I put it off for nearly seven years (!), but the fear of what would happen to my teeth if I didn’t visit the dentist began to outweigh the fear of going and I finally made an appointment. The state of my teeth and gums wasn’t as bad as I’d feared but they were in need of attention. As well as having them cleaned, I had to have a couple of fillings and they also fixed a chipped front tooth. While none of this was exactly pleasant, it wasn’t painful or particularly traumatic, and they did the treatment over several visits. Since then, I’ve been back for two six-monthly cleaning appointments without any problems (the most recent was a couple of weeks ago), and it’s definitely getting easier each time.