How to overcome my fear of dentist?

So since childhood I've had dental phobia. I've been fighting dental issues all my life and I already had several surgical extractions. I have an infection and it's causing severe pain and swelling and my dentist said I need to start several operations or else I could get seizures or even die from blood poisoning. How do I overcome this fear? My dentist suggested IV sedation but that REALLY creeped me out!

I've never experienced any of that, but I know for sure: IV Sedation is basically just putting a needle in your arm, injecting something that will put you in a really heavy state, and depending on the drug used, you'll wake up with everything done, like it only happened for a few seconds, but I don't know what they'll use, that one is a REALLY strong one, but anything else will take care of the pain and knock you out, you'll just be laying there, asleep, then you'll wake up with it all done. It won't be anything like Gintama episode 175, where your body will be modified, having a robot attached and while you get drilled they take the pain, being broken, then you go to a hospital asking to fix the robots like a weirdo... Anyhow, medical technology today is a lot better than years ago, so take it slow and easy. Since you'll be sedated, you won't notice a thing going on, just wake up slightly sore maybe? I don't know, I've never been sedated by a drug before... But I assure you it's safe and painless, and you won't be aware of what's going on, it's just getting to that point I'd say be your challenge. Well, I hope this helped, good luck on your decision!

I know my mother has this phobia, she needed operations too. She was so terrified about it but she's happy she did it now. I'm pretty sure that she got IV sedation and she said that she didn't feel anything after the IV itself. She just woke up and all the work was done. She had an abscess that was sort of under her tooth or something and it was really painful but apparently once she finally got the work done she felt nothing afterwards and after the painkilling effect wears off she just took ibruprofen or asprin and she was drinking vodka three hours later hahaha. (Even though they said not to...) If it's causing that much pain, wouldn't just a little bit more be worth it to be pain free after that? And seizures aren't fun. Neither is blood poisoning. Then after that, you can go and see your bugs pain free! Yay! (I still hate spiders, by the way...) I'm sure you'll be fine and if you do go, you'll be great! Good luck with that!~ <3

Thanks guys! I feel a bit better about IV sedation now since it has positive feedback, I'm just afraid of not waking back up! xD And Leia, I'd help you overcome that fear of spiders if I knew you irl. lol ;)

I'm sure you'll wake back up, I give you permission to come and haunt me if you don't lol :P Oh no, I'd end up killing them. I honestly... I freak out when I see them. xD

well, for me I have the phobia myself. I have bitten almost every dentist I have. though my current dentist kinda tickles when she is in my mouth. (I have a very sensitive mouth, I can feel all, even when numbed which lasts 10 minutes) I say if it is a surgery type thing I would let myself be knocked out. I did for my wisedom teeth. I was amusing, yet apparently the most sane drugged person they dealt with. Though the other thing I do is hold super still, I try not to move at all. A good dentist will know if they are hurting you even if you don't move if you close your eyes, due to the muscles in your face being connected this moves your lips slightly letting them know. Hopefully you are not a shaker, I was at one point and they strapped me to the chair.

"I'm just afraid of not waking back up" only IF you had a reaction to the drug, but that doesn't really happen, worst case would be an allergic reaction. (I'm saying all of this with an observation view, no real knowledge or experience) The worst you could expect is just waking up a bit later than expected, not never waking up. Comas only happen with your mental state, and the narcotics now and days only last ever so long when used by a hospital, so eventually you will wake up, if you were allergic to them, well, then would be a cause for attention, but hardly anyone would be, or before-hand they do checks to be sure you aren't one of those very few. But all in all very safe, nothing to worry about. But really, the case of never waking up due to sedation I only ever heard on those TV dramas, or with old people, or something, but I've never heard of such an actual case, not saying it never happens, but saying if it did happen I'd have to have won the lottery, 3 times in a row, full jackpot every time...

Any drug can be deadly if you are given too much. But don't worry, the dentist is a trained professional who will take the utmost care of you. Plus, if anything goes wrong with opioids the dentist gives you, it will most likely be that you wake up with itty bitty pupils and being unable to poop for a while. But that should go away. The dentist will probably throw in an antibiotic as you have an infections. Just make sure to tell them what allergies you have. A bacterial infection in the mouth is very dangerous. You need that surgery quick. That will definitely kill you.

Like any phobia, it takes time to overcome. Right now I think you don't really have much choice-- you need that surgery. But as someone who has a bit of a dentist phobia myself, I found that actually having a good dentist helps. I had to go to the dentist for root canal treatment and I found myself panicking straight away-- I procrastinated going until it started hurting directly from the nerve- which I won't go into detail about. Let's just say it was really really painful. I finally went to the dentist, and since I hadn't been to that dentist before, I had to fill out a form. I was surprised to find that the form included questions like 'are you afraid of the dentist?' as well as 'are you sensitive to pain' and things like that. As I was freaking out at the time, I basically checked every box. The normal injection they give you at the dentist for pain doesn't tend to work on me, so I also wrote that down. When I finally got in, the dentist looked at my form and very very gently had a look at my tooth. Of course, it was very sensitive at the time and it hurt- I made sure to let him know. He told me that my nerve was dying; and that was why it was hurting. He had to get into the root of the tooth so that he could put in some medicine that would make the nerve die faster. He even had diagrams. At the time I had come with a friend who was an adult- she had recommended the dentist to me. She explained to me that it was necessary and that I had to try my best to hold out and it would be over with soon. I was asked whether I wanted the injection- which I decided not to have since it doesn't work anyway. So I let the dentist start-- every second more and more nervous that it was going to start hurting. And once it did- it was agony. My friend held my hands so that I wouldn't interfere with the dentist's work. But the dentist got it done as fast as he could; and once he was done, he gave me extra strong painkillers to take home if it started hurting again. In the next two days, my tooth became settled, and didn't hurt at all. But that didn't stop me from being nervous about going to the next appointment. The root canal treatment is basically the dentist drilling into the root of your tooth and using a tiny screw-like object to scrape out the rotted nerve. And sometimes, even though normally the tooth didn't hurt, it hurt when the dentist did this. But whenever I said it hurt, he made sure to stay away from that area and do whatever else he could. Eventually, after a few months, the entire nerve had died and it didn't hurt at all anymore, so he could finish up the treatment. Sometimes dentists appointments hurt. There's not really much you can do about it. But I think it's very important to have a dentist you trust; as well as one who takes the time to explain the procedure and make sure you're as comfortable as possible. My dentist was always kind to me and even when I was in tears after the treatment he would try to make me feel better. After this experience with the dentist I am no longer as afraid as I was before. I am really grateful to everyone at that clinic.