How many people are like me: the nightmare of life is going to the dentist, seeing the treatment chair immediately, and hearing the sound of the dental drill running into a ball?
On a sunny day in September last year, I was enjoying a cup of oatmeal latte when I suddenly felt a small “rock” rattling in my mouth. Spit it out and take a look – God, isn’t this a tooth?
I hurriedly used my tongue to search around in my mouth. It turned out to be the big molar at the bottom left and the back, which usually doesn’t exist, but now it has sharp edges and corners, and I almost licked my tongue. smashed.
And I also instantly understood why this tooth would fall out, because the wisdom tooth next to it was firmly against the edge.
Simply put, a wisdom tooth erupted in the lower left corner of my mouth. It was the only wisdom tooth in my mouth that had “popped up”. Wisdom teeth that don’t need to be dealt with seriously, in order to seize the extremely limited position resources in the mouth, the top of the large molar next to it is carious and broken, so as to “superior”.
At this point, my response was: “I don’t want to go to the dentist!”
In the eyes of my family and friends, I am a very “strong” person, at least not too afraid of pain.
But I know where I am.
My life nightmare is dentistry. Seeing the treatment chair, I immediately felt my legs go soft, and my heart trembled when I heard the sound of the dental drill running. Just imagining the cold air spraying on my gums, or the sour feeling of a crochet hook on my teeth, is enough to drive me crazy.
(Image credit: soogif)
Let’s put it this way, I can’t do secrecy work: you put those healing tools, pliers, tweezers, clips… in front of me, and I’m sure I’ll tell you the secret.
Going back in time to my childhood is a shame. Obviously I don’t like sugar, and I insist on brushing my teeth in the morning and evening, but I have never been spared by caries: there have been deep caries in the middle of the large molars and upper incisors on both sides.
Because of my fear, I dragged myself to the point where my teeth hurt so bad that I was reluctantly taken by my parents to fill my teeth. The treatment process was an unimaginable torture. Not to mention that after getting older, I have accompanied my family to extract teeth in a small clinic twice, and I have experienced the horrible medical experience of rough root canal treatment and removal of oral vegetation. Since then, seeing the teeth has left a deep psychological shadow on me.
(Image credit: soogif)
Seeing this, do you feel the same way? (If it is, first drag it to the end of the article and like it and then come back and read it)
I believe that dental phobia is not a disease of mine alone.
I spent the next few days in fear, struggle, and hesitation. I checked it myself and felt that although the cavities were large, they had not yet reached the point of “exposing nerves”, and I didn’t feel any pain, so I wanted to be an “ostrich” temporarily with a bit of luck.
But every time I eat, food scraps get stuck in my teeth, so I can’t ignore the reality of being sick.
Dental phobia suffers after fourth tongue cut. What’s more, I made a new discovery in the mirror: the places on the other two teeth that were repaired more than ten years ago were crumbling, and the fillings fell off in minutes.
(Image credit: soogif)
Finally helped me make up my mind to treat, is a 7-year-old child at home.
Me: “Mom has a broken tooth and a hole.”
Baby: “Then you should go to the doctor immediately, or the small hole will turn into a big hole.”
Me: “But I don’t dare to go because of the pain.”
Baby: “Be brave, if you treat a small hole, it will be a small pain. If you are a big hole, it will become a big pain.”
…well, if I had known this earlier…
With the encouragement of my baby and the determination to be “sweet and cold”, I walked three steps into a dental clinic, and specially selected a man with a strong back and a strong waist. Doctor: If you want to extract a tooth, a strong doctor will do it more neatly.
“You’re in a bit of trouble.” The doctor frowned as he looked at my dental X-ray; my heart sank.
“This wisdom tooth must be extracted. After the extraction, look at the defect of the front molar. It may require root canal treatment and then fill it up. The trouble is that wisdom teeth grow horizontally, the root and the lower jaw. The neural tube is almost close to each other, and when it is pulled out, it may touch the nerve, causing numbness in the face, stiff expression, etc. Also, the teeth that were filled many years ago couldn’t hold up, so they had to be dug up and filled again. This, this, this… These are the wedge-shaped defects caused by your long-term brushing sideways, and they also need to be filled.”
(X-ray of my teeth. Photo courtesy of patient)
I was lying on the dental chair like a sifter, and now I was sweating. The doctor also said that this “big project” may take half a year and a dozen trips to the hospital to be completely completed.
“How about it? Shall we have our wisdom teeth pulled today?”
“No no no, I’ll think about it again, thank you doctor.”
Originally, I only made up my mind to fill my teeth. It seems that it is not enough.
Wisdom teeth need to be extracted, and there is a risk of “facial paralysis” if they are not extracted properly; root canal treatment and fillings are waiting after tooth extraction…
This project is too scary for patients with dental phobia, so I registered to go to the “Painless Dentistry” of the International Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.
(I am waiting at the door. Photo courtesy of the patient)
“From the film, it’s really a complicated situation, big and small problems involving many teeth.” The doctor explained it to me again and said, “I suggest you consider general anesthesia. With surgery, the problem is solved in one go, time-saving and pain-free.”
Treatment under general anesthesia? ! Sounds like I just need a good night’s sleep, no pain and fear, open my eyes and my teeth will look new? “No problem, doctor, yes, yes.” On the way, I was still debating whether it hurts to pull a tooth or take anesthesia. When I heard that it was “painless” so thoroughly, my joy was beyond words.
The doctor explained three conditions to me: First, the operation under general anesthesia and tracheal intubation will take about 3 hours to complete. I need to do a preoperative checkup and anesthesia assessment to make sure I’m OK. Second, according to my treatment program, the overall cost will be around 30,000 yuan, depending on whether it is acceptable. Third, the operation has to be queued up, and it will take two months at the earliest – it was at the end of September, and the operation is likely to be queued up around the New Year, to see if we can wait.
(My electronic medical record. Photo courtesy of patient)
“If the operation is confirmed, let’s try to repair the missing tooth first, and let it be used for the time being in these two months, so as not to have acute pulpitis, then It hurts too much.” Seeing my fear, the doctor immediately added, “If you are particularly afraid, you can simply deal with it under intravenous sedation.”
As for the problem that the root of wisdom tooth is close to the nerve, it may lead to “facial paralysis” if it is not extracted properly, I asked the question with trepidation, and the doctor waved his hand: “Don’t worry, I will pull it out for you, the probability of hurting the nerve very small.”
I made my decision almost immediately. First, as a strong middle-aged man with a BMI (body mass index) of 20, blood pressure and blood sugar are normal, and anesthesia can be tolerated. Second, the cost of surgery is not low but reasonable and affordable. Third, line up for two months, hopefully “refreshed” before the new year, and can afford to wait.
And, it takes 3 hours to get it done “one-stop” instead ofIt is tossing and running the clinic every half a year, which saves a huge amount of time and cost. Also, I hope this battle will ease my fear of dentistry.
So, the following week, I had an anesthesia evaluation done, and the doctor simply dealt with the missing molar (in five minutes, and I was still thinking about when to put the sedative, and he said “get finished”). The next step is to go home and wait for the surgery.
Looking forward, looking forward, and finally waiting for the notification of the operation, which was scheduled on the morning of December 15th. I went to Xiehe two days in advance to have blood drawn for preoperative examination (including blood routine, liver and kidney function, etc.), because of the epidemic, I had to check for nucleic acid. To be honest, the “nasopharyngeal swab” nucleic acid test method is so… sour.
On the big day of the operation, I have to fast without food and water. The nurse also specially reminded me to “put on diapers” (??? I still don’t understand this requirement), and wear loose clothes. Clothes, consultation on time. On the last day of my menstrual period, I put on a diaper over the comfort pants, changed into my surgical gown, and followed the nurse into the operating room.
I didn’t feel nervous or scared at all until I lay on the operating table. The anesthesiologist came to confirm the basic information with me, and the nurse inserted a needle into the vein of my wrist, and I began to have some real feelings: This is going to be the first general anesthesia operation in my life.
“Don’t be nervous, close your eyes and get a good night’s sleep. When you open your eyes, you will look brand new.” Probably seeing that I was scared, the doctor in charge joked with me, “Look at your face If there is something you want to move, I will do it for you.”
“I’m quite satisfied with my face, don’t move…” Before the joke was finished, the anesthesia took effect, and my eyes went black.
When I woke up, I was in a dimly lit room (resuscitation room), and the left half of my face felt numb, probably because of local anesthesia when my wisdom teeth were extracted. The whole person is very sleepy and powerless. The nurse pushed me back into the brightly lit observation room and let me lie down and rest. After the operation, I need to stay for at least two hours to ensure safety before leaving the hospital; and the chief surgeon told me to stay, and when he performed the last operation, he would also help me to grind the repaired teeth a little and adjust them. One bite.
(after awakening in observation room. Photo courtesy of patient)
The feeling of anesthesia gradually dissipated, the face is no longer numb, and the mouth feels stuffy and uncomfortable, but it doesn’t hurt much.
Finally, when the doctor performed the last operation, I lay back in the dental chair in a daze, and found that I was a little immune to the sound of dental drilling that I had originally feared. Sure enough, the unknown is the most terrifying. Once the boundaries of pain are known, people’s tolerance will be greatly improved.
The doctor prescribed painkillers for me, told me to go home and have a good rest, and told me not to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth that day, and to eat liquid food for the first few days, and not to eat too hot, otherwise I would get sick. affect wound healing. If you experience severe pain or fever, seek medical attention immediately.
(Several of my friends suffered from “dry socket” after having their wisdom teeth removed, the pain hit the wall, and they had to undergo a painful second treatment. Maybe it’s because the doctor’s skills are good, maybe because Luckily for me, I didn’t have this problem.)
(me after surgery. Photo courtesy of patient)
The strength of the medicine dissipated about the next morning, and I felt a little pain at the location where the wisdom teeth were removed, which was negligible after taking a painkiller. Instead, the tracheal intubation caused minor abrasions, so I had a sore throat and hoarse speech for a few days.
Work was back to normal the next day. For the next two weeks, the mild pain did not affect my daily life, and I gradually transitioned from a liquid diet to a normal diet.
I later checked the surgical records and found that in the hours I fell asleep, in addition to the extraction of one horizontal impacted tooth, 13 teeth in the whole mouth experienced poor removal. Fillings, resin fillings, polishing and other treatments, the repair and improvement of the whole mouth are very large, no wonder when you take a selfie in the mirror, there will be a sense of “refreshed” achievement.
When I talked to my friends about this comprehensive oral surgery under general anesthesia, most of them would first say “Wow is so expensive”, and then follow up with a sentence, “But I’m not guilty at all and solved it again. The problem is that it’s cost-effective.” Yep, that’s what I thought too.
(My electronic medical record. Photo courtesy of patient)
In some European and American countries, “tooth extraction under general anesthesia” has long been a routine operation, not to mention complex oral comprehensive treatment.
But we are so good at enduring pain that we have been taught to “be brave” since childhood, as if frankly facing our pain is an unacceptable weakness. Coupled with the fact that many people do not understand pharmacology, they all think that “anaesthetics can damage the brain”, and forget that severe or prolonged pain itself can also cause harm to the human body.
In fact, with the development of anesthesiology today, the action and dosage of drugs can be controlled quite strictly to maximize the benefit of patients.
Writing here, I hope everyone has good teeth. Good teeth are very precious (and really expensive). Also, if you are, like me, ever a dental phobia, I hope this article will open a new door to awareness.
Expert Reviews
According to epidemiological surveys, more than half of the population has more or less dental fear, which is no longer a simple medical problem, or even a social problem:
Dental anxiety and fear is one of the main barriers preventing patients from having regular dental check-ups, early dental treatment and prevention.
The vast majority of patients with dental fears have experienced dental violence (or traumatic, negative dental experiences) in childhood or adolescence, preventing patients from going to the dentist. In the case of delayed treatment, the oral condition further deteriorates, the disease of the teeth becomes more complex and painful, more complex and more traumatic dental treatment is required, and more dental fear is caused – so patients often fall into You cannot extricate yourself from this vicious circle.
Unfortunately, even in European and American countries where dental medicine is more developed, there is still no good treatment for dental fear itself. However, for patients with serious dental diseases, using comfort, such as treatment under general anesthesia, can allow patients to avoid negative dental experiences, save time for consultation, and reduce anxiety and mental stress during the process.
From the doctor’s point of view, in the future, we also hope that dental visits can become a more comfortable and more humane process. We also hope that there will not be so many patients who are frightened by dentists into dental fear. The whole society is paying attention to this topic. I wrote a book about my thoughts on this subject called Farewell, Dental Fear.
Current general anesthesia surgery is very safe and does not impair intelligence. Of course, this kind of treatment is also very complicated, it has high requirements on the overall quality and technical level of medical institutions and medical staff, and it will also generate relatively high costs.
For patients who already have dental fears, the most important thing is to do dental disease prevention. Remember that most oral diseases are preventable. The second point is to recognize your fears, face them, and have the confidence to overcome them and find a dentist who can help you – “Mr Right”.
Text: Aimina Yuan | Editors: Wu Jiaxiang, Ye Zhengxing
Proofreading: Wu Yihe | Typesetting: Li Yongmin
Operation: Han Ningning | Coordinator: Wu Wei
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