My dental phobia isn't of the dentist, but from the embarrassment. My childhood was raised without a dentist. I started taking myself and paying my own bills in high school, got everything fixed up nice--even braces! Still lots of damage done, though, but fixed. Then...My ex-husband refused to let me finish treatment after a root canal while we were married, and I couldn't go for other visits. I never got the crown and now after all that neglect It's really sad for my molars, or what's left of them. If not for the embarrassment now, I used to have no problem going to the dentist.