Today I faced a fear that I have had since I was a teenager......going to the dentist!
Now I know I am probably going to be judged as a bad and dirty person for not going but hear my reasons first.
By the time I was 12 years old I had had 12 teeth taken out due to overcrowding. Those were the days when you had an injection and then had to take a seat for 20 minutes whilst the anaesthetic took effect. My dentist was what I now see as `old school` and didn`t have the best bedside manners.
My fear of dentists arose after I went to have my last set of 2 teeth removed. I was injected; waited and was then sat back down in chair, the dentist then proceed to try and pull my teeth out......I could feel everything and tried to stop him but he carried on saying that I was being a drama queen. Eventually he stopped but not after my mum asking him to stop numerous times. He didn`t believe me that I could feel anything but injected me again, this time my the whole side of my face went numb and I looked like I`d had a stroke!!
After that incident it was safe to say I never wanted to go back to a dentist and I hadn`t for 16 years; until today.
Last week part of my back molar broke off so I bit the bullet (get it?!), registered at my local surgery and made an appointment. I explained to the dentist how my fear of going dentists came about and she said that she could completely understand why I hadn`t been sooner. To cut a long story short I needed a filling and the tooth rebuilding asap.
Today was the day of my appointment for the filling and for some reason I was very calm and not half as nervous as I had been previously. The dentist had put me at ease at my last appointment and assured me that I wouldn`t feel the injection as she had injected a 4 year old the day before and he didn`t bat an eye lid.
Yeah right, not feel the injection??? I didn`t believe that for one minute but do you know what?? I didn`t feel a single thing, not even a tiny scratch or anything!!
The whole experience today has changed my perspective of dentists and feel like a fool now for waiting so long to go and see one.
I can highly recommend the Bear Cross Dental Practice to anyone in the Bournemouth area, they are absolutely amazing and have cured me of my half-life long fear xx
I'm so glad you had a good experience! I haven't been to the dentist myself in about 12 years due to having a bad time with one who shouldn't have been doing the dental work she was doing when I was pregnant....Grr! It has put me off! Luckily I have been ok with my teeth x
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone and well done for facing and overcoming this fear. After several bad experiences with dentists it was many years before I went ... and even then I was not happy with my dentist. So I changed and found a great one who calms me down completely ... possibly because he distracts me practising his English on me or asking about all things English. When I went last time he was heading to London the day after so had lots to ask me!
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