First dental experience - how old were you?

How old were you ? how did you feel ? what did you have done ?

I can't imagine many people remember their first experience, since a lot of people go to the dentist for the first time before they turn four years old, and it just so happens that people generally can't remember anything from before they were 3-4 years old.

My earliest memories are three occasions. The first is being laid in the chair, and the dentist was doing… Something. I was too young to know what was going on, but apparently I needed a filling. All I knew is that the dentist's gloves smelled really weird and they had this big orange plastic board in front of my face while they did what they did. The second is watching my sister have something done in the chair, and she was crying because they didn't give her enough anaesthesia. The night before my appointment, I had a nightmare that they were going to rip out all my teeth, so I refused to get in the chair and had to go into therapy for years. In fact, I distinctly remember lying to them, saying that I didn't like the smell of the gloves, when in reality, it wasn't that at all, it was the fear of what they might do once I was in the chair.

All of this was somewhere between four and five years old, because honestly, I have no idea when exactly it was, only the order of events.

First time for me was in first grade for a cleaning. I still dont like going to the dentist.

First exam was 4 or 5, very old dentist and equiptment. Remember water swirling in sink by the chair and cables running to drill head. Always hurt going there when he retired and got new dentist it was much better.

When l was 7yo, my mum's dentist gave me a check - though probably there had been earlier ones - and said that l needed to have some ‘milk teeth’ out under general anaesthetic. Soon afterwards, Dad drove me to a deserted building where l'd never been before. We went up a flight or two of stairs. In a dark foyer, a male dentist emerged from his brightly-lit surgery and ushered me inside (closing the door on Dad). The dental chair was in the middle of the room. Beside it stood another white-coated male assistant who grinned at me.

After the dentist had positioned me in the chair and had switched on his overhead lamp, he checked in my mouth and then nodded to the young assistant. That person turned out to be the anaesthetist. Quickly he sprang into action. He didn't actually rub his hands together, but he seemed keen. Again he grinned at me. Just before placing a close-fitting mask over my nose and mouth, he asked, ‘Have you had your tonsils out?’ l nodded feebly and said l had.

At this point, the dentist told him to get on with it. The anaesthetic gas quickly put me to sleep. The next thing l remember is waking up at home.

- Ken

Don't remember my first, but my earliest dental memories were ones of humiliation. I had a terrible gag reflex as a kid (much better now except for the x-ray thing), and often would throw up at the dentist because I couldn't handle all the stuff in my mouth. The pediatric dentist office was just this big open room with a bunch of chairs, and I'd show up and the doctor or hygienists would tease me about having thrown up before. And I hated it because it made it an unwelcoming place and also any other kids there could hear what they were saying.

I don't remember my first but I can remember navy all joining into 1. The latex gloves and tie on masks, plastic bibs all not really used anymore but miss them all the fear of having a cavity and hating the dentist back then. The cold if a cavity was found on a baby tooth.

I was 4 years old. 1940. Screamed like a banshee! Next visits, the same, but when I was five, the dentist said he would take me to see his airplane, if I shut up. I shut up! He took me to see it. It was a Piper J3 cub, on floats. I loved the plane, and that was the start of a 60+ year love of flying, and airplanes!! I soloed in a J3. probably flew 500+ hours in it. A joy to fly!!

My first experience with a dentist was terrible. Well, it wasn't a real dentist.

It happened almost 50 years ago. I think I was 4 or 5 years old. I ate a lot of sweets and of course had bad teeth.

One day I had a terrible toothache.

I lived in a rural area and there weren't many dentists yet.

I don't know what the real reason was, but my grandmother took me to her doctor rather than a dentist.

That man is long dead now, but he was a typical general practitioner. Very competent and he did a little bit of everything. He even had his own X-ray equipment and, if necessary, healed small arm fractures, etc.

Pulling a tooth was no exception for him. I saw clearly how he got everything ready.

They seemed like instruments of torture. The injection in my mouth was extremely painful.

I also know I saw a lot of blood. And the next few days my mouth was completely stiff. In short, it was a nightmare.

It was so bad that I would much rather have tooth pain for the next 2 years than go back to a dentist.

Until one day it really did hurt too much. But this time my mom took me to a real dentist.

He basically did everything behind my back. I saw nothing.

And rather than giving the anesthetic directly by injection into my mouth, he numbed my jaw a bit via a kind of spray. All in all a fairly painless experience.

Since then I am less afraid of going to the dentist. But I will never find it enjoyable.

I hope no one is offended. But having a dental fetish?

This is difficult for me to understand.

My first memory I was about 8 and walked into the room , the chair was brown leather 70s looking with a cream fleece part on the leg bit , I sat in the chair and had a big bib put on , then was reclined way back , a big light pulled over my face, open wide he said, then i felt the cold mirror and probe pulling at my mouth , the mirror stretching back my cheeks firmly as I lay there helplessly , he was saying numbers and charting , the door was open so people were walking past and glancing in.

Ok , cavity here , I heard , then as he probed deeper , cavity number 2 , cavity number 3 and cavity number 4 .

We have some work to do young lady ! You need 4 fillings , im going to do the smallest one now , then I felt my mouth pulled back tight as he placed the drill on my very back tooth and drilled away , I was in shock , I never had a filling before and i was then dreading the following appointments .

When I got home I opened my mouth to see silver filling , then the following week after more uncomfortable drilling I had 3 more , years later I had a lot of silver

I do not remember my first dental experience but my mother told me about it when I got older. Apparently I bit the dentist and told my mother that I was not invited to ever return. (he probably hurt me so it served him right!!! lol). I also do not remember the spanking when I got home. I guess I was quite young or I would have a vivid memory of that dental visit. Denise

Like @Denise , I don’t remember my first. But somewhere around twelve I had to have two teeth pulled. Rode my bike to the dentists office. Got one out, but I refused to let him pull the second. Dentist called my mother who called my father. They finally gave up, wouldn’t let him do it. Never went back again untill my sr year in high school, and a different dentist. Ever since, I’ve called dentists wannabe doctors. I have a hate fetish for them!

I was at first grade and it wasn`t easy, i had to go to the dentist every day for a week to fix the issue, that she`ve done at first time. Becouse of my age i really cant recall what exactly she did.

The first visit I remember is at 10 years old for a broken molar (chewing on old maids). The dentist was a very old man with shaking hands. Kind of scared the heck out of me. But he got the filling in place and it served me well...and no more chewing on old maids.

My first experience must have been at 4 years old. I had a lot of cavities and I remember the assistant opening the door and very nicely inviting me to enter, I was so afraid that I didnt even enter the room cause what I saw inside realle scared the hell out of me. I remember the room being dark and the vision of the chair was horrible. So my mom decided not to force me and we left.

The second time we went to another lady, and she could examine my mouth but I was not very cooperative so she couldnt do anything else. The only thing I remember was she told my parents not to give me milk from the bottle which really made me angry haha

I very vaguely remember it, the thing that stands out most to me is being terrified of the chair itself, and being so stubborn about it that eventually he did my exam in a small chair that he had in the room, presumably for this exact purpose as there were separate comfy chairs for parents/partners to wait in.