How do you survive the dentist?

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I have more now and might be going to the dentist tomorrow I'm scared stiff I am deathly afraid of needles and the drill. I have to go on vacation on Wednesday so if I do go there is no postponing it.

I am also very sensitive to needles and the drill.

What can I do? I don't know what to do and my dentist is not a special-needs dentist and knows a little bit but not much about my autism and the last time he had to put in the shot twice because he didn't give me enough numbing thingy.

What if I need a filling? what if I need A tooth pulled?

Having had four wisdom teeth pulled in one day I can say that if your dentist is even slightly competent, you won't feel a thing, just some pressure. It usually doesn't come to that though, only if your teeth are in such bad condition that they've rotted or something. If you brush regularly I don't think it's something you need to worry about.

As for fillings and needles, they also aren't things to worry about. It's not so much the sensation of the needle going in that's bad, it's the taste of the anesthetic that floods my mouth that makes me want to gag. The needle doesn't hurt, it's just some pressure that's applied into my gum.

The drill is tougher though. Once I moved my head when the dentist was drilling and it cut through my lip, that was terrible. Since then, it's been difficult holding my head still while the dentist is drilling...Mostly I summon whatever willpower I have and just keep it there. And think of something else other than the annoying high-pitched sound.

Dentistry is as close to painless as they can make it these days, but for those of us who deal with high anxiety, it can still be nerve-wracking. I just figure if it wasn't for my dentist, I'd be in more pain, not less, because my teeth would eventually shatter or decay and I'd just have a bunch of broken teeth and unrepaired holes that were all incredibly sensitive to temperature. Or worse, infections and toothaches.

I was born with 9 more teeth in my head than a human is supposed to have, so I spent most of my adolescence and teen years in a dentist's chair, between the surgery to remove the spares and the braces to keep all the rest aligned properly.

Try making some really strong chamomile tea about an hour before you go, it will help settle your nerves. Be sure to brush after, so your breath doesn't smell like grass. The dentist will think he's working on a horse.

How do I survive the dentist?
Pray.

...

I wear sunglasses for the spotlight.

For drilling I cringe, and think about something happy.

As a child I was afraid almost to death of the dentist.

However I got over my fear I never had a bad experience with a dentist except my own fears.

A toothache on the other hand is real suffering I would almost rather die then suffer through a toothache ever again.

I got my impacted wisdom teeth out a few years ago it was really quick really easy and pain free.

What I do remember is the weeks leading up to it worrying about it and having nightmares.

I wonder what life is like in poor nations in which most of the population have no access to a dentist.
What would be like to have really bad toothache and have no chance of getting to a dentist?
I think I would kill myself.

That's good. And that's a compliment to either you or your parents or both that you have started his education on autism.

If it feels right in a light, jaunty, free way, and if you have some extra books on autism where you don't mind losing one for a while, consider taking one with you and handing it to him and offering to lend it to him if he's interested. It demonstrates that you not all that embarrassed about being on the spectrum. Just what it is, is what it is. And it gives you social space to make like one talking point. For example . . . Try and give me a little advice notice. Not making a big deal, but just matter-of-factly along the way.

Maybe buy wax or form earplugs available at most pharmacies. I myself prefer the wax.

And maybe very casually, look up and skim through some zen on the Internet. And yes, that casually. Occasionally might run across little snippets of advice and/or jokes and both can help.

I have to be anesthetized for the dentist. Even for cleanings I have to either be asleep or people would have to hold me down. And even before that starts I have to be given anti panic meds like Xanax.

Thank your lucky stars your dentist isn't Orvin Scrivello!

I think it's one of those things that often just SEEMS super awful, but when you actually go and do it.... not so much.

My own example is a bit of minor surgery I had. My parents' idea. My teeth overall are a bit warped, and there was one tooth in particular that had simply never come down; so it appeared to be missing but was up in my gums. So, because "it'll look better with it!" or some damn stupid reason, oral surgery was decided on!

And holy heck, was I scared of this. Just... ugh.

Fear of needles was bad enough (still kinda is), but this was further than just a needle or a drill.

What actually happened:

Firstly, they used this... stuff... some sort of mystery goo... that they put on certain spots to numb it against the pain of the actual needles. Those spots are where the needles were used ... four of them! But I literally didnt feel any of them because of the mystery goo.

But what did the surgery part consist of?

Simple: 3 hours of staring up the doctor's nose. No, seriously, that's like, the extent of the experience. That was the whole thing. Here I'd gone in with great fear... next I know, I'm bored out of my mind. I couldnt fall asleep either, because the two or so times I started to doze off, they'd just jab me until I was all the way awake.

3 brain-melting hours later, and it was over. The bad part was that I could eat nothing but soup for the next 3 days. Needless to say, I was tired of soup rather quickly. The dumb part: The stupid tooth is malformed, dumb-looking, and useless. HOW HELPFUL.

So yeah... that bit turned out to not be so bad. And I think that's how these things often go. It's worth just trying to keep that in mind, really.