Posted by leeran on April 28, 2003, at 10:32:30
I am sitting here in a near panic attack. Does anyone else go into a tailspin about dental appointments?
I have a dental appointment at 11:00 with a new dentist that I researched in my typical obsessive fashion, going through the list of providers one by one for an entire afternoon until I found something positive about one of them out of about 150 on the internet.
I have the directions to the office printed (20 miles away in a neighborhood I've never been to), copies of what our insurance company covers, and a bottle of Zithromax in case they require it before the examination (I have a very slight myocardial infarction and most dental offices require antibiotics before examination). I'm more prepared than when I went to the hospital to give birth.
Part of my anxiety stems back to a bike accident in college that ended up with a fixed bridge that's grown to six teeth over the twenty years since college. Plus, I have a broken back tooth that's going to require excessive work.
One attraction is that this dentist is a "sedation dentist," plus, he's an assistant professor at one of the large universities here - and he has a website (don't ask me why that's important - I think because I can safely sit at my computer and evaluate the situation beforehand). BUT, the "patient coordinator" said he (the dentist) could have his moods.
I dreamt last night that all my top teeth (not just the bridge) fell out in his hand, one quadrant at a time. I also dreamt about a weird bathroom incident wherein the dentist could look through a sixties type beaded door curtain and see me GOING to the bathroom and when I flushed, the water was designed to cover the carpet versus going down the drain (I have had "bathroom anxiety dreams" for years and they always crop up, I guess, when I'm facing a stressful situation).
Sorry to go on about this, but I was wondering if anyone else has this horrid anxiety about dentists and having your mouth pryed around with.
poster:leeran
thread:222890
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030426/msgs/222890.html