Feel like I'm losing my mind

[RyanM1994]

Hi Everyone,

Thought I'd pop a post on here as I'm sure my family and friends have all had enough of listening to me.

The last few months have been the worst in terms of Anxiety and attempting to control it and I apologize in advance for writing on here again and being a burden.

The main source of the anxiety is tooth problems, I had an infected tooth that caused the roof of my mouth to swell up multiple times before the multiple dentists found a cause. Turned out to be an infected tooth, which has since been had an RCT.

I had to have this done without anesthetic as my mind kept flooding with scares of being allergic. I already can't take antibiotics because of this fear.

During the treatment the dentist (who wasn't my normal dentist) told me that if I didn't have the treatment that day then there will be bacteria in my body that can cause sepsis and kill me. In those exact words!

Then at the end of the treatment proceeded to tell me I need another filling and reiterating the point about bacteria.

Since this time, I have found another tooth on the other side of my mouth that has an area of decay on it and managed to negotiate an appointment with my dentist for Wednesday.

I'm now obsessed that the tooth will become infected before I even manage to get to the appointment. I'm over-obsessing over it, cleaning it every couple of hours and after any food.
The tooth doesn't hurt but has an odd taste coming from the area, however the receptionist advised it should be OK to wait until Wednesday.

To be fair with myself, I have a lot going on in my personal life and I just can't seem to get away from stress. I feel depressed and just want to hide from everyone.

I feel like I'm running out of options with the anxiety.

[Carys]

You had a root canal done without anaesthetic ? My Goodness! (understatement). Now, I can entirely relate to your 'medication' fear, as I have/had it too, both relating to dental work and any standard medications like paracetamol and other painkillers. I have been also terrified of anti-biotics in the past - any medication of any sort - to the point that I will find any excuse to not take anything. I've also had a lot of dental work done without anaesthetics - crowns and deep fillings, but I have to admit that for my first rct I DID have an injection.



I think your tooth will be just fine until Wednesday too, I suspect this dentist you saw (rather than your own) went overboard with the fear factor, in order to try and force you to have the treatment. Sepsis from infected teeth is very very rare, and to be honest you'd seek treatment by the time it got the point of being THAT ill. The taste will be the food stuck in the cavity, and the gum being inflammed. Some people leave infected roots for years and years, and they are just fine.


Years ago, I needed dental treatment which needed an injection, it was a wisdom tooth decay that needed an extraction. I left it and left it, such was my fear of the injection, for weeks and months. what happened? I just had more pain for much longer,than I needed to have lol I think you can work with your dentist to overcome this fear of the injection - which incidentally is the safest of medications, with decades of research behind it. I had an appointment with my dentist where we discussed the 'what ifs of a severe reaction'. He told me, in his 40 year career he had seen one person have a reaction and even that wasn't that bad, but local reaction not systemic. He showed me his cupboard where they hold emergency medical treatments in the case of an anaphylactic type reaction, they are trained to deal with it and have everything there IF it happens - but it never has! I demanded for the extraction that I have a 'tiny bit' tried first, and even then only the non-adrenaline version of the anaesthetic. That was fine, no reaction of any sort at all - but as it didn't contain adrenaline it seeped from the area too quickly. So, in the end I had 4 adrenaline containing local anaesethetics. (This was 8 years ago) BY this point the pain I was in was SO bad, I would have happily taken a hammer on the head ! LOL


The great thing is, if you are like me, once you've taken that step and you know you dont react - then you are able to do it again and again if needed.



Happy to talk further about it, as I understand your agony....congratulations on making the appointment! Go there and be honest, explain your fears. If you have a dentist who is good with people, he will do everything in his power to help you overcome this.