How to fight Dental Anxiety
Dental Anxiety is one of the reasons why most people don’t set an appointment with their dentists for oral care. People should be aware that Dental Anxiety is a psychological issue that needs to be addressed properly to avoid high risk dental issues. Not just children, but even adults nowadays are having anxiety in addressing their dental concerns. Just the thought of visiting their dental clinic makes them sick.
I myself experienced this kind of fear before studying dentistry! Yes I am now a dentist, and this blog is to help you out overcoming your fear that I had once in me.
I did not want to visit a dental clinic before. Thinking of the large equipments that they use for dental procedures made me ill, and would cause me mental panic disorder. I also hated the smell of hospitals and just the feeling of going inside a clinic made me panic mentally.
Don’t get me wrong but I have been taking care of my oral hygiene. In fact, I have been very particular when it comes to my oral health. I thought that just brushing my teeth with my preferred toothpaste and mouthwash, three to four times a day, and doing it daily, would guarantee that I’m keeping my oral health perfectly steady.
I was wrong!
Consultations to professional dentists are needed to make sure that you are doing things right when it comes to your oral health.
I have here some tips that worked for me when I was innocent about dental phobia.
How to overcome Mild Dental Anxiety:
Dental anxiety or also known as Dental Phobia, is a fear of consulting a dentist, fear of dental procedures failure, and possible negative thoughts about having dental sessions.
-Talk to your Dentist.
Your dentist is the first person to help you overcome your dental anxiety. You have to be open to your dentist about your feelings towards dental sessions. Be specific about the fear. You need to make sure that your dentist understands what you are going through to determine the exact and specific treatment for you. They are responsible of providing you smooth, easy and relaxed oral care experience.
-Relax your Breathing
Control your way of breathing through your mind. Your thoughts will affect your feelings and it will also affect your breathing. Occupy your mind with happy thoughts to divert your fear into positivity. You need to simply inhale and exhale slowly while closing your eyes. When you inhale, hold it for 5 seconds and exhale through your mouth. This will help your mind be relaxed. Its mind over matter, you can conquer it!
-Using Relaxation Techniques
Create techniques for you to be relaxed. You can have a stress ball or you can bring your playlist of your favorite songs and listen to them during the session. Know yourself so that you’ll find out what are those techniques that you can apply to yourself in order to conquer your anxiety.
How to Overcome Severe Dental Anxiety:
This is a kind of anxiety that cannot be treated through the tips mentioned above. This is something that has to undergo thorough examination with your doctor. However, you can also apply the above tips to make you feel a little better.
This type of dental phobia is not just psychological that we can easily cure through healing our thoughts, and creating some techniques to help the mind be comfortable and relaxed.
Severe Dental Phobia would take days and time to conquer. Good news is, here at Bramcountry, we always have effective ways to help you achieve your perfect smiles!
-Dental Sedation
It is the best and faster yet effective treatment for any levels of Dental Anxiety.
There are different types of sedations. Your doctor will evaluate you first by going through your medical records to provide you the best sedation process suitable for your body.
The very simple sedation is the oral one. It’s a tablet which you take or swallow an hour before your session. Possibilities are, you will stay awake during the dental treatment, or you’ll feel a bit drowsy and more relaxed as you undergo treatment.
If oral sedation won’t really work for you, your dentist will give you Intravenous Sedation. This is injecting you medicine to help you calm down and be relaxed during your session.
Again, severe dental anxiety would take time, and efforts to be fully healed. If Dental Sedation won’t still work for you, try these helpful tips below as your last results
-You need to undergo Counseling
You will be assessed by your doctor to know the root cause of your phobia. The goal here is to know you as a person and as to why you are developing this phobia, as there are factors that make a phobia developed. Through this process, your doctor will be able to find out how to work through it so that you can conquer your fear.
-Try Supporting Networks and Forums
Since Dental Phobia is very common nowadays, there are wide numbers of support networks and online forums that support people who are suffering from dental anxiety. You can look for a website yourself and try it out. For example, Dental Anxiety .
The tips above really helped me out. Know yourself. Practice your mind to be brave. Dental Anxiety or Dental Phobia is only in the mind. Change your thoughts towards Dental Health Care.
I can guarantee you that you’ll be living your life with your brightest smiles!