This is Panic 11 - The Dentist

Now this one is not going to be fun to talk about because this is something that almost gives me attacks just thinking about it but it bares talking about.

According to Dentalphobia.co.uk somewhere in the region of 7-13% of the Western world suffers from some form of a fear of the dentist which means if you apply those numbers to here, somewhere in the region of 4.5 - 7.9 million people in the UK are afraid of the dentist and I am one of those people.

As ever with TIP, we revert back to a story from my past. My fear of the dentist stems from when I was 4 years old. I was with my mum getting a check up as you do when you're little. Being a small boy I didn't want to do as I was told. After a while the dentist decided she was fed up of me not playing along so she grabbed me by the nose and forced my jaw open so she could look inside. I have been a wreck ever since.

I wouldn't pull out any teeth growing up so the dentist needed to do it for me, normally by doping me sideways up to the eyeballs and doing a load in one go. I had too many teeth in my jaw so I had a couple of goes on that one. At one point I had a tooth get infected and collapse so I needed a root canal but no way in blue hell were they doing that while I was awake. It was decided they would knock me out, do the root canal AND pull out 7 remaining baby teeth. It was originally meant to be done over 2 appointments but someone "luckily" cancelled and they did it in one job lot. I had a panic as they put that plastic thing in your hand so they can attach syringes. The only upside was I got to have corned beef hash when I woke up.

I have only ever been to the dentist alone once when I was in Germany. Once...I haven't been for a while now because I can't bring myself to physically sit through it if I don't have to. If I need to be seen then yes I will go but I need to take someone with me. I have a really low gag reflex when anything is in my mouth like a dentist's tool and that's if they can even get me to lie back in the chair. I sit straight backed as long as I can, I really almost cannot sit back in one of those things without nearly hyperventilating.

The thing with me and the dentist is that I am a LOT better than I was. I know if it was just a check up where they can 100% say they won't do anything and just pull out the little mirror thing then yes, I can manage, just. I know it's another part of my anxiety that I need to battle but it's been pushed behind the other parts of the anxiety that I have to deal with normally.

As with anything, planning helps combat it.

If you don't want to go alone, don't! I won't go alone now to the dentist and it's a case of finding someone to go with you. Not everyone can be available all the time but don't be afraid to cancel an appointment if you can't find people to go with. I know dentist appointments are hard to come by but you decide how you want to be seen and treated.

The other thing to do is be honest off the bat. Dentists are people too and they are trained professionals so if you tell them all the facts, they can do the best job possible. Tell the receptionist when you book an appointment for the first time and mention it to the dentist as well. It doesn't make the treatment itself easier to take but the dentist will make more of an effort to help you out. At least that's the hope ha ha

Dental hygiene can't be avoided and is something we all need to do unless we want to all be on Fixadent adverts so that means the dentist. It's annoying and scary for a lot of us but you can chew-se (ouch that one really hurt) how you live your life and what you do with your teeth.

I realise that I am not the greatest of role models for this one but in keeping with the creed of honesty on here, I like to think that if I can make people realise how not to do it, that'll be helpful too.

I am also slowly going to build up to going again once work has settled a bit. Watch this space folks, more on this story to gum. (Wow where do I get these from?)