Overcoming pain (and fear of pain) at the dentist

[ssandra]

Hi all,

I went to the dentist yesterday and as usual I left him shocked and feeling bad about himself, simply because he was hurting me A LOT!

Not his fault, he is a great dentist, but my fault..

I cannot seem to control the pain when I am at the dentist. I have tried several things:

Breathing: doesn't work because the pain is so sudden always that I forget to breath normally. When I do remember again, it doesn't seem to help.

Meditation: going to my happy place doesn't work. I feel happy, I feel good, but it still hurts like hell!!

Medication: I swallowed some advil last time, just to already have a bit less pain, but it didn't work...

The process: I've tried the process before, during and after, but it doesn't stop the pain. I appreciate the pain and the power that it must have cost to make me believe it, but it still hurts!

The dentist always uses anesthetics but they don't work either.. my entire mouth (or that side at least) gets numb, but I still feel the pain, as sharp as before...

I am not really afraid of the dentist itself, I go there happily for checkups and stuff, but I am afraid of the pain.. which of course makes it worse again..

The only thing that remotely works is when I put my nails into my hands or arms. Feeling pain there somehow takes the focus away from the pain in my mouth and since I control the pain in my hands it hurts just as much, just differently.
But my husband doesn't like me coming home with marks all over my hands (I cannot blame him...).

So my question is:

Does anybody know something that might help? I have to go back next Tuesday, so it would be wonderful if I had some more tools before that time.