DENTAL PHOBIA
Is your fear of dentists harming your oral health?
Dental phobia can be devastating. It is estimated that 20% of the population is dental phobic and upwards of 50% of us harbor some reservations about visiting the dentist. These feelings can lead to people avoiding their regular check-ups and hygiene visits thus compromising their oral health. In the worst cases of dental fear, people even avoid the dental office when in extreme pain and when their teeth literally fall out of their mouths.
Maintaining a healthy oral environment is very important to one's overall well-being. There have been recent links in the scientific literature concerning poor periodontal health (gum disease) and heart disease. The link between these two diseases may involve the plaque around our teeth and the plaque that can clog our arteries. Other more obvious perils of avoiding regular dental care include decay and gum disease as mentioned. Yet despite knowledge of these risks, people who are dental phobic still have trouble walking through the office door.
Dental anxiety and phobia can develop in different people for different reasons. Sometimes it is the result of a past negative experience. This is common in adults who when children 40 or 50 years ago went to the dentist as youngsters and had a painful filling or extraction. Back then, local anaesthesia was not as predictive and profound as it is today and the kids who have dental work now are not experiencing the discomfort during the procedures that their parents did.
Much more emphasis put on pain control
As well, there is much more emphasis put on pain control. so that if any patient feels anything untoward, the dentist will stop and achieve better pain control before the procedure is recommenced. Back 50 years ago, the emphasis was probably on finishing the procedure, regardless of the discomfort.
Another source of anxiety and phobia comes from our personality make-up. Some of us simply have traits that make us uncomfortable in certain situations. These people may also have a fear of heights or of airplanes or closed spaces, etc.
Finally, there is a segment of the population who are more difficult to "freeze" then others due to extra nerve pathways or infection. These people have therefore experienced some discomfort or pain while having dental work done. Others have extreme gag reflexes and have vomited in the dental office. In both of these scenarios, the unpleasant situation experienced in the dental office creates a phobia.
To make matters worse, the mouth is a very sensitive and intimate part of the body. It takes a great deal of trust to have someone working in that space and this trust comes more easily for some than it does for others. Sometimes embarrassment plays a part; the longer they stay away, the worse they know their oral health is, the more reluctant they are to visit the dentist.
Today we are lucky because there are a wide range of methods to help dental phobic individuals. Dental practitioners are well aware of the typical signs of dental phobia and are usually very sensitive towards these individuals. Some have distraction devices in their offices, such as CD players, TV's… and others are just good at TLC. For most dental phobic patients, these distraction techniques will not be enough to allay their fears and something more profound is required. Some dentists offer nitrous oxide (laughing gas) or oral sedatives. These are effective for some but may not be enough for others. This is where the patient must search out a dentist who is trained to administer intravenous sedation or general anaesthesia.
Anaesthesia Associates For Dentistry is set up to treat dental phobic individuals. We see, on a daily basis, the range of people from those who are slightly anxious to those who are so phobic that they cry upon entering the office or will only talk with our team and refuse to sit in the dental chair. We offer the spectrum of anaesthetic services from light sedation (oral sedatives and nitrous oxide sedation) to deeper levels of sedation such as intravenous sedation and general anaesthesia.
Our staff is keenly aware of the needs of our special patients and we do everything we can to make our patients as comfortable and relaxed as possible. We listen to what the patient says their needs are and this, we hope, goes a long way to make them comfortable. Once someone obtains the degree of control that they desire, some of the anxiety goes away and people are at least able to make an appointment for the first treatment visit.
The key
is taking that first step and walking into the office in the first place.
Once they have gotten that far, there is a very high likelihood that they
will find it is not nearly as scary as they thought it will be and will allow
themselves to be treated.