I had a dentist appointment yesterday, which is one of my least favorite appointments to go to. Lying down in the dentist’s chair makes me feel so vulnerable. I can’t see who is walking up behind me and my reaction time is slowed because I’m lying down. These are some of my biggest fears. I have to use nitrous oxide to get through it without a panic attack lately. However, I think I want to try to do it without it next time. Maybe I can see how far I get before asking the hygienist to hook up the nitrous. It all depends on how I’m doing emotionally at the time of the next appointment.

This time, the hygienist asked me if I really needed it. I felt pathetic. He asked me if I needed it because of a bad dental experience. I told him no; he kept probing for answers. I told him it was PTSD from a bad relationship, not like it was really any of his business. He tried to give me tips on how to stay calm, but I cut him off. It’s not like I haven’t tried just about every trick in the book to deal with my anxiety/panic attacks. He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, he was just trying to save me money; however, it wasn’t his place to say the things he said.

I'm a 32 year old married woman who has been dealing with Bipolar disorder since the age of 14. This is all about my life, diagnoses, and treatments. If you have any questions, just ask me. I hope that others with Bipolar Disorder or PTSD can relate to my blog and find it helpful.

3 thoughts on “The Dentist…”

  1. I felt the same way until recently.This dentistry I went to didn’t give dental anesthesia the only sedation they offered was dental injection where as you’re conscious the whole procedure. At that point I was nervous. The Dentist did offer to refer me to another dentistry but I was in so much pain I just went along with it. I’m not afraid of getting shots and needles but in my mouth it’s a whole different story. They began the dental injection procedure and to my surprise it was not painful at all the shots really relieved me from the pain I was currently in from my tooth…all I felt was a lot of pressure from when they pulled my tooth but no pain since my gums were numb. Afterwards my gums was a little swollen but went down within a few hours and my tissue muscles as well went back to normal. My boyfriend was laughing at me every time I tried to speak a word. It was a pretty hilarious experience.

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