Like all phobias, dental phobia can cause a person to completely avoid the stimulus. If you happen to have a phobia of spiders then you are unlikely to suffer health consequences as a result, but avoiding the dentist for years or even a whole lifetime can have any number of serious health effects. With the growing evidence of the links between heart disease and gum disease, it is more important than ever to receive the necessary dental treatment no matter how much it frightens you.
Dental phobia is surprisingly common in the UK. It is a more serious version of dental anxiety that nearly 80 per cent of people admit to having at some point. Most people are able to overcome their anxiety about the dentist as they balance the fear with the necessity of treatment, but for sufferers of phobia this is impossible. Or perhaps not. More and more patients with dental phobia are receiving much needed treatment as dentists develop new ways to make treatment easier. Dentists are receiving more training in how to deal with nervous patients and ideas such as aromatherapy and self-hypnosis prior to treatment are becoming more and more common.
Studies have also shown that this approach actually works with lavender oil being proven to calm nerves before an appointment. Other dentists are offering anxious patients the chance to talk through their fears in an effort to reassure them that they have nothing to worry about. And importantly, advances in technology have made many treatments a lot more comfortable and a lot less frightening. City of Leeds dentists are doing all they can to help anxious patients through the difficult first steps of facing their fears.
Tags: anxious patients, dental phobia, gum disease, heart disease
