Hi, my name is Queen Tonya and I’m dental-phobic. I do not like visiting dentists, in fact I suffer severe anxiety when confronted with the evil sound of a drill or merest whiff of anesthetic. This isn’t an irrational fear, IMO, I’ve suffered thru some horrific experiences in those torture devices known as dentist chairs, it’s perfectly rational not to willingly go back there, tyvm.
I’m a Mom, though, so I need to get up on over this and take my child for proper dental care, right? Oh, and somehow not let him notice Mom’s trying to claw her face off or having palpitations at the very thought, of course.
Yesterday, I finally did it. I took my very overdue eleven year old for his first cleaning and exam. Zero cavities, very minimal plaque accumulation, no tartar buildup to speak of and a perfect bite so no predicted need for braces!
happy dance
I wasn’t too suprised about the general health, I’ve always been super vigilant about making sure his teeth are properly cleaned. Plus I figure cavities hurt and hadn’t heard any complaints, good to know I was right. Huge bonus about the braces thing, my teeth came in damn near sideways as a kid and I had the entire shebang of braces (twice!) headgear, rubber bands, retainers…I was afraid he’d have at least some of the same torture.
Yay for power rangers toothpaste and spinning spiderman brushes and floridated water!!! Wooohooo for us!
I, too, have severe dental phobia. Horrible experiences, including a sadistic pediatric dentist as a child, have contribruted to this. As a result, my 6 y.o. hadn’t been to a dentist until the first of this month. The only reason I made him go was because he fell off his horse and knocked a tooth out that wasn’t ready to come out yet. I wanted to make sure he was Ok. I was in a cold sweat just thinking about it.
Took the words right out of my mouth. I prepped Charlie for going to the dentist by telling him it was a doctor for his teeth and all the guy was going to do was clean them real well and make sure there weren’t any cavities. When he asked me if it would hurt, I nearly burst into tears. I gritted my teeth and said I didn’t think so.
In the end I chickened out. I made Suburban Plankton call the dentist and set up the appointment. And even though I’m not working, he took off work to take Charlie to the appointment. I waited at home in a fit of anxiety the whole time they were gone. I was so relieved when they got home and Charlie declared “no cavities” and that it didn’t hurt one bit and it was kinda cool how they take the X-rays even thought they made him gag.
Congratulations on No Cavities for your son! Good job, Queen Tonya!
I just got back from having two cavities filled and I have another appointment for several more. I have a bit of a fear of dentists, as well, and didn’t go to one from 1998 to July of this year - mistake! I have a crapload of cavities and whatnot. Plus two more broken wisdom teeth that still need to be pulled.
On the bright side, today wasn’t so bad. Except one of the drills vibrated my head a little
I’m not a full-blown dental phobe, but I get very very very nervous. Nervous enough that I haven’t gone for several years, and ignored a molar that was disintegrating because it didn’t hurt, so why should I do anything about it? I’m in the middle of getting it crowned; I finally gave in to the inevitable, and got it looked at.
I have found my favorite dentist ever. He’s been in practice since well before I was even born, and has stayed current on techniques (an important bit – a lot has changed since the '60s!) and is the most reassuring dentist I’ve ever had. He also has excellent needle skills, which is my biggest fear. I honestly barely felt anything last week when he numbed me up. He’s going to have to do it again Tuesday, and I only feel somewhat sick about it instead of wanting to run out of the room screaming at the prospect.
I’d adopt him as a surrogate grandfather if I got the chance, except that he’s a dentist.
BTW, I’ve never had a cavity that hurt. Even the disintegrating tooth. Pain may be the best motivator to get me into that chair, but the lack of it doesn’t mean something needs to be done…
Thanks for the support! Even though it’s horrible and awful that he didn’t go until eleven, bonus for me was that he was all about being a big kid and not needing Mom to actually sit in the room with him. Whew, that helped a bunch.
He did notice me being a bit weird, I think his exact words were ‘why are you acting all weird?’ and when I answered vaguely he rolled his eyes and smirked with his cavity-free mouth at the idea anyone would be afraid of something as mundane as the dentist. Yay for not passing my heebeejeebees on!
