If you are human and have been to a dentist, you’ve probably experienced some anxiety around it. If you’ve ever had to get a filling, then you might describe it more like fear. Oral surgery, such as a wisdom tooth extraction? Dread might be a better word. Dr. Ghazal Mahjoubi and the rest of the staff at Upper East OMS understand that these emotions can be crippling and can even stop patients from receiving the dental care they need. There is no medal of honor for suffering, so here are a few tips from the best oral surgeon in NYC on how to make your experience as pleasant as possible!
Get Sedated
First, let’s get this out on the table: Upper East OMS offers a couple of sedation and general anesthesia options. Ask us about sedation when you book your appointment or give us a call anytime to discuss. You will need to plan ahead and have a companion to help you get home, so start buttering up your brother-in-law today! Now on to how you can help yourself.
Be Informed and Prepared
The more you know about how it will go, the better. Preparation eases fear quite effectively. Have you ever had to give a speech about something you don’t know very well? Talk about nerve wracking! But, if you were at a baseball card conference and they needed a last-minute keynote on the Mets 1995 batting order, you could do it without so much as a change in heart rate, right? Well, you can make this preparation principal work for you! Here are a few ideas for arming yourself with info to ease your mind:
· Read up on the treatment or procedure you’re getting
· Ask us to explain how we do the procedure
· Request a walk-through of our office at your pre-op appointment
· Read all the materials here
· Talk with a friend who’s had the same procedure. (Hey, an actual constructive use for social media!)
Feel Your Feelings
No, really. It sounds like an oversimplification, but one of the best ways to move through fear is to go ahead and give it some space to exist. Let’s say you’ve scheduled a tooth extraction and bone graft for next week. You made the appointment a month ago, and you’ve done a great job of putting it out of your mind for a few weeks, but now the dreaded day is almost here. When you feel that fear creeping in, go ahead and feel it. Whew, okay. Great work! That was uncomfortable, but you’re a lot less likely now to cancel the morning of your appointment, citing a broken toe or plumbing issue as the reason you simply cannot make it.
Use the Power of Imagination
Life coaches love this one! Visualize moving through the day of your procedure powerfully and bravely. Imagine it down to the smallest details. You wake up and have a bowl of extra thick oats with ¼ cup of raisins (unless of course you’re going to receive general anesthesia) and then sit to meditate for 20 minutes in that chair near the window where the morning sun comes in. You sip your coffee with coconut milk while you read the morning news and emails. You walk out of your home and greet the world, chest held high, check the mailbox, and skip to the train station. You get the idea!
And don’t forget to imagine your perfect outcome too. It’s the next day, and your TMJ is but a distant memory. That Botox injection was just a tiny pinch after all, and you didn’t grind your teeth at all last night. TMJ specialist Dr. Mahjoubi was so gentle and kind that you thought, “That’s it? It’s over already? That was nothing!”
Talk to Us
We care about how you’re feeling and sincerely want to make your oral surgery experience as comfortable and fear-free as possible. Talking about your fear helps; getting it out into the light will help you shed some of the “baggage” around it. But, beyond that, we may be able to actually do something to make you feel better. And if we can, we will! So, let us be your oral surgeon in NYC; book an appointment today to see how we can help you be brave!
