I managed to avoid going to a dentist for almost thirty years until late last year when tooth pain forced me to go. Turns out nothing wrong with my teeth except for the beginnings of a small cavity. The pain? They couldn’t tell me.
I had to be sedated in order to get the filling done. And now I have to go for a routine cleaning/check. ARRGHHHH!!!
Does any one actually like going to the dentist???
30 years !.You must eat a lot of apples and carrots
If you could get a NHS dentist appointment here, you’d feel like you’d won the lottery 
I don’t mind going, I go once a year but I have to pay privately now, even though we should all be entitled to NHS treatment
I do like seeing the hygienist though, and getting polished up, lovely shiny smile and whiter than white 
Not sure why anyone should actually like going to the dentist. Well, I had a feeling that my mother did when she was over 80 knowing that there would basically be an inspection only and no treatment. What she actually enjoyed was that someone picked her up and took care of her which was better than sitting in her home alone.
I never liked going to the dentist either but I didn’t shy away from it since treatment was necessary and not seeing the dentist was no option. You’re lucky if you don’t seem to need dental treatment for such a long time. Where I grew up there were very few dentists and they mainly extracted teeth, for which they got a bonus, but they didn’t treat and preserve them. Their equipment was totally inappropriate. Drills didn’t drill but were grinding a small whole into the tooth generating a stink. Dentists were corrupt preferring those who were able to pay with hard currency. It’s fair to say that there was actually no dental treatment worthy of the name at all.
It’s because of this experience that I enjoy a proper dental treatment today which includes seeing a hygienist. Later in life, no matter where I was, at home or abroad, I had to see a dentist regularly.
Nope! I’d rather pass on that one . 
I don’t like it but it isn’t the trial that it used to be. Needles and drills cause less pain these days. Local anaesthetics work well.
I’ve racked up many hours in the dreaded chair, with one thing and another. Can’t say I enjoyed any of it, but it’s a necessary evil to avoid extractions and the day when I have to wear dentures.
Having natural teeth is a wonderful thing - until they go wrong, which they easily do.
One would have to be a bit on the sadistic side to ‘like’ going to the dentist. I’m not one of them.
The only reason I go is to keep the teeth I have in good health which they are. It’s been a year since I’ve been. I’m stalling. I hate going to the dentist.
All that fake shop talk one has to put up with.
No thanks.
I’ve heard this many times … people not going to dentist for years and then find teeth are fine! Not that I’m recommending people don’t go but it does make you think.
My BIL has always had a dentist phobia. He didn’t go for about 25 years. He is a big, tough rugby player but hates dentists. The rest of his family pressurised him. He needed just one tiny filling on examination!
I am terrified of going to the dentist even though the experience is always quite different to what makes me terrified and I always leave wondering what the fuss was about.
To me a dentist visit is sitting in a large leather chair next to one of those articulated arms with those black drive belts running round pulleys at the bends with the drill attached to the end. The drill in operation was slow, extremely noisy, vibrating the jaw and often resulted in smoke coming out of your mouth. It was horrendous.
The modern dentist has these high speed, water cooled, drills and always gives an anaesthetic, the fear is entirely in my head but I would still rather have an extraction than a filling.
The only worse experience was in the early 1970s when a travelling companion had to visit a dentist in India - exactly the same arrangement except the dentist peddled the device with a treadle. It didn’t happen to me but I watched - I don’t know who was more worried her or me!
Even writing this sets my teeth on edge.
Is it any wonder why people have phobias when it comes to dentists. I remember the pully driven drills with no local anaesthetics. It was horrendous. If it wasn’t the dreaded drill, it was the hostile unsympathetic attitude of the dentist and their staff, and it wasn’t that, it was the dreaded gas where you were held down and near suffocated as you went under.
I hate the hygienist more than the dentist. There are no NHS dentists here so I have to pay privately. Last year it was £963, the year before £680. My dentist’s name? Richard, but all his staff call him Rich…
Folks like a dazzling smile when the rest of their body has gone west, due to neglect. 
As far as I know we don’t have hygienists, I am going by others’ description of their job, here the dentist himself performs the task. For example I have an appointment in early February for a six monthly check up, Xray, scale/clean and fluoride treatment which the dentist himself will do and will charge me $150 (£75) for (fixed price).
That scaling/clean always makes me want to curl up and die!
Any problems he finds are extra but I am not expecting problems this time, I haven’t got that many teeth left to have problems in.
Laughing here about the apples and carrots…
I haven’t got that many left either Bruce. The ones I have cost me an awful lot of money! I think I pay for the dentist’s Caribbean holiday every year.
My thinking about dentists changed when I found a brilliant, precise, patient dentist. I suspect the introduction of quicker and more effective injections to stop the pain also helped. I’ve had many root canal treatments, quite a few extractions and lots of filling and filling replacements. But I trust the chap I go to and don’t ever fear a visit.
Sorry, not completely true. My wallet fears a visit as this west end of London practice is eye-wateringly expensive.
I would have root cavitys, fillings, extractions , etc
But hygenist ! No thankyou , that does hurt …yuk
I make sure i clean my teeth regular , with all the plaque instruments
I have Norwegian dentist …hes brilliant !
Who remembers the school dentist, now they were torturers !,
And the smell of the gas masks , i ll never forget
