Dental Phobia

Effectively Dealing With Dental Phobia

Does the sound of the driller, send a jolt of nervousness all through your body? This is a common fear that comes with the thought of visiting a dentist, that is experienced by most of the people.  Many people associate dental treatment with unbearable pain and uneasiness and hence fear to visit a dentist during regular intervals. Only the thought of a regular dental check-up can leave them stressed. This situation known as dental phobia will cause severe dental problems for the patient. This is because these patients will keep on prolonging their dental appointments because of their fear and anxiety. To avoid visiting the dental expert, these people will put up with problems like gum infections, tooth pain, cavities and broken teeth. The more the treatment has been delayed, the greater the chances of the tooth problem to worsen.

For people suffering from dental phobia, even the thought of visiting a dentist is petrifying and they will do anything to avoid the dental appointment. The cause of this phobia may depend on various factors like a painful dental experience in the past or hearing of a bad experience from someone. Pain is the main factor causing dental phobia among patients. When you are lying in the dentist’s chair, you are generally gripped with fear because of the sharp dental instruments. The dental tools and instruments like needles, tooth drillers, dental lasers, suction tubes make a loud sound and sometimes cause pain. Also, some people postpone their dental visit because they are embarrassed to go to the dentist. This is especially common in people who are self-conscious about how their teeth will look. Since they can’t see what’s going on and can’t respond, they are often filled with anxiety and hence fear to visit the oral expert. Many dental treatments like root canal treatments involve the use of injections and people with dental phobia are scared of the needle being injected in their mouth. Most of the times they also doubt if the anaesthesia will work properly in eliminating their pain. People mostly also fear of side effects caused by anaesthesia like dizziness, while some fear the numbness caused by these injections.

Some of the symptoms indicating that a person suffers from dental phobia are as follows:

  1. You feel stressed or have trouble sleeping the night before the appointment with your dentist.
  2. When you are sitting in the waiting room, your hands turn cold and you get nervous.
  3. The sight of the dental instruments may make you feel nervous and panicky.
  4. When the instruments are placed in your mouth, you may experience breathing problems.

If you haven’t been to a dental clinic for years to come, because of your distress and anxiety, be rest assured. Dental clinics in modern times have a much friendlier atmosphere like a pleasant waiting room and reception area with soothing music being played in the background. These days’ drillers come equipped with mechanisms which make them less noisy. With the advancement in technology, dental treatments can be completely painless. For people who are phobic to the needle, can opt for computerized injection systems which resembles a pen, thus delivering anaesthesia slowly without causing pain. Doctor’s these days also use a gel, that will numb your gums before being injected. This will not make you feel the prick of the needle.

Dental Phobia 1

If dental fear is your major concern, leaf through some tips which will help ease dental fear—

  1. Find an understanding oral specialist, with whom you can discuss your dental phobia.
  2. Once you have found a suitable and skilled dental expert, visit the clinic to see and get a hang of the dental atmosphere. Also, get somebody to accompany you. Explain your oral expert about your phobia well in advance before you begin with your treatment. This will help the skilled professional to analyse and work on ways to make your treatment painless.
  3. Freeze on a signal which will indicate the dental specialist if you need a break or if you want him or her to stop.
  4. Don’t just start with an extensive and complex treatment if you suffer from dental phobia. You must first start with simple treatments like a clean-up and tooth polish. You can start with the advanced treatments once you have built-up faith and understanding with your expert.
  5. Listening to music during your treatment will help you relax.

The only way to overcome a dental phobia is to talk to your dentist about your fears who will definitely study your fear and help overcome it accordingly, thus making you feel comfortable during your next visit. If you feel a particular treatment is causing you a lot of pain, you can ask your dentist to modify the way you are being treated. You can also request your dentist to keep you posted about every stage in the dental procedure. In case you are still experiencing pain at any stage in the treatment, you can always signal your dentist to stop. Skipping or delaying your dental visits because of your fear will not help you in any way. Doing this will harm your teeth and the delay might worsen your oral condition all the more. With the variety of methods and treatments that try and reduce pain, your fear will get eliminated slowly. In case the pain is unbearable, the dental expert will suggest painkillers that will gradually subside your pain. To be calm and composed during the dental treatment is the best way to overcome your fear. Your oral expert will leave no stone unturned to make you feel comfortable and at ease.

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