According to the American Dental Association (ADA), approximately 35 million adults in the U.S. have so much anxiety about dental visits that they worry, postpone or avoid seeing their dentist. For those people who cannot bear the pain, sedation dentistry such as IV (intravenous), oral, or sleep could be the only option. Here are some suggestions for people who are procrastinating about going to the dentist.
What is Dentophobia?
Dentophobia is a fear of dentist. Dental fear is also called dental phobia, odontophobia, or dental anxiety. The most common causes of the fear are traumatic and painful experiences at an early age, humiliation by uncaring or insensitive dentists, post-traumatic stress, intrusive thoughts of the bad experience about dentists or dental treatment, and a history of abuse. People with dental phobias often experience various anxiety-related symptoms such as sweating, nausea, chest pain or pounding heart when they see a dentist. Not only does their dental health suffer but in extreme cases, it may lead to depression.
A 1984 Journal of the American Dental Association article entitled "Dental Fear and Avoidance: Causes, Symptoms, and Consequences," explained: “For fear of early origin, the dentist's professional behavior was most important, whereas for fear acquired in adult years, pain was important.”
Phobic-Friendly Dentists
How to find a dental phobic-friendly dentist? “Ask around; contact the dental office and ask about how they feel about working with a fearful patient; and set up an appointment to meet with the dentist,” according to Paul Glassman, DDS and professor of dental practice at the University of the Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, San Francisco, who has been running a program for fearful dental patients. “If the dentist seems genuinely interested in your fear and seems to want to work with you to help you get over it and get dental care, then that is a good start. If the dentist seems annoyed by your fear, or seems disinterested in working with you, then keep looking,” said Dr. Glassman.
There are many dentists who specialize in fearful patients. For instance, Dr. Jack Bynes, president of dentalfear.com, provides all sorts of information about dental phobia and care for fearful patients.
Dental Sedation
Sedation dentistry makes a fearful patient feel calm and relaxed without the use of general anesthesia. By using sedative drugs such as tranquillizers, depressants, anti-anxiety medications or nitrous oxide, the patient is awake and responsive but painless during the treatment. Dental sedation can help to relieve dental fears but it is not for everybody if control and trust are major issues.
IV Sedation Dentistry or Oral Sedation Dentistry?
IV (Intravenous) sedation (injection into the blood vessels of the hand or arm) has been used as the most common and traditional way to sedate patients. Oral sedation, or "happy pills," should be prescribed and taken before seeing a dentist. Laughing gas, also called happy gas, or nitrous oxide, is the most typically used inhalation sedation method currently used in dentistry. Nitrous oxide kills pain and makes a patient tipsy. Some people actually get the giggles after inhaling it.
Sleep Dentistry
As sleep dentistry requires an anesthesiologist and the proper facilities, this can be performed in a hospital setting or a well-equipped dental office. A few disadvantages of this treatment include a small chance of complications and the fact that it is costly as most insurance policies do not cover sleep dentistry.
For the extremely scared people, finding the right dentist with the help of dental sedation could be the only way to get necessary dental work done, before it is too late or gets too expensive.
Source:
U Berggren and G Meynert, Dental Fear and Avoidance: Causes, Symptoms, and Consequences,Journal of the American Dental Association, Vol 109, Issue 2, 247-251, American Dental Association, 1984
Miki Garcia - Miki is a freelance writer from San Francisco. After obtaining her master’s degree in journalism from City University London, UK, ...
