Monthly Dental Tips

Tips For Dental Anxiety

Posted
Halloween is long gone and with it time to fear. Time of ghouls and goblins is behind us, but many of us are still in fear and scared of going to a dentist.  Here are some tips to help keep terror feelings in the haunted house and not in the dental chair. 
If you suffer from dental anxiety, a visit to our office might seem like a daunting prospect. Perhaps you had a bad experience in the past, but whatever the reason; please know that at our office, there is nothing to be afraid of.  We understand you may be anxious about receiving dental treatments, and we’re here to help you have a comfortable, pain-free experience that will put your fears to rest. Our staff is specially trained in attending to patients that suffer from dental anxiety.
If you experience anxiety of going to see a dentist, you’re not alone!
A 1984 study that appeared in the Journal of the American Dental Association reported that up to 75% of all adults in the United States have some degree of dental anxiety. This includes five to ten percent that have dental anxiety so severe that they try to avoid a dentist’s office due to fear at all costs.
People with dental anxiety/phobia have a higher risk of gum disease and early tooth loss. Avoiding the dentist may not only have emotional costs, but also make people self-conscious and insecure due to discolored or damaged teeth. They may smile less or keep their mouths partly closed when they speak. Their personal and professional lives begin to suffer as they become so embarrassed about how their teeth look, and this often creates a serious loss of self-esteem.
Some of the signs of dental anxiety include:
·        You feel tense or have trouble sleeping the night before a dental exam.
·        You get increasingly nervous while you're in the waiting room.
·        You feel like crying when you think of going to the dentist, sight of dental instruments, and/or white-coated personnel in the dentist's office.
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