Dental Fear and Dental Anxiety
- Dental anxiety refers to having a sense of uneasiness when it comes for a dental visit. Individuals with dental anxiety have unfounded worries of seeing the dentist. Just being examined by the dentist makes them feel stressed.
- Dental phobia refers to an intense unreasonable fear or dread of a dental appointment. Dental fear is a more serious condition to dental anxiety. Some individuals feel terrified or panic stricken and will do anything to avoid a dental appointment.
Varying degrees of dental fear and anxiety and phobia range from never going to a dental appointment or forcing oneself for an appointment, but not sleep the night before. It’s not uncommon for people to feel sick whilst in the waiting room.
- You have trouble sleeping the night before an appointment visit.
- You feel increasingly nervous in the waiting room.
- You feel like crying or you feel physically ill at the thought of visiting the dentist
- The sight of dental instruments, white-coated staff makes you increasingly tense
- You have trouble breathing or get panic stricken when the dentist probing into your mouth
- You develop headaches or muscle stiffness in your neck or back and have stress-related problems in other parts of the body during treatment
What can happen?
- putting off routine oral care and not visit the dentist for checkup
- putting up with gum infections that can lead to toothaches, pain, bad breathe that can lead to loss of teeth
- putting up with tooth decay, broken and unsightly teeth that can make people feel self-conscious, insecure and embarrassed
- poor oral health is known to be co-related with poorer health and possible lower life expectancy
There are many causes to why people develop dental anxiety and phobia. Common reasons include:
- Pain : certain people may have a lower pain threshold compared to others. They may need extra anesthetic or other pain relieve
- Feelings of helplessness and loss of control : Many people develop phobias when they feel the loss of control. Whilst having treatment, some feel they are unable to see what is going on or predict if it may hurt. It is common for people to feel helpless which may trigger anxiety
- Embarrassment : some people feel ashamed or embarrassed to have a stranger looking their mouth. If a problem has not been looked after for sometime, this makes it increasingly self-conscious. Dental treatments also require your dentist to be physical close to you, they are just a few inches away that can make people uncomfortable
- Negative past experiences : Anyone who has had pain or discomfort during previous dental visits before “pain-free” dentistry may be more anxious the next time around.
If you experience any of the above, please tell your dentist or our staff about your feelings and fears without hesitation. Your dentists needs to know how you are feeling so he or she can help overcome these feelings.
Good news for dental phobic individuals
The upside is dental phobia, like other mental disorders, can be treated and can be coped with.
Without treatment, dental phobia is likely to get worse over time. This is because the lack or delay on putting off oral care can lead to more serious teeth issues, therefore requiring more invasive treatments that can lead to increased emotional stress.
The very first thing you should do if you think you have dental anxiety or dental phobia is to inform your dentist or any of our staff. If we know the cause of your dental anxiety.
“We can make you feel at ease and address your concern areas”
How We Help You to Cope with Dental Anxiety
If you have a low pain threshold, options are available to relieve potential pain prior to the start of treatment include:
- pain relieve medications
- tropical numbing of the area before local anesthesia
- use of strong intravenous stronger pain killers during treatment
Steps you can take to Alleviate and Control Pain
- Check on taking over-the-counter pain relieve medications whilst waiting for your appointment visit
- Use an over-the-counter anesthetic designed to soothe painful teeth.
- When brush your teeth, use warm water.
- Use toothpaste for sensitive teeth
- Avoid consuming foods or drinks that are hot, cold, sweet or acidic that can trigger pain.
Inform your dentist to walk through with you in detail
- what he or she is going to do at each step
- what you are doing to expect and experience during your treatment.
Being pre-informed enables you to be at ease. Raise your hand to stop should you feel discomfort.
Do not feel embarrassed or get to know your dentist before starting treatment. You may like to schedule to see your dentist with simple discussion on your fears and needs. You can then feel confident and secure. You are always able to request with our care team for a male or female dentist, or even a change of dentist prior to start of treatment should you think you prefer dentists of different dispositions. We will try our best to match the most suited dentist for you. Get to know our dental clinic by requesting to take a tour.
We normally your face with a facial cloth so you do not feel unease on the close proximity of a person. You are able to make a request to uncover the facial cloth otherwise as preference varies with different people.
Sedation dentistry with various level is available at BIDH dental hospital :
- Mild sedation with anti-anxiety medication or using nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to place you in a relaxed state
- Moderate sedation using intravenous sedation in placing you in a semi-conscious whereby you are awake but you are unaware of your experience
- Deep sedation or sleep sedation whereby you are placed in a deep sleep and will not have any re-collection of your dental experience.
BIDH dental hospital is one of the few dental clinics in Thailand that performs the full range of sedative dentistry strictly and safely under hospital standards for dentistry.
