- Dental Anxiety -
Below is information on patients suffering with Dental Anxiety/Dental Phobia, how we can help & your options.
What is Dental Anxiety/Dental Phobia?
Dental anxiety/phobia is very common, and a real barrier to receiving dental care for many patients. The most recent national survey data suggests close to 40% of the population would describe themselves as dentally anxious, and 17% avoid care totally (so you are by no means alone!). To put it in to perspective - more people are scarred of receiving dental care than heights and spiders. |
What Causes Dental Anxiety/Dental Phobia?
Most patients ascribe their anxiety to a past incident which was traumatic (such as childhood extractions under general anaesthetic), Painful past experiences (for example - when a tooth was not fully numb during treatment) or most commonly where the dentist was not able to take sufficient time to be as considerate or sympathetic as you needed them to be. The dental anxiety or fear which then develops may be specific (for example: injections or the noise of the drill), or your fear can be generalised (everything), and becomes progressively harder to overcome. A negative cycle develops where care is put off and problems ignored until the patient is 'forced' to seek emergency care often with severe tooth ache, knowing and being embarrassed about the neglected state of their mouth. Attending only for emergency appointments, which are inevitably more traumatic and difficult to manage than normal, has the effect of reinforcing a patients anxiety. Breaking this cycle is difficult and takes courage on behalf of a patient, as well as understanding and a sympathetic attitude from the dental care professionals concerned - but it is possible and can make a huge difference to your life! |
How Can We Help?
Our practice has a long standing reputation of caring for patients (both adults and children), with dental anxiety, both with and without the use of dental sedation. You will NOT be the most anxious patient we have treated, your teeth will NOT be the worst we have seen, and no matter how irrational and embarrassing things seem, we are not going to 'tell you off' or judge you in any way. We will understand fully - as we have heard it all before, many times. We have had previous patients who physically could not sit in the dental chair, who now feel completely comfortable. |
We are always sympathetic and will give you the time you need to cope with any situation, we will explain what is wrong, what your options are and what its going to feel like, so you can make a decision about what is best for you and whether you will be able to cope. We will make sure you are numb and give you a good idea of exactly what's going to happen next so you are not caught unaware, as well as giving you the ability to control the procedure and call a halt for whatever reason. This is usually by raising a hand, whether this is because you need a break, think something may be uncomfortable or you just need to swallow or scratch you nose - it doesn't matter, we will stop! |
How Can YOU Take The Fist Step?
Often the biggest step for patients is making that first contact and telling someone they have a problem. Being reassured that you are not alone, and are able to talk through things with someone who understands can be a huge relief. In fact, for many- just knowing the clinician is aware your anxious and having confidence that they will stop what they are doing if asked, is all it takes. Building this level of trust is difficult, and takes time and commitment on both sides, but is something we are used to helping people through. So essentially the first step is speaking up & asking for help. |
What are my options?
Many people have different triggers when it comes to dental anxiety. Most of these triggers we try to work around, to ensure the patient is comfortable. Where we know in advance there is something specific you find difficult, it may be possible to change what we do or how we do it. |
For example, if you have a fear of the dental drill, this could mean using an alternative to a drill - such as air abrasion (we use Veloplex's Aquacut Quattro machine), or alternatively we use Carisolv (a gel which specifically dissolves only decayed tooth tissue leaving healthy tooth behind). |
A lot of people report that they are anxious when it comes to receiving local anaesthetic (injections), some patients even report to be needle phobic and unable to receive local anaesthetic. Before injecting we always use a numbing cream prior to insertion which makes your soft tissues such as your tongue and gums start to go tingly and numb. This in most instances takes the 'sharpness' off the injection. |
Techniques like this do take longer, but will reduce and in some cases eliminate completely the need for sedation. In cases where this approach (known as Minimal Intervention dentistry), is not possible and for example, we need to numb up your tooth, or complete another procedure you will not be comfortable undergoing... we also have the ability to offer various forms of sedation. |
what if i still find dental care difficult?
If after discussing your concerns with the dentist, and they have explained some options or alternatives they can provide, and you are still not comfotable with the intended treatment then we would suggest sedation...
Some information about Sedation:
Sedation is the use of a drug or drugs to reduce a patients anxiety - and this may take the form of a tablet or drink swallowed before treatment (oral sedation), a oxygen mixture inhaled through the nose during treatment (inhalational sedation or IS - which is similar to the Entonox many women will have had when giving birth), or given directly into the blood stream through small tube in a vein (intra venous sedation or IVS). These types of sedation are not intended to provide pain relief, (so all patients are still 'made numb' exactly as if they were fully awake), but they are highly effective at reducing anxiety and making patients relaxed and calm. They also tend to effect memory and recall, which can be very helpful, though it does mean patients need to be assessed carefully prior treatment and accompanied home by a responsible adult. |
Our dental team undertake regular post graduate education and training in sedation, to help maintain our skills in this specialist area, the dentists are long standing members of SAAD - the relevant professional body. We regularly attend the annual conference in London. Our practice has also been externally accredited under NHS Cumbria's Oral Surgery Network to provide sedation under an NHS Advanced services contract, and our individual experience extends to several thousand cases in both IS & IVS. |
These type of procedures are difficult to provide in emergency circumstances (you need an escort, we need sufficient available time, and we both need to know in advance exactly what is going to happen), so we would always encourage patients to come in and discuss their problems first, even if we don't actually do anything else at the first appointment. |
SEDATION INFORMATION: |
We have a full page on our website dedicated to the sedation services we offer. I have linked the website page below. To access the "Sedation Services" page, simply click on "Sedation Services" in the box below, or alternativley click the menu drop down bar and select "Sedation Services". Here you will find more in depth information on sedation, why we offer this service, the process and the costings... |