Lavender 'calms dental patients'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7611862.stm

I saw that. Have to say, given the recent dental work I had, if I'd been offered lavender I'd have told them where to shove it (and no, it wouldn't have been in my mouth!!)

I think the idea is to sniff it but how the hell you're supposed to do that while hyperventilating with fear I'll never know!!

I can well understand stress levels increasing when visiting the tax office or going for a job interview, but always find it quite puzzling why folks get stressed about a simple visit to the dentist.
The only reasons I can visualise, are a previous bad experience (the dentist did not wait for the anaesthetic to take full effect) or a learnt behaviour pattern like you get when as a child, some responsible idiotic adult tells you not to go near that dog because it WILL bite you.

Well, my fear and apprehension of the dentist comes from having been (a) slapped by a dentist when I was young because the drilling was painful (double whammy really) (b ) having had to wear a brace which was badly fitted and ended up causing all sorts of permanent damage to my teeth and mouth structure (c ) having very very sensitive teeth as a result of said brace damage and (d ) having it only finally recently discovered that the nerves along my lower jaw are transposed with blood vessels, muscle etc, meaning that where the dentist should be injecting to stop nerve pain signals, is actually missing the nerve completely meaning that any dental work on the lower jaw is being carried out without anaesthetic.

You begin to see why a simple visit to the dentist is actually one that feels more like a torture session than a case of simply waiting for the anaesthetic to take hold...

Nasty ..... Yours definitely fits the bad experience category

Yes, like sitting in the waiting room listening to the screams of the child in with the dentist already, and on another occasion being given 7 injections because after each one when the dentist started drilling my mouth wasnt numb and I almost hit the ceiling, and on another occasion hearing him say whilst drilling "oh, the tooth has cracked, we'll have to take it out" and then being awake during a knee against the chest experience while he pulled it out.

I wont mention losing 2 teeth on separate occasions because the dentist filled them so badly.

Nor the dentist who tried to take an impression of my daughters upper teeth and managed to trap her tongue underneath and insisted the nurse held her down despite her struggles and screams and me yelling for them to stop.

Incompetent idiots the lot of them!! I have yet to meet a dentist who hasnt cocked up and I swear I would rather have another C section (where the epidural wore off half way thru!!) than have any more tratment done by a dentist.

Lavender ?? Not on your nelly

Pasher - wait for the anaesthetic to take effect? What anaesthetic???

[quote=Moongazer,Sep 13 2008, 07:20 PM]Yes, like sitting in the waiting room listening to the screams of the child in with the dentist already, [/quote]
Are you saying that does not relax you, Its my favourite bit of the visit.

[quote=Moongazer,Sep 13 2008, 07:20 PM]I wont mention losing 2 teeth on separate occasions because the dentist filled them so badly.[/quote]
That is not unusual and is normally due to some incompetent fool of a dental nurse mixing the dental amalgam incorrectly.[/quote]

The anaesthetic that modern dentists usually use. It works a bit quicker and is cheaper than the old fashioned knock-out potions like whiskey, though not as nice tasting for the patient.

Or getting gas Throwing up continiously after waking up!

oh no the dreaded dentist i had a similar experience to Moongazer.

had the tooth out went back next day saying a bit was left in dentist denied it saying it was ragged gum. another 3 visits still he wouldnt believe me so i got a tweezers and took the shard of tooth out myself

the next time i had a tooth out i got an abcess. after trying for an emergency dentist from Bristol to Camarthen ended up in out of hours surgery and the doctor gave me pethadine pills. was a great night off my face. the following day i gave the dentist hell he had given me the wrong antibiotics.

so as for being offered lavender. if they let me sit in a vat of it first it might help.

Oh yes, cant believe I forgot about that one, being asthmatic I went into a major asthma attack with the gas (and yes the dentist did know) and had to be carried to the car.

I stand by the need for elephant darts fired from a great distance.

What, you mean dentists usually use anaesthetic? You would think so, wouldn't you, but that's not what I was led to believe throughout my childhood. It was routine for my family to have teeth drilled without anaesthetic. I had no idea there was any other way until I was about eighteen. It's dentists like that that instil a lifelong fear in people.

Funny.

I refuse injections for all bar a tooth pulling, where I'm happy with a injection. Last time I had a tooth pulled was because a locum dentist had drilled too much tooth away, packed the gap with cotton wool and filled over the top which then went nasty and gave me an abcess. Tooth couldn't be saved despite much to-ing and fro-ing with regular dentist and when it finally got pulled the roots had grown under the jawbone so it was literally hanging on for dear life and left shards behind that I removed myself a few weeks later with tweezers.

Didn't bother me a bit and I have no problem at all with going to the dentist, providing one is willing to see me.