Expert answers
We know how daunting dental treatment can be. Our Dental Phobia certified experts are here to help ease your mind before treatment by answering your questions.
I have extreme dental phobia that even makes me switch of toothpaste adverts, what can I do?
From the age of about.9 I’ve had to have quite a few teeth extracted due to overcrowding and I feel like this is the cause of my phobia. I am terrified and feel like crying everytime I think about going. I hate everything about it; the waiting, the colour of the chair and the tools etc. I even find myself muting the tv when my parents are around just in case a toothpaste or dental advert comes on and makes them think about appointments. I also have a tooth not fully grown yet in the roof of my mouth which no-one knows about because I’m too scared of what will happen and for being awake and aware of everything during the treatment. Please help.
Im so sorry that this is having this effect on your life .
The first thing Ill look at is the tooth growing in the roof of your mouth .
because of your past experiences , please ask if you can be asleep if it needs to be removed , That should be possible in a hospital environment .
The experience of the extractions may well be the cause of your post traumatic dental stress .
But is it likely that you will need teeth out again ? other than this outgrowing one ?
Its your thoughts that are causing you to feel anxious .
To say that you hate everything about it .
Make a list of all the things that you don’t like , and then rank them from the most feared as number 1 , and so on .
Just brainstorm it to start with , then cross off those that you don’t like but can deal with without feeling anxious .
Have you spoken to your parents about how you feel , they can’t know unless you share it with them .
That will be a good start , like having the courage to ask me for help
Jenny
