im really scared of the dentist no chance of me going and i need alot of work do!

Hi,
A dentist will usually see you for a check up before referring you. You could look up your local hospital and find out if you can self-refer. There is a chance that they would allow this - look up who the restorative consultant is and contact their secretary perhaps.

The treatment at a dental hospital would be the same as you could get at the dentist so I am not sure you'd gain anything by being referred.

Have you ever worked out just what it is you are afraid of? You seem comfortable with the *idea* of having your teeth looked at, so I am guessing you don't mind sitting in the chair, opening your mouth and letting the dentist probe around a bit. Obviously the dentist will use one of those pointy things to touch your teeth but they don't hurt. Then the dentist might take X-rays - again completely painless and nothing to be worried about. Are you OK with those bits?

You say you need lots of work done so I am guessing you might currently be experiencing some discomfort or even pain. The dentist only wants to stop you feeling pain and make your teeth healthy. The last thing they want is to cause you more pain.

So, your dentist might need scrape your teeth with one of those pointy tools to get rid of tartar build-up. That's to stop the tartar causing any more damage and to see what damage has already been caused. It's a strange process, having the tartar removed but it doesn't hurt so there is nothing to be worried about there.

What if you need a filling? First your dentist will give you an injection to make the area numb. To be honest, it does prick a bit at first but only for a few seconds and it really isn't bad anyway - certainly not as bad a tooth ache. The drill *sounds* a bit alarming but the sound can't hurt you. It's just the sound of a machine working - no big deal. When the drill touches the infected tooth, it sounds quite loud in your head and it is a strange sensation - You can feel air and water that comes from the drill but it will not hurt. The dentist or a dental nurse will use a small suction tube to suck the water out of your mouth along with any rotten tooth particles removed by the drill. It is peculiar if you are not used to it but nothing to be afraid of. When the rotten material is removed, the dentist will fill the hole and smooth off the surface, this will involve a few more squirts of water and some more sucking up the excess. Afterwards, you get a chance to rinse your mouth of any particles that may remain ... and this can be tricky if your lips are a bit numb. Overall, it gets boring but never frightening.

No one likes the drilling or the rest of it so I just sit there with my mouth wide open and image myself being somewhere else. In my imagination, I am on a hot sunny beach in Ibiza, listening to the sounds of the sea, feeling the sun on my body and smelling the the sun-tan lotion. Before I know it, it's all over.

The way I see it, the dentist is a professional and knows what he/she is doing. My job is to sit there, open wide and let them get on with it in complete confidence that the dentist will not harm me at all but will actually repair harm I have caused and stop me suffering the severe pain of tooth ache. To me, the inconvenience is well worth it and absolutely nothing to be feared.

I know fear is not something you can be totally rational about but, if you can tie down exactly what bothers you, it might be worth talking to your dentist about it to consider the options. They want to help. Good luck.

You will actually have to see your dentist and have a full examination and xrays and a discussion about treatment before he can refer you elsewhere.

No one will refer you unseen.

How is going to the dental hospital different to going to the dentist only you have a trainee instead of someone qualified.

CALL THE DENTIST AND GET PUT UNDER FOR TREATMENT THIS WAY YOU SLEEP WHILE ALL THE WORK IS DONE