a single successful dental checkup. (It's fortunate that I have very good oral hygiene otherwise.) Every few years, I would decide to give it another go because It's Important(tm), with more or less the same results.

The dentist I'm with now basically said, "Okay, let's assume that you've thoroughly proven that that road isn't worth even trying and we'll skip right over even attempting that and move right to the drugs." He now tokes me up on nitrous until it becomes okay for me, and that works (for me -- it doesn't work for everyone). But even some of his experiments have gone awry. For a little while he said that probably once I'd had a few good visits we could start easing back on the nitrous and I'd get over my fears gradually, but that proved disastrous (and if anything, I need even heavier doses now because of those experiences). But for the most part, it works. I do cancel about 50% of my appointments, though. If there's anything else stressful at all that's going on my life at the time, it's a total no-go. Also, any change in plan or unexpectedness will throw me. Like, last time okoshun accidentally said, "Ready for the checkup tomorrow?" on a Monday when the checkup wasn't until Friday. The suddenness and unexpectedness of it jarred me so much I couldn't go, even once we got it sorted out.

I even know what the root causes are (or at least, I suspect I do), and they're entirely psychological, but that knowledge doesn't seem to help much.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a phobia to me. Poor you. It's great that they skip to the nitrous straight away now - it's such a waste of time trying to get people to tough that kind of thing out.

Regarding the anticipation problem, are you at all interested in homeopathy? Because there're a number of remedies which might help there. One I'm thinking of in particular is Argentum Nitricum (http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/alt/argentum_nitricum_faq.htm) (silver nitrate) - there is the thing about playing stuff over in your head, and not being able to deal if the scenario is switched around in some way.

Still, I'm glad that when you get in there now, it's better managed. It makes my thing trivial by comparison, but I can certainly empathise with how stressful it is. Ick.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

It's something I may look into at some point, and thanks for the link. :) My friend svala_lj (good local friend who lives a few doors away) is very good about recommending things like that if we appear receptive; she's studying to become a naturopathic doctor and has in the course of that studied homeopathy. I'm still kind of on the fence about the whole thing myself.

The solution is working okay for the most part, aside from the times when I feel I need to bail as mentioned. The nitrous provides some other benefits in a controlled fashion, too. It puts me in a different mental state at a time when I have nothing else to do but sit there and mull things. Because it seems to help tone down a lot of my negative thought processes (guilt, bad self-image, etc.), I often get some useful mulling done if I'm under deeply enough to not be focused on what's going on.

[filkferengi]

I got lots of fillings as a child from a dentist that, in retrospect, was probably bad. It set up expectations that resonate to this day. For example, I tend to distrust the new dentist because, when I go in for a cleaning, it doesn't hurt enough. How do you know your teeth have been cleaned, if you don't see the blood? Otoh, a mild pain kink has interesting social ramifications. [weg]

I will say, yay for latex gloves. They should come in mint and/or chocolate flavors, though.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Well, there you go. Pain is just painful to me, and I hate the buggers when blood is going everywhere and they do that horrific scrapy thing. With latex gloves, it's probably just as well they don't come in nice flavours - you might be tempted to chew on them, and the poor dentist might get a little freaked. ;-)

[filkferengi]

That, or he'd get turned-on, which would seriously freak *me*. ;)

[trystan777.livejournal.com]

If your wisdom teeth haven't come through yet, they may be impacted, or become impacted in the future. Then you will get your horror story extraction.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'm 38 and they haven't moved at all since I was 20 or so, so I'm not holding my breath there. :-)