If you suddenly find yourself acting strangely and irrationally at the thought of an up and coming visit to the dentists in the city of Leeds, chances are that you suffering from some form of dental phobia. Maybe you don’t know why you act this way, but something has caused this fear in your psyche and it needs to be addressed, for it can stop you having important dental treatment and make it difficult for your dentist to treat you too. Why we have such phobias can be complex and stem from a myriad of things. What happens to us during our childhood can cause these phobias; maybe we see dental treatment as a form of bullying, maybe the use of needles, scare us because of the pain we experienced when being inoculated at school. Previous dental visits may have been traumatic in the past, leaving us with fear of future visits. Whatever the reasons behind our phobias, they need to be confronted as it’s very important to maintain a healthy mouth. In extreme cases, counselling may be required to get to the root of the problem, but it may help to educate ourselves in the treatments we have- consult with our dentist on our fears, most dentists are trained in dental anxiety and can enlighten us in dental procedures, so that we can have a level of control over the treatments we choose and be aware of all the sedation techniques available and anaesthetics we can have to avoid pain, or the fear of it. Then and only then can we place our trust in our dentist and get the correct treatment we require.
We all know how important it is to have regular check-ups with our dentist. However, a large section of the British public is nervous about visiting the dentist. What starts off with avoiding making an appointment can lead to poor oral hygiene and chronic disorders of the mouth. However, modern dentistry is far more comfortable than in the past, giving patients the opportunity to overcome their anxieties.
A toothache is a very common thing and our first impulse is to let it ride. Most of you are terrified to go to dentists, thanks to negative experiences from our childhood. As a result of this irrational fear, we are putting ourselves in harm’s way for no good reason at all. Dental phobia is a big problem in a lot of people and it results in them having pain due to their having neglected a small problem.
Are you terrified of going to the dentist because you feel that the treatment will cause you a lot of pain? You are right up to a point, because some dental treatments do cause a great deal of discomfort, although most people come to the dentist psychologically prepared to handle it. If however, you belong to the category of people who are dental phobic, it is very unlikely that you will even step into the dentist’s clinic. Many people get this way because of bad or painful experiences they had while in the dentist’s chair, particularly when they were young.
Dental phobia is a problem that affects most people. It causes them to fear dental visits and in many cases it causes people to delay going for regular check ups, leading to unnecessarily large dental bills because of neglected teeth. Most people manage to control their fears long enough to visit a dentist and get their teeth attended to. However, there is a small population who are just too terrified to step into a dentist’s clinic and they pay a heavy price in the form of all sorts of dental problems.
one side in order to receive necessary treatment. But for others the fear is simply too great to overcome and they will avoid any kind of contact with the dentist at all cost. This leads to a downward spiral of dental health as the longer without treatment the more the patients requires it.
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 a condition that means a person’s fear of the dentist is so great that they are unable to visit the dentist, causing their dental health to suffer as a result. Many dentists report that the most anxious patients are often the ones with the most serious dental concerns. This is because they are unable to rationalise their fear against the need to have dental treatment. It is important for all patients, no matter how great the phobia, to visit the dentist before their dental problems become irreversible. It is also important for many anxious patients to realise that many modern dentistry techniques are far less uncomfortable than they previously were.
In the UK, 93 per cent of people admit to having a fear of the dentist. For the most part they are able to overcome those fears as they know how important a check up is to their dental health. However, for nearly 30 per cent of patients, the fear of the dentist is far more serious and they avoid dental visits completely. This ‘dental phobia’ prevents these patients from receiving the dental care they need, putting them at risk of sacrificing their oral well being.
Over 90 per cent of us confess to having a fear of the dentist. For most of that 90 per cent the fear is mild and easily overcome by the knowledge that looking after your teeth is more important. For others who suffer from a more severe dental phobia the fear wins and their oral health suffers as a result. Many nervous or anxious patients suffer from gum disease and tooth decay because they put off or avoid coming to the dentist for check ups. Regular dental check ups are one of the best ways to avoid problems such as these so in some respects their fears are making the situation worse.
