As a child I always loved going to the dentist. I generally had nothing and it was just a nice outing for me. I have been in a relationship with a dentist for a few years now (and even do marketing for dental practices) and his stories often show that not everyone enjoys lying in the chair. Some people are even so afraid that they don’t go at all or want to be treated under anesthesia. My husband Ward performs this type of anesthesia treatment and finds it works well for anxious patients. But what if you don’t dare even then?
Little attention to personal hygiene
I spoke to 29-year-old Nina, who has been terrified of the dentist for years. “I come from a family where little attention was paid to personal hygiene in the past. My father and mother both had dentures and little attention was paid to brushing our teeth. Also visiting the dentist was not something that was on our agenda every six months. Only when my mother was told at the consultation office that she had to go to the dentist with us did we actually go.”
Silly man
At the age of four, Nina first visited a dentist. “This was a nasty man, who I remember was not nice to us. I had a lot of cavities and he told my mother that he couldn’t believe how she neglected my sister’s and mine’s teeth.” In the weeks that follow, the dentist schedules various times when Nina has to come back. “Three times I was in the chair with him. I got multiple fillings and two molars were pulled. My mother and the assistant had to forcefully hold me in the chair, I was so scared.”
Never go to the dentist again
In the following years, Nina continues to have problems with her teeth. “I started brushing better and my mother took us to the dentist, but I continued to suffer from cavities.” As long as Nina lived with her parents, she kept going to the dentist. Against her will, but she went. “The last time I went to the dentist was when I was 19 years old. He then said that I should make an appointment with the oral surgeon to have my wisdom teeth removed, but I never went. I never went back to my dentist.”
Phone call from the assistant
Nina ignores all the calls she gets from her dentist. “When I hadn’t been for three years, the assistant called me to ask if I had a different dentist. I just said this was the case. Then the calls stopped.” Nina thought it was a huge relief that she was no longer receiving calls. “That way I was not constantly confronted with the fact that I should actually go to the dentist.”
A lot of pain
To limit the damage as much as possible, Nina decides to keep her teeth clean as much as possible at home. “I brush neatly twice a day and occasionally rinse with mouthwash. Still I have a lot of pain in my mouth. I have a rotting tooth that the dentist would probably want to pull. I also have a lot of problems with my gums, it bleeds a lot when brushing and it just hurts a lot. My boyfriend often says that my mouth stinks and that I really should go to the dentist.”
High threshold
The threshold to go to the dentist is getting higher and higher for Nina. “The longer I don’t go, the more trouble I get and the more afraid I become that a lot has to be done. I know I have to go, but I keep putting it off.
We cordially invite everyone to respond (in a respectful manner!) to Nina’s story.
Gynecologists reveal the 3 most annoying habits of their patients
Do you sometimes find going to the gynecologist a bit exciting? Of course it’s not nothing if a stranger suddenly has his / her head between your legs. But, visiting a gynecologist can be very important. Nervousness should therefore never prevent you from making a pap smear, for example. How best to behave then? Just normal. As if there is no one between your legs, so to speak… Distractify compiled a list of the 11 biggest annoyances of gynecologists. Here is a small selection from the article. Three times the most annoying habits of patients at the gynaecologist…. read more
