I had a horrible dentist when I was a kid and then went through one summer in my teens when I had basically all my (many, many) fillings drilled out and redone. Went about ten years without seeing a dentist, then found one who was wonderful and saw him regularly. Then he retired and I'm going to the dentist he sold the practice to ... who isn't quite as good, but I think I'm over the worst of my dental phobia by now.

I have a root canal in a couple of weeks. I am lazy and have only myself to blame.

My poor daughter is going to have to have a couple of teeth pulled and then start orthodontics, I fear a dental phobia may be in the making.

My poor daughter is going to have to have a couple of teeth pulled and then start orthodontics, I fear a dental phobia may be in the making.

ai. poor kid. My friend's dental phobia is a result of traumatic dental experience as a kid. She had a second set of baby teeth and had to have a ton of surgery (multiple sets of teeth, like a shark!).

Gud, I think a lot depends on the dentist. Gentleness and lots of anaesthetic are important. (I would sometimes leave the dentist's office drooling blood.)

Don't forget to make sure the Tooth Fairy leaves her a big reward for her pulled teeth--I had my two front baby teeth pulled when I was about 6-7, and I got a whole $1 for the two of them (other TF visits yielded a quarter, at most), so I was quite happy with the dentist's visit, all in all!

I hadn't been to to a dentist since I had my braces off, about um, 5 years I think? Anyway, I went to my dad's dentist. Really nice office, really great, professional staff. Expensive, but I could deal with that. What I could not deal with is the paternal attitude of the dentist. Not even just condescending. Like, refusing to give me a cleaning until "we" dealt with my gum disease (I don't floss, bad Steph). Or deciding that he didn't like the work that my old dentist did so he was going to redo it. Didn't discuss it with me, just wrote it down on the chart, and I didn't find out until I was talking with the financial person. That pissed me off. I haven't been back.

I need to go back soon for a cleaning and lecture about how we need to go back in time and remove my wisdom teeth several years ago.

I can't fault any of my past dentists for a couple of bad experiences, but one hygienist when I was a kid pulled a loose but still live molar after being specifically told to leave it alone. (Dustin Hoffman was right to fear Laurence Olivier!) If something like that happened at 30 instead of 10, I suspect we'd have both been missing teeth.

My poor daughter is going to have to have a couple of teeth pulled and then start orthodontics, I fear a dental phobia may be in the making.

That's definitely no fun. I had two pulled and then braces. The braces were less fun. They were very uncomfortable when the were first put on. But I think braces have gotten a lot easier in the intervening years.

There is also going to be headgear, but thankfully only at night.