I have finally started getting my teeth fixed - fortunately before it was too late for saving my teeth. I had an extreme phobia - extreme enough to keep me away from a dentist for 15 years. I don’t have any magic answer for how to overcome your fear. I can only tell you how I finally faced mine and hope that you will face yours before you get as far along as I did.I was in therapy for other reasons - or so I thought. Actually, my dental fear was connected to the depression and panic attacks that pushed me into therapy. It was in the context of that therapy that I started to talk about my dental phobia. So, if you’re in therapy and you feel safe there, start talking about it there. If you’re not in therapy, consider going to a therapist to help you get to a dentist.My therapist assured me that he could get me through this phobia. He got me a list of dentists. He talked to them for me. I went to talk (no exam, just talking in the office) to one, and was totally turned off. My therapist urged me to go to his personal dentist, which I did. The first appointment was a talk in a consulting room. My therapist had laid the groundwork with the dentist. I knew after that first talk that I would be able to get treatment with this dentist, but it took 4 or 5 visits before I would get in an examing chair. He was infinitely patient with me. Now I go once a week. Occasionally I have felt discomfort, not really pain. I realize that pain is not what I was afraid of. I think if you examine your own fears, it’s not pain you fear: it’s feeling powerless; it’s the sounds and the smells and all the associations those raise. I’m sure that if you are not going to a dentist because of your fear, you’re pretty good at handling pain. If the dentist you talk to isn’t willing to meet with you in a non-examining room, don’t go back. If they are too casual about your fear, don’t go back. If they want to put you out and do their dentistry in a hospital, don’t go back. Just keep talking to dentists until you find the one who has the patience and understanding to let you be in control. I can guarantee there is one out there. The bonus that happens while you are going through this interview process, is that it become easier and easier for you to walk through that dentist’s door. You come to realize that they work for you, and you are in charge.I really believe that pain is not the issue. That’s what we want to blame the problem on. The real issue is feeling safe and in control. If you have avoided a dentist, there is no pain they will inflict that compares with what you have endured on your own.Don’t wait until you are in awful pain to get help. Start when you don’t really need it. It will give the time you need to be in control.