Are you afraid of the dentist?

[zorua9]

since I don't brush my teeth (that often (surprisingly I only got gingervitise or the gum deasis or what ever it is called)) I am scared the dentist will tell me brush my teeth daily, I don't have time in my scheduale to brush my teeth.

I would however, like to get monthly to every 2 months check up.

and I would like to get bracers..... my teeth.... are not aligned properly.

[Twyro]

Wow, I didn't expect so many replies to this topic! I'm impressed!

I see pretty reasonable fears over here, and I can relate too. I was afraid of my wisdom tooth being extracted too, but it wasn't so bad after the anesthesia kicked in.

[georgexu94]

There is nothing to worry about dentists but I still get scared. I hate going to the dentist if there's a major thing to be done if it's just regular check-up then it's alright.

 

Oh, the strange part of me going to the dentist is my mom's one but she no longer practices so she brings us to her friend instead.

[Kursedfire]

Hate them.

 

I grew up in a very small town with no Orthodontist or Dentist for Kms around, so in primary school we had this little Van that would travel to locale towns doing minor work on kids during class for free. I had to get a filling and I suppose the lady behind the drill must have nicked something, or other my gums didn't stop bleeding for about an hr later. Later that day they then removed two teeth, I was bawling my eyes out it hurt so much.

 

A few years later they came back to my school and said later on in life I would have to get braces, but because of my small jaw I had to wait till my jaw stopped growing. When I moved towns (my hometown had no High School so it was move or go to boarding school, no thank you) Due to my horrible jaw alignment I had to get 1 year (I think it was a yr) of manipulative work and 2yrs (I think?) of braces.

 

3yrs (?) and $6000 later my teeth are I admit better, but I still hate going into my 6mth check ups. Doesn't help that I get really stressed before even going there. Just knowing that its coming makes me feel sick. I have to get my mother to skip work just to drive me down because I feel faint. Even though I've been going to them for 3+ yrs, as soon as I smell the office I start sweating, my heart rate rises, I get dizzy etc etc...

 

Anyway I do thank them from fixing my teeth, but if I had a choice I'd never go back again.

[Phenri]

I dislike going to the dentist. It is not exactly comftable nor always a plesant experience. Not because they are rude or anything - my dentists are very nice people - but it's just very unfomctable.

I am not directly afraid of dentist, more the prices they put out. It's so expensive

 

oh yeah.. and that untra-sound-cleaning someone invented is the horror..

Edited February 5, 2015 by Phenri

[ladyvidel]

Yes I am, it's gotten bad enough over the last few years that if I have to go back in anytime soon, part of me wants to make sure I'm really stoned before I go, that way I won't have anxiety issues.

[amillionelephants]

I used to be terrified of the dentist. One time my first dentist kicked me out because I wouldn't let them fill one of my teeth. So then I got a new dentist and I calmed the down. And now I'm completely fine.

[christoman64]

No, I've never been afraid of the dentist. I just close my eyes and relax.

[AppleMango]

I am.

I very much need to go to the dentist, but last time I went the dentist wasn't a nice person.

I can go, but I need to bring my boyfriend, and the dentist needs to be an absolutely lovely person.

[Nine]

As long as it's not Steve Martin, no.

[EclipseDraculine]

Nope! The worst part about going to the dentist for me is the blood-pressure arm-cuff thing. Or sitting in the waiting room bored.

[TCA]

I don't mind the dentist. Ones I've had were always really nice and I've always understood that any pain they inflict isn't to be mean.

 

That said, I wish they would have taken me more seriously when I was a kid getting my teeth pulled and I told them that the painkiller gel doesn't work on me. I'm exceptionally sensitive to pain AND resistant to painkillers, so...

[Ribombee]

I'm terrified of them. Needles and I already have a bad relationship, but shoving them in my gums? *Shudders*

[Eggy0]

I'm not really afraid of dentists per se... But visits to them are generally not very enjoyable because they do things that make my teeth/gums/whatever in my mouth hurt and I have to endure it. :| I rarely ever go to the dentist though since my teeth are (normally) fine all the time... apart from bad breath I tend to have.

[Fawkesian]

Ehh. Not afraid, exactly; it's just generally an unpleasant experience. I'd probably be more scared of that spider in the waiting room - but I'd kill it anyway, just because I don't like to let fear dominate my actions.

 

Like Phenri commented, it's the prices that put a hypothetical bad taste in my mouth more than anything else. Everything's so expensive in this country...

[sparkle10184]

I'm not really *afraid* of the dentist, but I get a little nervous and uncomfortable. I always imagine what if when they're scraping my teeth with the little metal sharp thing, what if their hand slipped... and stabbed my gums. Ouch.

[Rachel72]

I have t been to the dentist in years...

[sh20000sh]

I went dentist several years ago because of cavity, and anesthesia didn't go well so it remains paniful memory.

[Silent_Vampire]

I was in 4th grade the first time I ever went to the dentist. When you're that young and stressed who's the first people you go to with problems like that. I was nervous and went to my friends. Now everyone I knew had braces, everyone. I had heard everything from my friends about how they hurt and what not so I was scared.

 

So I go to the dentist and what happens? Braces? No, I end up having to have surgery to remove some teeth get crowns and such.

 

At least now I have the straightest most beautiful teeth you have ever seen. LOL Even though I know I won't have to go again for surgery I still get scared. It's a scary place the dentist office.

[Leidarendi]

I hate when they stab your gums repeatedly with that metal spike and then snark that "your gums are bleeding." Yeah, thanks for that.

 

[Yamato_K]

I have been to the dentist so many times as a child that it has ceased to bother me much.

Though there are incidents that make me a bit more uncomfortable.

Last year was the first time in 5 years that I had seen a dentist.

I was nervous and thought they'd have to remove a few teeth, but I was worried for nothing. Only two cavities and a few teeth to watch as they were developing small cavities. There was one major problem though. I still have my wisdom teeth. At my age they are causing me some problems and are severely impacted (one is resting on a nerve). Those I can say I'm a bit afraid to deal with, but I was a fool for putting it off for so long. Get them out when you're young. It will be much easier for you in the end.

[Puella-Magi]

Nope. I've gone to multiple dentists over the years, and have never had a bad experience. One even had PlayStations in his facility for kids to play while waiting for their procedure!

 

Now doctors, on the other hand: while I know it's for my own good, I'm still very shy about check-ups. I'll probably pass out when I go to see a gynecologist, regardless of what gender the doctor is...

Edited February 19, 2015 by Puella-Magi

[TraheCreations]

I don't like any doctors, Dentists included. Sadly for the Dentists they are the only ones 'dumb' enough to stick their hands in my mouth. I have bitten over 15 dentists to date. And had more sedate me before seeing me after hearing my bity history. I don't trust anyone who can do something to me and I can't defend against it. And I will if I feel I am being attacked.

[MessengerDragon]

There seem to bee people wondering why people are afraid of them, and thinking that it must just be people who had surgery/terrible experiences. Well it's not. Here are plenty of reasons why many people who've had no problems can still be nervous/scared/terrified of dentists:

 

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Firstly, when someone has their hands (and sharp metal things!) in your mouth, the only way you can defend against anything that could happen is to bite, which would be even more painful, since it would push whatever caused the original pain in even further. So, really, no way to stop anything - you are pretty much completely at the dentist's mercy, all you can do is hope they are trustworthy enough.

 

Second, standard dental tools include sharp metal things. Can you really expect people to be completely at ease with things like that being used on the inside of their mouth?

 

Third, your mouth is what you use to eat and to speak. And then there's your throat which is needed for breathing. Therefore, any damage that could possibly be caused by the dentist is likely to be painful and impeding. Having difficulty breathing, eating and talking is not a prospect that makes people feel calm, no matter what the dentist is like.

 

Fourth, many/(as far as I have seen)most dentists aren't that gentle with their pointy metal instruments. They will scratch hard, so much that the gums are often sore, even occasionally bleeding, after their treatment. As Diana Wynne Jones phrased it,

After banging and scraping around Christopher's teeth as if he was trying to make them all fall out, [..]

This unfortunately seems to be the case all to often. As I have discovered, there are occasionally dentists who are careful, and mainly painless, when they scrape of everything that has collected on the teeth. However, I met a dentist of the better sort only after multiple other dentists, all of whom were pretty well described by that quote. Most dentists tend to be mediocre, when a good dentist is what is required to actually give people a good experience. The mediocre ones, while doing the job, make the inside of your mouth hurt, and you can't do much but endure it. Sure, ther will be lucky people who find a good dentist first try, who might not even know that not all are like that. But there are also people who have no idea that better dentists exist, or are too afraid to try and find one for fear of getting an even worse dentist. Since it so happens that the only way to find out if the dentist really is good is to let them work on you. Which, in the case of not-so-careful dentists, doesn't sound too appealing.

 

Fifth, there are people who feel as if their teeth aren't that strong/clean, and worry about what the dentist will do to them. Considering that a dentist saying "hmm..." can be interpreted as either thinking, or seeing something bad, and that some dentists blow dangers all out of proportion while others try to calm the patient by saying 'all's good' as long as they possibly can even if things are bad, people will get scared of whatever they think the dentist found, whatever is said to them.

 

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I'm sure there are other things that I forgot to mention, but I believe I covered most of the important ones. Please forgive the grammar, as well as the repeated use of the phrase 'sharp pointy things', but things about dentists make me nervous, and my writing quality drops. (It also doesn't make me feel like re-reading and getting nervous and uncomfortable again just to make sure I don't have any overly long sentences.)

 

Of course, I probably am generalising, I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, of places where most dentists are good, of people who fear dentists for no real reason, but this post is about reasons I know that cause fear. Please don't comment complaining that I'm over-generalising, I've tried to avoid that as best as I can.

 

~MD.

[BlackMagicRose]

I get more nervous about what they are going to do to me. Like wanting to do a root canal and I opted to just have the tooth pulled instead since it fractured a couple places. So it's not really fear for me it is more nerves....