Here I am again, minus an abscess and $600.

Hello once again, Gentle Readers.  As you may remember from our previous episode, I was panicking over the prospect of going to the dentist.  Dentists freak me out because I have dental phobia (among other problems, lucky me).  This is a totally irrational fear of dentists and anything having to do with them.  Since you really need to go to the dentist at least once a year, here are some tips on how I got through this bout of dental phobia once you are in the chair.

Look Around

Usually, when I’m in the dentist’s chair, I scrunch my eyes shut, grip the armrests for dear life.  I thought if I looked at The Drill or the tray filled with little metal hooks, it would make my dental phobia worse, as I could see what I was in for.  However, this time, I turned around and looked what was on the tray.  The tools were a lot less scary looking than what I’d remembered as child.  They were also seemed to have shrunk since I was a child, too.

Remember To Breathe

That might seem like a no-brainer, but when you are in highly stressful situations, the body has a tendency to either hold its breath or breathe very shallow gasps.  This reduced the oxygen in your brain and bloodstream, which makes you even more panicky.  Since there was a radio on in the office, I made myself breath deeply whenever the song changed.  I also made myself breathe deeply whenever a part of the procedure was done. 

I did begin to panic, I have to admit.  But when I announced, "Panic now!" my dentist said, "Can you wait thirty seconds while I dry this filling?  Then you can panic all you want.  Just panic your brains out."

If You Can Bring Someone Else, Do So

Because I knew I had dental phobia, my Mom drove me there and back.  She has quite a job ever getting me to a dentist’s office.  I told the dentist that my Mom was allowed to make the decisions regarding my teeth for me, since I was so phobic.  This way, I don’t have the choice of denying myself a needed procedure.  I could also put any blame on Mom (jut kidding, Mom!) In this way, I also found out that I had my first root canal only after the root canal was done.  This saved me from sitting in the chair throughout the entire procedure thinking, "It’s a root canal!  I’m gonna die!"

And if you can take Novocain, TAKE ALL YOU ARE OFFERED. Sure, I was loopy as a loon for two days after the root canal, but at least I wasn’t panicking.

Hope this helps.

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