Some people are only slightly nervous and experience slight discomfort before going to the dentist, while for others, just the thought of a dentist and dental instruments causes panic. Although in the modern world dentistry has long been absolutely safe and painless. In the latter case, we can talk about the development of dental phobia, as a result of which fear becomes irrational and uncontrollable. To understand how not to be afraid of the dentist, you first need to understand the reasons for this fear.
Where does fear of the dentist come from?
Each person's fear of dentists has its own reason, but the factors contributing to its occurrence are quite similar.
The oral cavity is one of the most sensitive areas in the body. Therefore, any medical procedures associated with the slightest intervention in this area cause a feeling of anxiety. And the person in the dental chair has a feeling of helplessness, giving rise to fear.
For many people, the fear of the dentist goes back to childhood. Memories associated with the dental office of the last century most often include a feeling of pain, inconvenience, resentment at the dentist’s harshness, and a nasty smell and taste. All this could not but lead to the emergence of a fear of the dentist, and subsequently to the development of a phobia.
Sometimes people are afraid of the dentist's reaction to the terrible condition of their teeth. Unfortunately, this fear is provoked by dentists who reprimand their patients too harshly for neglecting their health.
And the fear of visiting the dentist in children is often a reflection of the phobia of their parents. The child sees and feels how adults are afraid of the dentist, and he also becomes very scared.
Choosing a method of pain relief
Photo: anesthesia for tooth extraction
If local anesthesia is absolutely not suitable for you (allergy or fear that it will not be enough), you can consider the method of tooth extraction under sedation or general anesthesia. In the first case, sedatives are used to put you into a drowsy and relaxed state (local anesthesia is also used to block nerve endings). General anesthesia means complete immersion in sleep. It is rarely used in dentistry, but its use is quite possible in truly extreme cases of panic fear, as well as if a large number of teeth need to be removed.
But you shouldn’t get too carried away with taking sedatives at home - 1-2 tablets of valerian or motherwort are quite acceptable, but potent drugs are absolutely not, since their combination with anesthesia can give a completely opposite effect.
Why is it dangerous to be afraid to treat and remove teeth?
Some people, not knowing how to overcome their fear of the dentist, prefer to endure toothache until the last moment, and go to the doctor only if it becomes unbearable. However, there are situations when such behavior becomes truly dangerous, especially if the pain is caused by the onset of some kind of inflammatory process.
So, with acute pulpitis or periodontitis, an infectious disease such as phlegmon can develop. This pathology poses a danger not only to human health, but also to his life.
Various infectious processes in the oral cavity can lead to inflammation of the lymph nodes - lymphadenitis, which, if left untreated, often leads to serious complications.
The presence of advanced caries, infection, periodontal disease and dental trauma often leads to abscesses, the main treatment for which is surgery. Without medical intervention, the disease is fatal.
In addition, caries slowly but surely destroys dental tissue, and if it is not treated, over time there will be no chance to save the tooth.
Therefore, for people who have no idea how to overcome their fear of the dentist, despite severe pain, it will be enough to simply assess the consequences of postponing a trip to the dentist.
What to do after tooth extraction?
To prevent complications, immediately after tooth extraction, prophylaxis must be carried out several hours later. It consists of the following activities:
- Remove the gauze swab from the hole as it can cause infection;
- Apply ice to your cheek. This should be done a couple of times a day, but no longer than 5 minutes.
- Do not eat for 2-3 hours after tooth extraction.
- Avoid strenuous physical activity for several days.
- To prevent bleeding, do not take a hot bath for the first 24 hours.
- In the first days, avoid rough food.
- Rinse your mouth with chlorhexidine solution three times a day. This must be done very carefully so as not to remove the blood clot from the wound. Simply hold the solution in your mouth for a few seconds and then spit it out.
These rules must be followed after the removal of a wisdom tooth or any other tooth resection.
Tips on how to overcome your fear of dental treatment
How not to be afraid of the dentist? This question is asked by any person suffering from dental phobia, and the following tips can help him:
- In order not to be so afraid of the dentist, you can first make an appointment with him for a preliminary consultation. Nothing terrible will happen during it, and the patient will have the opportunity to get to know the attending physician, ask him all the necessary questions and, possibly, establish a trusting relationship with the dentist. In this case, it will be easier for the person to relax in the dentist's chair, and he will not be so afraid.
- Before the preliminary consultation, you should independently understand your fears so as not to forget to ask the doctor the most pressing questions. For example, if a person constantly thinks: “I’m afraid to have a tooth removed because the last time it was very painful,” it is precisely about the specifics of this procedure that you need to talk to the dentist about.
- You need to agree with your doctor that he will immediately stop the procedure if it suddenly becomes painful. Such a promise will help the patient gain confidence and peace of mind.
- If before any dental procedure the patient asks to be given anesthesia, his anxiety will immediately decrease.
- When choosing a dental clinic, it is better to give preference to one that is more like a sanatorium than a hospital, which causes unpleasant associations.
- In addition, a person who does not understand how to stop being afraid of the dentist will greatly benefit from the support of loved ones.
How to deal with dental phobia?
If the patient experiences serious fear, he has almost no control over it, and any preliminary attitude, positive thoughts, or determination to visit the dentist is swept away by a wave of panic. It is better to act gradually, breaking the fight against dental phobia into separate stages.
Start with analysis. Once the underlying factor of the phobia has been identified, the fear itself can begin to be assessed. It is better to do this in a calm home environment. Imagine the manipulations that await you in the doctor's office. Rate your fear of each of them on a 5- or 10-point scale. After that, try to figure out what exactly scares you about this or that manipulation. For example, if you are afraid of having your teeth removed, it may be due to a previous painful experience. If your greatest fear is the removal of tartar, then the reason is probably that you are ashamed in front of the doctor for the neglected condition of your teeth. Understanding a specific fear and its cause will help you move on.
Consult your doctor. At this consultation, the doctor doesn’t even have to sit you in the dental chair: he can tell you about the treatment methods, materials used, etc. You can warn the doctor about strong fear and listen to his suggestions. To undergo such a consultation is already a big step forward for a patient with dental phobia.
Schedule an inspection. The next step could be diagnosis: the doctor will examine the teeth and, if necessary, take pictures. Together with him you can discuss the plan for the upcoming treatment. If the fear is still strong, you may not perform any treatment procedures during this visit: give yourself time to get used to it and adapt to the stress.
Start of treatment. It is better to start small: procedures that do not take much time do not require serious intervention. This can be the removal of tartar, professional teeth cleaning, treatment of cervical caries, superficial carious lesions. If everything goes well, you can move on to more complex treatment.
Doctors at the DentoSpas clinic recommend getting a good night's sleep the night before your consultation or appointment. You can take glycine or a mild sedative, but alcohol is unlikely to be a good help. Choose a convenient time - when you are free, feel best, don’t rush anywhere.
What to do if advice doesn’t help
If a person who has taken advantage of the proposed advice declares: “I’m still afraid to treat my teeth - what should I do,” then he can try to overcome his fear by resorting to sedation or general anesthesia.
The use of general anesthesia in dentistry is an alternative replacement for local anesthesia and is often used in the treatment of patients suffering from dental phobia. Such anesthesia implies a complete shutdown of consciousness and an absolute loss of sensitivity.
Xenon sedation is a cross between anesthesia and anesthesia, but in a state of medicated sleep the patient responds to the doctor’s verbal commands, for example, to a request to open his mouth. It should be noted that after sedation it is much easier for the patient to recover than after general anesthesia.
Of course, a person who previously had no idea how to overcome his fear of the dentist will not be able to completely get rid of it before his first visit to the doctor. But over time, the fear will definitely pass.
Is surgery to remove wisdom teeth inevitable?
In modern dentistry, the issue of wisdom teeth removal raises a lot of controversy. It is believed that it is best to get rid of them in adolescence, when the root system of the eights is not yet fully formed, and the jaw bones are not yet completely dense. Therefore, many doctors recommend removing wisdom teeth in advance and without fail. This is not an entirely correct opinion. If the tooth is developed normally and does not interfere with the normal growth of other teeth, then there is no need to get rid of it. You can save a wisdom tooth if:
- nothing prevents its eruption
- if high-quality treatment of caries of the eighth tooth is possible
- if it is necessary for support during prosthetics, and its displacement is not too strong.
But there are cases when the removal of the 8th tooth is still necessary. For example, if there is not enough space on the jaw for it to take the correct position. Another indication for removal is if the wisdom tooth has only partially erupted. In this case, cleaning it is difficult, and sooner or later it will undergo caries. If this has already happened, then the doctor decides what is better - removing the eighth tooth or treating it. You will also have to remove the wisdom tooth if it is a source of inflammation as a result of complicated caries. This can happen to both lower and upper wisdom teeth.
Features and types of dentophobia
Fear of dentists is a phobia that has no rational basis and is based primarily on psychological discomfort, and not at all on physical pain. It is expressed in the fact that a person experiences panic fear of any dental procedures in his oral cavity. Such people usually wait until the last minute to visit the dentist and turn to him only when the condition of their teeth becomes completely neglected. Before this, they often resort to alternative medicine, only aggravating the situation. Psychological research shows that there are three different forms of dental phobia:
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- Acquired. This form is the most common. Based on negative experiences associated with too painful or lengthy dental treatment. A person with this form of dental phobia usually delays his next visit to the dentist until the last minute. When he finally gets to the dentist’s office, due to the advanced disease, the treatment procedure turns out to be too complicated and lengthy, which only strengthens the negative perception.
- Congenital. The rarest form of dental phobia, not associated with any negative experience. Manifests itself in an unreasonable fear of any manipulation in the oral cavity. After the first dental treatment, it is possible to either get rid of the phobia or worsen it with the appearance of a negative attitude towards dentists in general.
- Imaginary. This fear occurs in people who have never visited a dental office. It is explained by a wild imagination and incorrect perception of the entire treatment process. Usually, it is enough to overcome the fear of the dentist once, and after successful treatment, the imagined dental phobia goes away forever.
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Any of the listed forms of fear of dentists can cause a person to delay a visit to the dental office until the last minute. Such delay contributes to damage to neighboring teeth and gums, the development of pulpitis and other chronic complications. Most often, dental phobia has the following manifestations:
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- anxiety or even panic;
- tension and trembling in the muscles;
- looking for a reason to postpone treatment;
- loss of control over one's own thoughts and actions;
- nervousness and sweating;
- felt tachycardia, pressure drops;
- all kinds of digestive system disorders;
- causeless dilation of pupils;
- pre-fainting states;
- feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
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Practice shows that previously dental phobia could be so strong that full dental treatment became simply impossible. People were afraid of any manipulation in the oral cavity and even refused prosthetics. Advanced dental diseases greatly affected a person’s appearance and interfered with building social connections and building a personal life. Despite the fact that dental phobia greatly spoiled the quality of life, there was practically no help for people with such problems before. Today the situation is somewhat different, and patients are helped to get rid of the fear of the dentist using modern psychotherapeutic methods. Such help involves a detailed study of the problem with the identification of events that caused the development of pathological fear.
