Mental Health

This desease has ruined my overall mental health. For the sake of context, my first time going to a dentist was in august 2023 (I’m 25F). Growing up my parents were very poor, back then we didn’t live in the US so we didn’t have access to medical insurance. Until in 2023 when I landed a nice job which provided me with dental insurance was how I was able to go. To add to that both of my parents have terrible teeth (genetics).

My first time going to a dentist was very much traumatic. I was so desperate I took the first dentist my insurance recommended without doing research (the man has a 1.6 star review on google and ALL the reviews are negative). When I get there and he’s doing my cleaning he starts saying all sorts of awful stuff. He says how my teeth have the appearance of a 65 year old man, how I’m very irresponsible for never going to a dentist prior to him, he says I’ll loose all my teeth and have implants by the time I’m 30. Mind you, he’s saying all these awful stuff in the rudest way possible, he’s sort of yelling at me (even if they were true a real professional would know how to approach this topic gently) while doing my cleaning so I have no chance to talk to him at all. So I sit quietly until he is done. He then referred me to a periodontist. I was such in a state of shock and anxiety that I left the building, only nodded to everything else he said and broke down crying walking back home (I live in NYC so ppl don’t care at all about public meltdowns).

Moving forward to 2025, I never went back to a dentist after that encounter. Both my teeth and mental health have taken a turn for the worse. I have stopped having out with my friends, I only go to my job and college and go back home. I don’t want to talk to anyone, I avoid any type of social gatherings, my self esteem has decreased completely and most of the time I feel very extremely insecure, depressed and anxious. I’m so sorry this is longer than expected but I have no one to talk to about this in real life because it’s too embarrassing and I feel like people would secretly be disgusted by me. However, I do have an appointment scheduled tomorrow with a new dentist but I’m terrified. I haven’t been able to sleep and I feel like I’m going to pass out at anytime. I feel like the cards that I’ve been dealt are so unfair and I just want to cry. If anyone has any advice or suggestions I’m very much open to anything. If you have been in my position, does it get better?

P.S. Reread everything and it sounds so dramatic but I’m sleep deprived and hopeless lol