You’re not the only one who is. You belong to a group of almost 80% Americans who feel the same way. Moreover, many of them don’t realize how important dental health is for overall wellbeing. They tend to postpone dentist visits indefinitely, until they are absolutely necessary. But there are ways to overcome the fear.
Causes of dental phobia
Fear of pain is the most prevalent fear. This may be because the patient has already had a bad experience with a dentist before. That dentist may not have been sensitive to the patients’ discomfort and continued to provide treatment that may have been painful or traumatic.
Sometimes, the stories that others have to tell can also bias people against the experiences that they fear they will find in a dentist’s chair. The narrator may have had a bad experience, and in expectation of such an experience for himself or herself, the patient refuses to seek treatment.
Patients may also have a general fear of the medical profession as a whole. Elements of the profession that include white lab coats and stainless steel instruments may incite fear in the patient because of a bad experience at a young age.
How to treat it
A dentist that is sensitive to the patient is needed to treat patients with this kind of fear. If you let your dentist know about your problem, if he or she is good, they will be able to treat you with empathy and help to calm you. It is important that you do not neglect your oral health because of your fear.
There are different stages of this fear, and they may be treated differently. For a mild fear, the dentist may simply recommend breathing and relaxing techniques to calm the patient down before treatment. For stronger fears, there are drugs to calm the patient. For more deeply ingrained fears, the dentist will have to tread sensitively and try and remove the seed of fear with neurological exercises and multiple sessions of teaching relaxation techniques.
If you or a family member is afraid of your dentist, Audubon has many other clinics and individual practitioners you can switch to. The idea is to find someone who you think listens to you, and can help you deal with your fear rather than barge ahead with the treatment despite protest.
Dentist Audubon – Do you need a dentist? Audubon residents will send you to Cross Keys Family Dental. You can call the clinic at Phone No.
