Dentophobia: how not to be afraid of the dentist

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Do you feel anxious when visiting the dentist? These tips will help you treat your teeth without fear.

Many people in our country are familiar with dentophobia, even if they do not even realize that their panic fear of dentists is a disease.

Causes of dentophobia and methods of dealing with it

The reason for this disease lies in the fact that many patients remember very well how painful all kinds of dental procedures were in the complete absence of anesthesia. And sometimes even if the patient got such a luxury as an injection of an anesthetic, it simply did not have time to work or acted very badly. You can add the intolerant, sometimes openly rude and hostile attitude of doctors to the treasury of the same memories, huge rooms in which five or six, or even more patients were treated at the same time, and here it is, dentophobia in all its glory.

But fortunately, it all finally becomes history. Now in dental clinics, the patient will be offered a number of ways to get rid of pain and fear of treatment. These methods can be divided into two categories:

- drugs that fight pain - these are various types of local and application anesthesia, sedation, anesthesia;

- modern methods of treatment - such as silent preparation of a tooth with a laser, unique antibacterial anti-carious coatings, etc.

All this makes it possible to alleviate the patient's fate, not to mention the fact that in modern dentistry, doctors are polite and patient, and they will pay as much attention to eradicating fear of treatment as to the treatment itself.

Illness or just anxiety - what's the difference?

How to distinguish dentophobia from the usual and understandable anxiety before visiting the dentist? Listen to yourself: if you tremble, but still go to the doctor, and at the reception are able to adequately communicate with him and fulfill his requests, then you are simply consumed by anxiety. Anxiety can be overcome if you find a friendly and patient specialist who works in a clinic equipped with modern equipment and knows modern methods of treatment.

But if so, what are the symptoms of true dentophobia? Their list is very extensive:

- during the appointment or even while waiting for the appointment, you feel a strong and sharp increase in pressure, heart palpitations, you have shortness of breath;

- you do not hear or do not perceive what the doctor says, you try to escape, jump out of the office, move his arms, push the doctor himself away;

- in the office, you can faint;

- you prefer to treat the most acute toothache with painkillers and sedatives, and in extreme cases - alcohol, just not to go to the doctor.

All this indicates the development of dentophobia. If neither polite doctors, nor modern methods of sedation, nor even anesthesia help you to overcome fear, then it is best to turn to a specialist - a psychotherapist. The mechanism of the onset and development of various phobias is now so well studied that a psychotherapist will almost always be able to choose a treatment.

For example, one of the most effective methods is cognitive-behavioral therapy. It allows you to change the model of behavior in a frightening situation and change the attitude towards it to a neutral or even positive.

Why is it so important to overcome fear?

Of course, you can always give up, forget about dentists and leave everything as it is. However, think about it - the longer you postpone treatment, the more difficult it will be for the doctor to solve the problem when you still have to go to the appointment. The treatment itself will take much longer and will take a lot of money and nerves. Moreover, advanced diseases of the oral cavity lead to serious complications that can affect the gastrointestinal tract, as well as cause inflammation of the endocrine glands, rheumatism, bronchial asthma, etc.

It is for this reason that the best remedy against dentophobia is regular preventive visits to the dentist. There are two reasons - one is medical, the other is psychological.

When the dentist detects a problem at an early stage, the treatment will be much faster and more painless. In addition, professional hygiene, which can be performed by a doctor, significantly reduces the risk of tooth decay and other diseases of the oral cavity.

As for the psychological reasons, the point is this. Having a dentist examining your teeth and saying that your teeth are in good order, in itself, reduces your fear of going to the doctor. And this, in turn, leads to the fact that each subsequent visit to the dentist will be given more and more easily.

Four simple tips for dentophobes

Of course, in order to spend as little time as possible in the dental chair, it is important to take care of your teeth and gums and observe oral hygiene. But if you still have to see a doctor, then try to follow four simple tips.

1. Get rid of the frightening unknown: find out in advance what exactly the doctor will treat, what manipulations and methods of treatment will be used, how long it will take and what is the cost of all procedures.

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2. Dental treatment under sedation is one of the methods of modern dentistry, which allows you to cope with the psychological discomfort of the patient. He is immersed in a superficial sleep, in which he can interact with the doctor, but all emotions are almost smoothed out, and therefore the patient does not feel fear.

3. Choose the same permanent dentist. It is important to choose not only a highly qualified specialist - he should inspire confidence and sympathy in you. In this case, the fear will soon recede.

4. Search for modern dentistry, where methods of treatment without a drill are applied and there is a wide range of methods of pain relief. In addition, pleasant surroundings, no queues and no nervous patients, polite and helpful staff - all this will help you overcome your fear.

Julia Clouda, head of the online magazine about dentistry Startsmile.ru