my mum had crowns done - yes ... the cost... oh the cost....

I am serious! I WOULD rather have my teeth fall out. I can cope without teeth - I can't cope with dentists.

I wouldn't mind costs - except as a student we simply cannot afford it - so we have to suffer. Really - there's no choice. There are no NHS dentists in our area - nearest one is an hour and a half away. and we don't drive. We have no options at all. it's sick. One quoted me £300 just for an extraction. sorry but this bothers me.

xx

Sorry to hear you're so afraid of any dentist Zoundz, as there really is nothing to be frightened of nowadays with all their modern equipment, they can even give you some valium to calm you down whilst you sit in the chair. You're only young and I'm sure you will regret it when you get older if you let them get in a bad way. They need cleaning regularly by a hygienist otherwise you are going to get very painful abcesses, and if you've never had one, it's akin to someone bashing your big toe with a hammer but that pain would be what you feel in your mouth, it really is horrendous. Maybe if you contacted your local hospital and made out you were desperate to see a dentist (I know you're not!) they might be able to help you out to get on a nearby NHS dentist list. I know your teeth are probably fine now whilst you're young, but if you don't look after them, then believe me you will deeply regret it ya know!

I've always been terrified of dentists,but since a cricket ball hit me in the gob when i was a teenager breaking a front tooth-the crown needs replacing every so often.

My last journey to hell (the dentist) was a little while ago to have 3 fillings done and i had a panic attack in the chair when he injected me.I'll never be confident with dentists...

When I lived down South I had a lovely NHS dentist, nothing was too much when dealing with my children and he even let them play with some of the instuments. They really looked forward to going When we moved to the Midlands my first dentist was good but she passed us on to her colleague one filling later and I was in agony. Went back to her boss who put it right and it seemed over the next few years I was always having to have fillings which in the past had never happened. Also my two sons also had to have fillings and she even took out one of my eldest son's teeth which shouldn't have been done, as it was growing behind the others but the orthodentist said that he would have removed a back one and pulled that one into place. Fortunately she left and we now have a lovely dentist. Although I now go privately my eldest son has the same dentist as me and he is NHS my other son has another one in the practice and he is really good he even stayed late when he was in great pain with his wisdom teeth.

Sue

Thank you for the encouraging words Helena - but this is my story:
Scroll to bottom if things like this bore you - LOL!

I do have tooth trouble occasionally - never been TOO bad touch wood. But i have had abcsesses which I have drained myself daily (excruciating) and have eventually gone away on their own after some time. - well - recently, I had a nasty cavity (last year) and I KNEW the tooth needed out. I went to my dentist in University - who told me - oh, sorry, uni dentist is now private! WHAT?! WTF?!?!

So i went home in tears - cuz of the pain (yes - it was so bad I WENT to a dentist lol). After a couple of terrible hours, I called NHS direct. They spoke to me for a bit, and concluded that this was terrible and I should see a dentist in the next 4 hours. Well, this was saturday evening - so no hope of that. Anyway - it just got worse and worse til my head felt about to explode - so I walked the 2 mile to the local hospital in the driving rain at 1 am and waited in casualty. i was the only person there - but they didn't see me for 3 hours, and when they DID see me - told me i was wasting valuable hospital time when there may be someone in REAL need. :-S So they gave me antib's and heavy painkillers - which did nothing.

I called NHS direct again (by this time - not that i have spent about £40 on mobile calls to them as we don't have a landline being students). They are terribly unhelpful and said that due to data protection act they cannot give me the numbers of NHS dentists in the area. I called 999 in screaming agony at 7 o clock - (yes it was silly - but i couldn't think it hurt so much - i thought i was dying - lol). They came and said the only hospital they would take me to was about 10-15 miles away and i would have to taxi back- well i had no money so i had to go back inside and suffer further.

ANYHOO... my uncle - after much scouting had found the number of the only NHS dentist in the county. in Glynneath - which is an hour and a half bus ride away. So I called them - true enough - the only one - and they said next appointment at EARLIEST was end of week.

SO I went - was quoted £300 for an extraction with general anaesthetic... I nearly pass out at the thought of local - this is a phobia - totally irrational... but I had to have a local anyhow - as that was £12. :-S

Anyway - finally had it done and due to the infrequency of buses in that area i had to wait outside by the bus stop for 3 hours for a bus that took 2 and a half hours to get home as at night they do detours.

I nearly threw myself into the canal that day - i tell you.

So yeah - I CAN'T do dentists - my mind won't take it!

xx

well i went to the dentist today but couldn,t have my tooth out as i have another abcess
he says it is all stress related so am in agony for another week now

aww jax!!well i had my wisdom tooth out nearly 2 weeks ago and have had mega pain since, due to what he now says is a dry socket!i've literally been eating painkillers for over a month now, and am gettin sick of it.i just looked up dry socket on the net and apparently your not supposed to rinse your mouth out after a tooth extraction in case it stops a blood clot forming then it wont heal.why he didnt tell me this ill never know!!
so now im on the 3rd lot of antibiotics and feel crap!!
http://www.atlantadentist.com/Dry_Socket.html.
if anyone can read this and it stops them goin through this pain i'll be glad!!

Blimey Zoundz, your experiences sound ten times worse than any of mine, and I have been plagued withabcesses all my life and am now in the position that I can't take anti-biotics either! I can now understand your morbid fear of any dentist you poor thing going through all that, Christ it's unbelievable! Some people are lucky and never have any probs with their teeth, myother half has the most beautiful set of gnashers and he's only ever had one filling, and me, I've lost half my back ones now with abcesses coz I just wanted them to whip the tooth out as I couldn't stand the pain any longer. I've done the casualty bit too at 4.00 am. only to be left sitting there till 7.00 am. and then told to go home with a bottle of anti-biotics. I feel sorry for you, coz you only get one set of teeth you know, and with your fear, then you're gonna end up like me in your old age.Poor you.x

Oh no Jackie, not under the same tooth??? Are you on another course of anti-biotics now then, you poor thing, nothing worse than a blooming tooth abcess is there

yup helena - but in honesty i don't mind as long as i don't have to endure dentists! dentures are pretty lol... :-S yeah...

xx