Phobias have long been seen as psychological problems. As such, the search for cures has been dominated by psychologists, therapists and hypnotisers, but being it was recently discovered that 75% of all adults suffer some form of trepidation over visiting the dentist and 1 in 23 people have a dental phobia, including our very own patients in the Hyde area, modern medicine has begun to take more notice; dentists in particular.
Dental phobia and dental anxiety
There is a difference between a dental phobia and dental anxiety. Generally, most people suffer from some form of dental anxiety, which simply involves feeling uncomfortable or ill at ease during any treatment, whether it’s a check-up or something more significant. A phobia, however, is more serious and can generally lead to severe problems for the persons’ oral health, as they will commonly not visit the dentist for a significant length of time, sometimes years.
The reason dental phobia is common often comes down to numerous and varied reasons. For many people, it is a bad experience in the past though such incidents “in the chair” are now very rare. For others, it is simply a fear of needles that dominates their anxiousness toward the dentist, whilst others cringe at latex.
Cures and helpful techniques
Building up a relationship with your dentist has been found to be exceptionally useful. If you are feeling uneasy or fearful of an upcoming procedure or treatment, tell your dentist beforehand. As dental phobia is so common now, dentists are regularly trained to help those affected and will be more than happy to talk you through the procedure, and may even invite you to watch the same procedure while they are performing it on someone else.