The dentist: a sensory nightmare

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I only go to the dentist if I'm in agony and need a tooth pulled. I can't stand going. It makes me anxious and I don't like people messing around in my mouth. I've never even had my teeth cleaned or had a filling.

I hate doctors in general because I hate being touched.

They hate me too because I physically resist their ministrations.

As for the dentist, people shoving their fingers and metal tools in my mouth causes my gag reflex to be on hyperdrive. I almost always come very close to barfing on the dentist.

Don't even get me started on the horrors of the OBGYN............

Sedation dentistry works wonders.

I hate that even worse than the dentist, not just because it is embarrassing but it's also painful. At least the dentist tries to give you something for the pain. I've had 2 pelvic exams this year and have to have another one in a little over a week and also had a colposcopy because I have cervical cancer. Now my doctor want me to do radiation and if it's internal that's even more misery and if they want me to use dilators I just might have to refuse.

One time I needed 4 teeth pulled and at first they were talking about knocking me out and doing them all at once but then they didn't and only did 1 per visit.

My problem with the dentist isn't so much sensory, it's fear of pain. It never really hurts, but I'm always terrified it's going to. There is so much potential for that in there. I also had a horrible, horrible first dentist.

I wasn't taken to the dentist until I was in 4th grade. I also wasn't made to brush my teeth very often. The first time I went, my grandmother took me. After the exam they said I had 17 cavities and asked me why I didn't brush. I told them the truth. At the time I didn't have a toothbrush. They asked where I kept my toothbrush and I told them the truth. By the kitchen sink. They asked why I don't have one now and I said it got dirty with all the garbage piled on the counter. They asked if my mother and grandmother made me brush my teeth and again I told the truth. No, they didn't.

Well, they brought my grandmother back there and told her the amount of cavities I had and she was shocked. She gave me a horrible look that I guess was meant to convey to the dentist her "disapproval" in my lack of oral hygeine. They told her the answers I had given them and she told them I was lying. I understand now that she didn't want to be judged for not doing something she knew she should have been doing, but she could have at least explained to me before I went that normal people brush at least once a day, a toothbrush is kept in the bathroom, kids sometimes lie to their parents and say they brushed when they didn't, and if I had cavities would I please give them that particular story. Cause I would have been fine with doing that and remembered the whole story and actually thought of it as a type of adventure with me being the "secret agent" lying to the Russians to save America or something. (Hey, I was in 4th grade!)

Anyway, that got me a reputation with the dentist as a trouble patient and a liar and back then pediatric dentists weren't so all sweet and gentle and caring as they are now. Back then they told you off like you were their own kid, and this one was sadistic and was pretty rough with me and I don't think I got enough novicain because he always hurt me. He's the only one that ever did though. Later on I found out that he was that way with other kids too. Because I had brought the cavities on myself and then tried to blame my poor grandmother for it, I could stand a little pain to "teach me a lesson". He would even tell me when I yelled that if I would have brushed then he wouldn't have to be drilling in my teeth. I was terrified of him and my grandmother was too mad about the whole thing to care, even during the months afterward when I would have to go see him every week to get one or two more fillings.

His nurse was his wife and she was a douche to kids. When she cleaned my teeth the first time she put the pick right in front of my eyes and showed me "that nasty stuff I'm scraping off your teeth because you won't brush them" and actually said that at their office they put the stuff they scrape off on crackers and make kids who don't brush eat it when they are done cleaning their teeth. She went so far as to call one of the office girls to "Go get me those crackers, I'm almost done here". By this time I was crying and promising to brush my teeth every day. I don't know if she meant to be mean, but I felt like she was. She was probably just trying to scare me with something gross because she was fairly gentle with me when she was working on me.

From then on I've been terrified of the dentist. Even about 15 years ago in Bham when the dentist I started going to was a friend of ours we saw socially that I only found out a couple weeks after we started hanging out with him and his wife that he was a dentist. Ray wouldn't hurt me. He knew of my fear and was a friend and I trusted him completely until I got in that chair. He was very careful and very gentle. He just asked that I please keep my eyes closed while he was working on me because I was freaking him out staring at him with huge terror filled eyes. He could say that to me cause we were friends. He knew the dentist from my childhood. He grew up in Midfield and I grew up in West End and that one dentist was the only pediatric dentist in the Western Section at the time, so he had gone to him too. He said a lot of that guys old patients have fears.

But, thats why I hate the dentist. I don't mind them talking to each other or anything. I just don't like the fear of potential pain. I'm also very ashamed of my teeth because when I was little, before my permenant teeth came in, my mother was always afraid I was getting pneumonia anytime I sneezed, and being a nurse, and being a nurse that worked in administration and friends with lots of docs, they were more than happy to prescribe me an antibiotic anytime my mother asked for it. After all, she's a nurse. They didn't know that she was also a nut. I took so much Tetracycline that my teeth came in dark yellow. I was already embrrassed by them and by the fact that they looked like I didn't brush, and that kid dentist just made it worse by ragging me about it. I had had kids tease me and stuff about my teeth, but a grown man dentist I didn't think should say stuff like that. He knew why they were yellow and didn't blame that on my not brushing but he told me that if I didn't start brushing they would end up "more yellow than they already are".

My mother never cared much for my dental health, she couldn't get attention from that, and I had huge buck teeth and a horrible overbite and she kept promising me braces but never took me. We had plenty of money when I was growing up, she made a ton of it, so that wasn't it. SHe just couldn't be bothered. When I was 17, one day while she was at work I made an appointment with an orthodontist. I went and he told me what he wanted to do, etc and I said ok and back then you could just go to a dr or dentist and they would bill you, or if you were a minor, your parents. Also, because I was over 16 I was allowed to sign my own permission papers. I told him my mother worked long hours and he knew the hospital she worked at and was impressed that she was in administration so he went along with everything. I went and got the four teeth pulled myself and managed to hide that from my mother. Then I went back on the day to get my braces on and was in the chair and he was gluing them on and they said they had to have a check from her that visit, they hadn't sent a bill yet. I sent my bf to go get her after he got started. She came in, went right along with the story I had given them (he briefed her on it all and she didn't want them to know she just couldn't be bothered to do it herself) gave them the check and all and left. Boy did I catch hell that night. I yelled right back though. I also pointed out that it was her job to get me braces five years before then but she didn't.

After I got them off, I got my front teeth bonded, which was where they filed the enamel off and put on some stuff that hardens and it's white and looks like your real teeth. I had beautiful white teeth for a few years, but he warned me I'd have to get it replaced about every five years because even if you don't drink coffee or smoke (I didn't do either then) it yellows with age. I still have that same bonding on my teeth and can't afford to get it replaced. They aren't anywhere near as yellow as they used to be, but they are more than just a little off white.

Thats my little rant about dentists and why I hate my teeth and hate going to the dentist. However now, I would love to go as I have a tooth I need pulled in the back. Or a root canal, but I can't even scrape up the money to get it pulled. So, anyway.

Sorry to rant for so long but it's a touchy subject with me.

I have been lucky,my first dentists were very good,I had two cavities filled in the back.I was living in a town with fluoridated water so my teeth were pretty good,but crooked and buck toothed.The braces were hell, headgear a torture device.It's so much better for kids now.
I have a great dentist now,he has the gentlest hands ,the hygienist is also great,I don't like the sounds or the scraping sensation but I have had nightmares that my teeth just fell out pf my mouth so I endure it.
The worst dentist I had was pulling a wisdom tooth,he had me in a headlock and was straining back and forth,I was so scared his hand would slip.I never went back to him.
When I needed another wisdom tooth removed I had my dentist refer me to an oral surgeon,I was prepared for the worst,(for me it's the shots,I HATE needles!),he numbed me,got a hold of the tooth,two tugs and it was out.I couldn't believe it,the guy was a pro!This place has been in business since 1950 so they would have to be good.The only drawback was its across the state line and Medicaid couldn't cover it.It was worth every penny.Try to ask around before going to any dentist,some are awful.

I never had any sensory problems at the dentist. I did have a incident in 5th grade where they gave me shots in my mouth and twice it hurt like heck. I screamed on agony and I actually scared two children in the waiting room their mother had to leave with them. But luckily that was my last time there and it left me scared of the dentist. When I went back to one when I was 19, I was scared of the same thing happening again. When I went again at 21, I had the same shots again and it didn't hurt this time like it did last time. I felt a little bit of something but it didn't hurt like heck.

I had another incident where I got my root canal done and they put a cleaning solution on my dead molar they were trying to save and it dripped onto my tongue and throat. I reacted to the smell of it so I started coughing and pulled the mouth piece out of my mouth also. They washed it down with water. It also hurt after they did the root canal because of the pressure in there. They packed it with calcium where it had a hole in it due to the bad cavity I had and it broke the filling off. It even hurt when I used that tooth to chew food with. I don't remember the pain I experienced. I saw it in an old post of mine on another forum so that is how I know. I even don't remember my reaction to the cleaning solution either.

Its definitely an interesting experience i gotta say, not one i enjoy in particular, but having 2 pick mess around in your mouth, yuck. Luckily its only once a year for me. so i just try and not think about it to much. I rather have a short checkup, than getting holes or other problems thus having to stay there longer, and they have to drill and crap..

BUt they use a thingy here to polish teeth or something, its like rubber or something, its a very odd texture, like a machine with rubber wheel they run against all the teeth, i absolutely hate i. almost wanna take it and stick it into their mouth.

Its to bad you cannot go to the dentist and doing a self service checkup, like with Mr Bean. ofcourse you would have to learn it, but i think it would be better doing it myself it it was possible.

Going to the dentist is like a trip to hell.

Steve Martin and the Dentist Song from Little Shop of Horrors:

http://youtu.be/bOtMizMQ6oM

Ugh yeah so agree. Its annoying aggravatance for me. I am hard to deal with as a patient, they keep having to tell me open my mouth and I cant really cooperate well at all. Its truely a sensory nightmare and my sensory issues are very mild. I dont know how people with severe sensory issues deal with the dentist.