Fear Of The Dentist

We are an independent charity passionate and dedicated to delivering better oral health for all - both across the United Kingdom and around the world.

I am writing to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation of your wonderful staff. I am a new patient and have struggled with a fear of dentists for as long as I can remember. However, I received professional, warm, compassionate care. Not only did they make me feel comfortable, they treated me with such compassion and has treated me like an individual. By the time I found your practice I was beginning to avoid necessary treatment due to fear, but you have reversed this for me. It takes more than mastering the technical skills to be a great dentist, it takes a great deal of attention, patience, understanding, compassion and warmth. The treatment I have received from you was truly gentle and I would recommend anyone to visit your surgery, the patient care is second to none.

What are they so afraid of? Studies say that most patients are afraid of three things at the dental office - fear of loss of control, fear of embarrassment, or fear of pain. Loss of control is when they can't see what we're doing to them, can't help us to do it, or can't anticipate what will happen next. They have fear of embarrassment because we work inches away from patients' faces and are in their personal space. Some people lack self-confidence or are ashamed of how their teeth look, and they're afraid they'll be judged or ridiculed.

People who are unusually tense tend to have a lower pain threshold. This means they may feel pain at lower levels than other people. They may need extra anesthetic or other pain treatments. They may even develop stress-related problems in other parts of the body. For example, they may have headaches or muscle stiffness in the neck or back.

Recently, many dentists have adopted unorthodox approaches to inducing relaxation. Some burn aromatherapy candles and even provide relaxation services normally found in spas, such as manicures or foot and back massages. Although patients say they enjoy being at the dentist's office when they're getting pampered, science has yet to confirm whether such services actually relieve anxiety.

A meta-analysis indicated that psychological interventions for dental phobia significantly reduced self-reported dental anxiety and increased dental attendance, with medium to large effect sizes. 39 Approximately 77% of participants were seeing the dentist regularly after four years or more.

Many people with severe dental fear, also called dental phobia, have difficulty understanding why they have such a prolonged avoidance of the dentist. They don't know why their heart pounds, their palms sweat, and they often lose sleep before dental appointments. Such a dental fear reaction is mostly a learned response to previous dental, medical or life traumas. The sense of panic and dread that people experience, called panic attacks or anxiety attacks, are an involuntary reflex that no one can completely control. The good news is that that we can virtually eliminate/unlearn these fearful dental experiences through the use of various types of sedation, techniques and good communication.

We maintain a relaxed atmosphere to compliment our gentle approach to dentistry. We want patients to feel safe and secure. In our view making the best out of relaxation techniques is just as important as expert clinical knowledge. Keeping our patients in a relaxed and safe mindset throughout their experience with us is crucial.

Our highly trained team do everything they can in order to help our patients relax. Our reception area is calm and tranquil with comfortable seats for our patients and their guests. We make a promise to see each and every patient as quickly as possible so you're not dwelling on the appointment and there are plenty of newspapers and magazines to distract you in the meantime. We will are even happy to play calming music of your choice to help you relax while you wait.

Ladislava undertook postgraduate training in hypnotherapy in November 2015 under BSMDH (Scotland), lead by Dr Mike Gow, and is now competent in the delivery of hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming and relaxation techniques, as an adjunct to dental care.

Taking care of your teeth means more than brushing and flossing. For complete care, it's important to visit a dentist every six months for a regular checkup and professional cleaning. The first step in this process is to find a dentist with whom you feel comfortable, and then schedule an appointment.

At Cox and Hitchcock we find that anxious patients often have problems with their gums, with infection and chronic gum disease being commonplace amongst anxious patients. It is important to see a dentist regularly so that they can assess and deal with problems before they worsen or even become irreversible (gum disease), painful or expensive.

Dental phobia seems to be an increasing phenomenon, although that may be because, as doctors become better at treating phobias, more people are seeking help. Dental phobia - or dentophobia to give it its proper name - is generally defined as a fear of dentists and dental work. The reality is that dentophobia is triggered by a complex and multi-layered set of fears which means that every sufferer can experience different stimuli, different levels of fear and different symptoms.

Michelle routinely works with nervous patients, patients with learning difficulties and patients suffering from mental health difficulties. Alongside her work at Norfolk Square Dental Practice she also works at Kings College London Hospital as a Special Care Dentist. Michelle has experience using sedation and other techniques to support nervous patients. She can provide restorative dental treatment under intranasal/intravenous sedation. This will assist in reducing dental anxiety for patients who require medical intervention.

Anxiety UK has a specialist email support service run by a qualified dentist with many years experience treating people with dental phobia. Sean is very empathic towards those who suffer with dental anxiety and can give practical advice on e.g. obtaining sedation, dental procedures and dentists who specialise in anxious patients. You will need to be a member of Anxiety UK to access this service. We can also support you in accessing a CBT therapist, who can help you develop your own fear ladder, to encounter and overcome your phobia.

If you are able to get help from your dentist, there are a number of ways they may be able to go about making you feel more comfortable. For instance, having discussed things with you, they may be able to ease you towards a state where you'd feel able to undergo treatment by taking things slowly, perhaps allowing you to first feel at ease in the surroundings of the practice (even something as simple as sitting in the chair) before making any attempt to progress things any further. This could be especially effective if your anxiety is based on a bad experience during childhood and has prevented you from visiting a dentist for many years. In this time dentistry may have made considerable advances and your idea of what goes on in a practice could be exaggerations based on an outdated way of doing things. Knowing about the latest technology may make you feel far less uneasy about getting work done.

Timing. Ask your dentist to let you go at your own pace. For example, you might choose to have just an examination at your first appointment, or even just sit in the chair. Once the first stage doesn't frighten you any more, you can move on to the next. This way you may be able to overcome your anxiety gradually.