General Chat

Janet.....this dentist will KNOW alright!!!!! I am certainly not afraid to let them know, now that the receptionist is more than aware of the situation!! Also paying privately psychologically puts me in control! Merry

Oh Merry I know where you are coming from....absolutely terrified of dentists....but my teeth were such a mess and I was so embarrassed of them...one day I decided I'd had enough and made an appointment!! I had no faith in the local dentists as I had heard such terrifying tales so I went private. On my first visit I was shaking that much I could'nt fill in the form they gave me!! I had seven extractions and 5 crowns and I honestly did'nt feel a thing. The dentist even anethitized (spelling) my gums with a special wipe before even giving me the injections. He and the nurse were wondeful with me. It cost me a small fortune but I was able to smile again and I could'nt thank him enough. You WILL be fine Merry honestly!! Linda

I had a similar problem. A back one started coming apart this time last year! Now almost all of it has come away, the one next to it is loose. The other side the back one has started doing the same. Went to the dentist about three weeks ago and have been referred to a specialist extraction clinic as it will be a hardish one to remove! I have to have 4 out in total I'm going tomorrow for a consulatation so will let you know how I get on. I hadn't been for about 4 years.

Sorry to say this Merry - but just reading all of your thread has me out in a sweat and shaking. Im terrified of the D word. My teeth are terrible and i know i must go - only problem is we have a severe lack of Ds round here. Im also with you on the check up bit - all that poking around and im feeling sick already. in fact think its time i left and looked at something else - urghhhhhh

Hello It wont be as bad as you think! I had to go to the dentist last year for the first time since primary! I had an abcess and ended up having an appointment to have a tooth took out! I was scared stiff! Never had one out before! I wasnt so scared about the actual tooth it was the needle in gum to numb your mouth! But i went had it done and thought what was the problem with that! lol I still dont like it, but im not scared anymore! x karen

... however, you do *not* want to know what I am like going to the dentist, being there, or even thinking about going .... :( You'll be fine ... :-)

Hi Merry You will be fine once you are there, most of the fear is often in the waiting room as you can hear the equipment, you might feel a little better if you took a walkman with you to keep your mind off of what is going on while you wait to be called. Wisdom teeth are usually quite easy to extract you only hear of the storys of wisdoms that were dificult to extract, as an ex-dental nurse I have seen 80% just pop out without no trouble at all........ Talk to the dentist and the dental nurse about your fears and hopfully they will put your mind at ease and even hold your hand if you wish. I hope everything goes well. Rosi

Thank you Rosi! Fingers crossed!! I am fed up with the ache and also am now getting a sore throat with at as well :o(( Merry

Don't you worry Jean! The dentist will be getting the full verbal treatment from me - as whan I am nervous I talk twice as much as usual and that means a lot!! Actually, I even feel better for having made the appointment (in a way)! I've been tryng to think of things that would be worse for me than the dentist? Ummmmm...........Free rock climbing................potholing........removing a house spider even with the aid of a glass and a bit of card?! Merry

After this, maybe I should get my eyes tested? (last done before 1983!) and even make a will??? If anyone says I should make a will BEFORE the dentist.......... Merry

Teeth? I seem to remember having some of those once.

Merry, feel confident that if you are paying them you will be treated with a bit more respect than the NHS dentists - Im supposed to have gone back this month to have a back cap removed and the tooth underneath drilled as there is some decay. Too be honest I cant face it at the moment. Whenever I go there I seem to have nothing wrong when I go in and a toothache when I come out. Hubby went last year because he had an abscess on a tooth - side one, top. Said tooth was holding the wires for a small bridge of 3 teeth. The NHS dentist said they would have to remove the tooth and then rebuild the bridge. Basically it meant hubby would have to walk around with 4 teeth missing top side. On top of that, they said come back in 6 months!! So rather than face walking around looking as though he had just jumped off the back of a caravan and was on the look out for scrap iron, he went to private dentist. Got appointment next morning, the guy took an impression then and there. Hubby went back next afternoon, tooth removed, new temporary bridging plate put in immediately. Ok, it cost £200 more than the NHS - but 6 months walking around gummy against £200??? Im sure you will be ok. Im going to this private bloke when I get my head together about having mine sorted. When I go, I always hyperventilate and think Im going to pass out. Now I sit there thinking not of what they are doing but of anything else in the world, even problems I have. Plus, think in 30 minutes you will walking down the road on the way home - and you will. Hey, I always think pot holing under water (in one of those big diving helmets) - now that would be on my list of things not to do before I die!

LOL Grampa! Heather.......I just opened my mouth and looked in the mirror. Honestly......how much pain can they really make in such a small space? I don't even have all that many teeth........what with only having two wisdom teeth left and having 4 teeth out to make room in a small jaw when I was a child and the front ones are all OK as far as I can tell, that only leaves two molars in each place, so 8 in total. I have to keep thinking about people having amputations without anaesthetic and those who get their leg sliced off by a chain saw and them carry it three miles (hopping) to the nearest main road.....or fix their own broken bone with a stick and some torn pieces of shirt.....etc etc I MUST BE BRAVE!!! Merry

Now that is an excellent idea, Diane.....I will def do that! (do you know what they were??) Merry

Thats my biggest dread - having one taken out. I will go to any length to save one - Im not worried about pain, really, its losing one that frightens me. Merry, my dad said when they were kids, they really did do the old bit of string round the tooth attached to a door knob. I know he said that his dad would sit there and lever a tooth out with a pen knife over a few days on and off - YUCK. Im sure youll be ok. I used to like a Dutch dentist I had a few years back. He had one of those psychological painting things on the ceiling to stare at and try to get it to go 3 D. He also had a basket ball net fitted to the surgery wall. Hed inject your gum - then go and play at getting this ball in the net, now and then shouting out 'Is it numb yet?'. And hed have rock music playing. I know a lot of patients left because it wasnt their scene - but oh, it made me much happier, took my mind off what was happening. Joan, Merry is female! What makes you think she isnt?

Merry, Think of my paternal grandfather - my mother said he refused to go to a dentist (pre NHS) and went to see the village blacksmith, who extracted a tooth for him. ANYTHING has to be better than that. (Bet grandad didn't have a second one out!) Jay

merry, if you are going privately you will probably find the treatment and care is excellent. not knocking NHS dentists we have a great one who is part NHS and part private so we pay just over NHS fees. But NHS dentists don't have the same amount of time the private ones do. make sure the dentist and his nurse know that you are very nervous, get him to write it on your card. You will find they are usually very understanding especially when you are paying private fees. when we were in between dentists our practice had a private one in and the treatment was fantastic, even to little drinks of apple juice to take the taste away. i should add that I am very nervous of the dentist so do know how you feel. Ann Glos

Dunno what you are all on about. I just slip them into a plastic bag take them to the technician and they are done while I wait !

Hi Merry - I'm sure that everything will be ok. I wish that I lived near you then I would come with you. A few years ago I went with my best friends sister and she had to have all her teeth out top row one week and bottom a few weeks later. I stayed with her the whole time and held her hand. It's not very nice when you are scared of things that badly. Good Luck. Let us know how you get on. Take Care Regards Lindax

Oh Merry I wish I could say something bracing and uplifting - but I'm even more scared than you are! My teeth are totally disintegrating and I am now FAR too embarrassed to go to the dentist - I know they will shout and tell me off, or even worse, just privately think what a skanky b**** I am. My friend lives in Cyprus, where the wonderful Dentist she goes to uses LASER to drill - no pain, no smell. Fillings are automatically porcelain. My friend is dental phobic but says she now almost skips to the Dentist and has recently had root canal work, veneers, two teeth out and all her amalgam fillings replaced. Its all private work out there of course - but a tenth of the cost it is here - what about talking hubby into a Dental holiday in Cyprus? (You go first and tell me what it was like, lol) OC