Dental Fears: Why I’m Terrified With Tooth Extractions

Fear of the dentist is something that hundreds of thousands of people in the world share. The reason for this is obvious – people are afraid to experience pain. They are willing to experience pain because of their decayed teeth, but at least it is the kind of pain that is familiar to them. With a dentist, though, the possible pain comes from an unknown source and inflicted by an outside entity – the dentist.

Thus, for both physical and psychological purposes, people are extremely afraid of trips to the dental clinic. 

For me though, my fear of the dentist dates back to the first time I had a tooth extraction session. There I was on the dental chair, confident that I won’t feel any pain after being reassured by my parents and the dentist herself. I had multiple decayed teeth to be extracted, so it would take like 1 or 2 shots of anaesthetics to numb the nerves that give sensation to the decayed teeth.

The injections went on fine. After that, the dentist proceeded to the pulling of the first tooth. The decayed tooth was extracted successfully! However, when the dentist started to pull the second tooth, I felt a sharp tingling pain on my gums! It hurt like hell, as if the nerves are being pulled without being numbed at all! When the dentist tried to find out what’s wrong, he soon discovered that underneath the gums, there is still a hidden pocket of abscess left and some minor swelling. This is the reason why the anaesthetics didn’t work fully on that particular tooth. I was asked to come back after several days until the abscess and swelling has completely subsided.

Experiences like these are the reason why many people will refuse to visit a dentist despite the fact that they have to. In my case, I had to muster enough courage to go back to the clinic after several days. And if I was able to have that tooth extracted when I came back, it took me years to visit an oral health practitioner again.

These are fears that all of us need to overcome. The high cost of surgical tooth extraction is not the issue here, but rather the fear experienced by dentists.

Eventually though, I soon find out that cases like mine are rare. It is rare for patients to feel pain while under the influence of local anaesthesia. Come to think of it. Just because a plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, you shouldn’t avoid riding planes altogether. The same thing applies with going to the dentist. 

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