Have you ever experienced dentophobia in your life?

Starting from a young age, I was never a very frequent dentist visitor. I have never had the good fortune of finding a dentist who will understand my fear of pain and dental gadgets. I have had several gum surgeries and painful tooth extractions that do not bring me such fond memories. That is the main reason my teeth were always left to myself with a toothbrush and a toothpaste, sometimes a little dental floss if needed.

For the holidays, I stayed with my family in Salt Lake City, on the recommendation of my friends. A modern city in Utah with beautiful scenery and exceptional food. We stayed at a local hotel to get as close as possible to the city’s attractions. After we spent some time resting in our room, my friend wanted us to go skiing. Honestly, I am not a fan of winter sports or cold weather in general, but I wanted to please her. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned, so we visited The Utah Olympic Park because it had a lot of activities itself. We went ziplining and rock climbing, in general we had a great time.

That is when the problem arises. My molars were always in bad condition, but my phobia did not allow me to treat them properly. It often happens that my ear canals start hurting due to a broken tooth and cause pain in my entire head. This is exactly what happened to me while staying in Salt Lake City. Cold weather, loud music that I am used to listening to, and a couple of wrong snacks started the agony. The pain was intense and unbearable. I realized that I was procrastinating enough and that it was time to fight my fear. I searched online for a Salt Lake City emergency dentist with good recommendations who could help me right away.

Luckily, I came across a Salt Lake City emergency dentist with some excellent reviews, and I decided to give it a try. Firstly, I called them to schedule an urgent appointment if possible and to explain my situation. Very polite staff helped me immediately, they gave me instructions on how to relieve the pain a little. More importantly, I could come straightaway, they promised they will help me as soon as I arrive. I won’t lie to you, I was very nervous and scared. What if I am on the threshold of another bad and painful experience? What if things get complicated and I hit the dentist in affect? To be honest, it would not be the first time this has happened to me. I started to feel anxious again. To be or not to be, that was the question right now.

I encouraged myself, I guess there is not much reason to worry. I packed up and headed for the ambulance. I arrived quickly, the dentist was waiting for me already. I wanted to sit down and talk about my fear with him before we started. In my personal opinion, a dentist should be a psychologist in some way, you know. I want to work with a person who won’t judge me based on my phobia, and this time I came across the right one. The dentist was understanding towards me, he encouraged me also by saying that he was afraid too but his profession helped him to release his fear. I was finally happy and calm knowing that I had come to the right place.

We started the intervention with a brief examination, the dentist told me that I had to remove my lower molar on the left because it could not be cured. That was the reason I felt intense pain whenever I ate. Tooth extraction has always been a big challenge for me because I had to refrain from crying out of fear. But this time that was not the case. Everything went quickly and painlessly, I couldn’t believe I didn’t feel even the slightest pain. At every moment I was informed what the dentist is going to do next, how long it would take and stuff like that. And just like that, my tooth was removed.

I felt relieved because I finally found the right dentist for me. So my vacation turned into overcoming my fear, but I didn’t regret it in any moment!