Real Stories from Real Patients

Last Updated (Tuesday, 31 August 2010 20:29) Written by Administrator Tuesday, 31 August 2010 20:12

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Here are just a few of the many enquiries and stories I get from people, the stories they have – any of these sound familiar?

 

"Rob, Thanks for your email. 20 years ago i was given a injection it was put so fast it blew up. I was in so much pain i cant tell you what it was like so over the past 20 years i havent been to the dentist. I did not know why my teeth over the past 5 years started to fall out split and crack…."

"Dear Rob, I have not been to a dentist in a long ,long time ,I have 3 wisdom teeth through partially , 2 broken teeth not visible and probably many fillings that need replacing,I have quite a bit of sensitivity in my teeth and the back of my lower teeth make me very sad as they have quite a build up on them and they are sensitive,I have also just had antibiotics for the first time in 10 years as a small abscess came up on the gum of the broken bottom tooth,how crazy is all this, please tell me you have seen or heard about worse! Currently If I could just go to sleep and wake up with all the work done I would be so happy! "

"I have not forgotten about your practice and I am in the position with this massive black hole below my gumline where I should have a tooth and I am petrified of having this extracted but trying to work up the courage to see you.

How do I go about meeting for a chat because this is taking over my life at the moment. I am so scared about this and what you will say about it and that I should never have left it as years and years ago it could have been saved and I am scared that it is poisoning by body as I hear horror stories! "

"My name is xxxx and I am 27. I have not been to a dentist for 11 years and hate myself for it more than i could ever express. It has got to the point that i would be too embarrassed to go now, but I need to do it I know I do. Please Help Me!"

This is just a selection from the last two weeks, we've edited them slightly to take names and details out.

These are such common stories but we are convinced here that "cowardice" and "being brave" and "guilt" shouldn't enter into things – Dentistry is a Phobia and as phobias go, it is actually quite rational!

;



The spiral goes as follows - does this sound familiar?

 

You develop a dental problem and you know youve got to get it sorted out because it could cause you more problems.

 

BUT - you are afraid of going to the dentist, so you wait to build courage.

 

BUT - courage never comes, because instead, worry takes over. Worry drowns out courage!

 

SO - you delay and then problem gets worse, to the point where desperation takes over and it starts to dominate your life.

 

SO - you feel guilty that when you do eventually see a dentist, they are going to make you feel guilty by saying "well, if you'd gone earlier, you wouldnt have had this problem"

 

We get emails all the time from people in this predicament and we make them a promise straight away - WE WILL NOT MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY!!!  WE UNDERSTAND THIS SPIRAL!!! Ive been there myself, i know how it feels.

 

So - we wont make you feel guilty, we will treat you with respect and when it comes to the actual treatment, we will do everything we can to make it as comfortable as we know how!

 

 

 

Great Case last week

Guy came to see us, been putting off dentistry for years after lots of bad
experiences. Its that familiar story of the longer problems get left, the
worse they get, the more guilty you feel, the less liekly you are to come in
a seek treatment, the worse things get etc etc.

He decided to break that cycle with just one phone call!

In two sessions we carried out about 7 or 8 appointments worth of work,
including extractions, root canal work - he didn't care! Each session was
about three hours long, afterwards it felt like about 15 minutes.

When I spoke to him afterwards he said "I'm numb, but I don't remember you
giving me an injection - how's that?" and also "lets have a look, I cant
believe you did all that!"

He was beautifully relaxed all the way through - an absolutely textbook
case!

It just goes to show if you are in that "Guilt Rut", all it takes is one
phone call. Come in and talk to me, free of charge, see what you think of
us.

 

Dear Dr Rob Endicott

I would just like to send my thanks through an email.
It was very difficult for me to come today, the thought of any dental work has previously been out of the question for me due to a fear of the dentist.
However you were very welcoming and understanding of my situation and for that i am very grateful.
Many Thanks
i have been afraid of the dentist since i was 16 as i was being treated and it was killing me but he didn't stop. I am now 37 but still can not face the dentist. I did go last year to have a tooth taken out as it had a whole in it but the pain i was in out weighed the pain i was going to endure. I think i am so scarred that the anaesthetic does not seem to work and i can not bring myself to sit in a dentist chair even for a check up!!!

Thanks again for all the time you have spent replying to me, I do appreciate it.
It would be great if I could come and see you tomorrow then?
I am not always horribly nervous of the work, I am more nervous of what I'm going to be told and the idea of ongoing work!  Once I get my head around things I can meditate and get myself into the chair, I'm not sure the sedation would always be necessary for me.  The problem is it just never seems to end there and that's where my fear and nerves have developed from.
To be honest, I am more interested in a caring manner, someone who actually seems to be interested in helping me find a solution and good work that is carried out with some degree of responsibility!  (I'm sure you may have come across dentists guilty of this - there seem to be many in Brighton unfortunately!)
As you can tell I am very nervous now, I've had one trip that ended up in an abscess that landed me in hospital for 3 days so I am also very nervous, cynical and have little trust.  I would be very scared of being told I needed a lot of work after having so much done already...
I hope you were happy with how things went on Friday? I don't remember very much, which is a good thing!
Dear Dr. Endicott,
>
> I found your site through a Google search for sedation dentistry.
>
> I've been avoiding the inevitable for several years and now have two
> or
> three fairly problematic molars which I think may need extraction.
> They
> suffer from intermittent infections as well.
>
> About ten years ago I had quite a lot of work done under sedation (
> intravenous I recall ) which was so much easier.
(rob - Ive done the first session for this guy, it was an absolute breeze for him, he remembers nothing and we took out some really nasty teeth, he felt nothing and was really happy, returning next week...)


 

 

 

 

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