Dental Anxiety – What it Is and How to Overcome It

Dental anxiety can be a severe issue that both patients and dental professionals must overcome. While it harms a patient’s ability to receive dental care, dental anxiety also makes a dentist’s job far more complex.

The good thing is that dealing with dental anxiety is possible, and if you face it, you can resolve it, or at least greatly reduce your anxiety so you can receive care. So how do we do this? Let’s drill into this topic.

How Does Dental Anxiety Happen? What is It?

Dental anxiety is a condition that only flares when you know you will visit a dentist or be around a dentist for any reason, even if you aren’t the one receiving treatments.

Not only can a dentist’s office cause this feeling, but you can also feel it far before the visit. Some people with dental anxiety, for example, have trouble sleeping the night before an exam.

Things like needles and drills can also cause dental anxiety to activate – if the anxiety gets bad enough, it can cause dental phobia: a deep, irrational fear of the dentist that can prevent you from getting treatment.

There are different symptoms of dental anxiety or dental phobia. Sweating, panic, crying, and a racing heartbeat are just a few of them.

What Can be Done About It?

Dental anxiety can be difficult to deal with, but not impossible. Dentists are familiar with dental anxiety and know how to work with a patient who has it. There are various treatments for dental anxiety.

Some involve therapy or the help of a psychologist, while others involve the dentist caring for the patient in a way that helps them deal with and get through their dental anxiety during their treatment. Options for this include different forms of sedation or relative analgesia, for example.

What Are the Best Solutions for Dental Anxiety?

The best treatments for dental anxiety depend on the individual. Still, there are a few strong options available to you, depending on what kind of person you are and how extreme your dental anxiety or phobia could be.

Many would recommend treatment from a therapist or psychologist, in order to try to directly deal with the fear at hand – and for plenty, that would be a good option. These include things like deep breathing, meditation, and other techniques that help relax you.

Others may opt for a variety of different treatments from their dentist: like relative analgesia, IV sedation, or even general anesthetic. If you have dental anxiety, you may also benefit greatly from a dentist who’s specialized in patients who have special needs when it comes to dentistry.

Ultimately, to be certain of how to proceed forward, make sure you contact your dentist and speak with them about your dental anxiety. You don’t need to be afraid of sharing this information – dentists deal with this all the time. By doing this, your dentist can help develop a care plan that works for you: and you can keep your teeth great all your life.

The most common reason for anxiety is facing the unknown. At KRB DENTISTRY we cater to your anxiety by answering all your questions and explaining all procedures and each step you have a question about.
If the actual treatment makes you nervous, we offer natural oral sedation as well as nitrous oxide, or laughing gas as it is commonly called, to help relax your mind and body for a better experience.