[QUOTE=NTLegend;81567]Melody,

I've tried to figure out why people have dental phobias, and so far I have 2 ideas.

One is what you describe -- something traumatic happens, and then their body tells them (each new time) no, no, no, no, we're not going to do this!

In that case, it's exactly the same as the person who got violently ill from botulism at age 8, by eating a tamale, and at 78 still won't eat a tamale. His body won't let him -- we have an internal system that's rigged to avoid food poisoning.

I think it's rigged to avoid other things, too. Like the person who falls down the stairs, breaks some bones and generally has a bad time of it. Thereafter, stairs are a big problem. Or the person who is in a car accident, and can't make himself drive for a long time afterward.