subject: Whos Afraid Of The Big Bad Dentist? Not Me... Thanks To Sedation Dentistry! [print this page] I have dreams about sitting in the dentists chair and listening to the dentist and dental assistant plot the demise of each and every tooth in my mouth. Its a conspiracy I tell you. And just about that time is when my heart starts pumping, my skin gets all sweaty, and my throat gets dry, as if an old piece of cardboard had just been substituted for my upper palate. I just know they have plans that involve needles and suction devices and blood...for each and every tooth in my head. Why cant they just sedate me and be done with it?
I am scared to death of the dentist. Im absolutely sure that Dante included a realm of dentists in his vision of purgatory. Its not the person so much Im scared of as it is the needles--and the sounds those awful machines make--and that little suction thingy they ask you to keep in your mouth while dentist asks you questions and expect you to answer them in some garbled language they only teach in dental college.
Let me correct myself: Although I really am scared to death of the dentist, Im no longer afraid to go sit in that big comfy chair with the nice headrest. I found a dentist who practices something called sedation dentistry. Sedation dentistry has helped me and hundreds of people just like me get over fear of going to the dentist. I used to put off dental care because of my fear, which many times meant enduring tooth pain until I just couldnt take it anymore. Not anymore.
Sedation dentistry is a new type of dentistry practiced by specially trained oral health care practitioners just for people like me who really dislike going to the dentists office. When I had my first visit with my new dentist, he took the time and explained everything to me. He told me I would enter a kind of twilight sleep, but that I would still be able to communicate with him. He gave me a choice of getting my sedation through an I.V., a type of gas, or taking a little blue pill (the last of which is what I opted for). He also told me that I would have very little memory of the work he did on me. He assured me the procedure was 100 percent safe and effective.
He was right on all counts! Although I still get a little nervous when I first walk into the dentists office, Im no longer scared.
