Terrified Of The Dentist... At 23 AND A Trip To Disneyland In December!

If you follow me on Facebook you would have come across a recent post where I said my posting for the last week would be on the light side. Why? Because I had a terrible tooth ache that hit last Sunday. I slept it off (as hard as it was) and with the help of some amoxicilina, it was (sort of) gone. Since I am terrified of the dentist, I decided to not go and let it go away. It went away... and literally slapped me in the face on Friday night. I didn't sleep, as the pain didn't allow me to. So I told my parents to drive me 40min to a Dentist that my uncle recommended.

The elevation difference made the car ride much more horrible, as it made me tear up in pain, it was unbearable. I got to the dentist's office and 10min. later he sat me down to photograph the tooth that hurt. The Dentist came back and told me, "its okay, its just an infection, you need a good cleaning". Hearing this I said, oh thank goodness, I won't need something like a root canal. He turned around and said, "no... you do need one".

My heart sank, I felt like dying.. literally. I didn't know exactly what a root canal was, I was under the impression that they would literally get a mini drill and start going at it on the tooth. I am ashamed to say, but at 23 years old, I cried like a baby. My heart was beating fast, I was sniffling and my face was red. I was laying down on the dentist's chair not knowing what would be done, but when given the other possibility (extract my tooth) I said "ok". I signed the release forms and he came back in, swabbed my tooth with gel and then grabbed a needle with whoknowswhat in my mouth. It went numb.

The dentist left again and came back about 10min. later and went to work. All throughout the 1 1/2 hours I sat there, he stuck pins of some kind in my mouth. My head hurt more than the procedure actually did. All I felt was the needle and the pins hitting and killing the nerves. It didn't hurt, it was more of a weird uncomfortable feeling. I am ashamed that I cried, as it wasn't anything like what I expected. He was very sweet and helped me calm down. I actually hugged him when we were done. I no longer have a fear of the dentist. I have to go back in two weeks for the 2nd part of the treatment, in which he has to do the same thing and put a crown (I think) on the tooth. I am not scared, but they said tooth canals have a 80% chance of fixing the problem, extraction is the last option. I hope with all my heart that I am part of the 80% because I have no greater fear than loosing my teeth.

As a student with NO INSURANCE, this did take a toll on us money-wise. Bad enough to cause us to cancel our trip to Nicaragua in December. Its very disappointing as we were ALL looking forward to it, we already had bought tons of bug spray, some new clothing, extra things we would all need like shampoo, snacks, canned food, etc. We were even prepared with some great Travel-Friendly Products from sponsors we reviewed recently. It really is a shame, but all we can do now is send off the box of toys to donate to the children out there. Since this was such an unfortunate event, we decided we would at least do something special as a family and decided to go to Disneyland in December. My two youngest siblings have never been there, and at 5 and 9 they are at a great age where they will remember it.