Dentists have been traditionally feared by many
because of their nasty reputation. Reputation rather than anything is actually
responsible why many people fear a trip to the dentist.
If you get
seriously tensed up at just the thought of visiting a dentist, you are most
likely to be suffering from Dental Anxiety or Entophobia which is the fear of
receiving dental care or the dentist himself. People affected with dental
anxiety might get filled with a deep sense of insecurity and fear when they
visit a dentist.
Quite a majority of the people, around 75% suffer from varying degrees of
dental anxiety. Around 20% of these will only visit a dentist if they just have
to as in case of extreme pain or emergencies. It is however natural to feel a
little anxious before a dentist appointment.
This article discusses the causes of dental anxiety.
1. Embarrassment: Many people are embarrassed at the condition of their mouth
and are worried about how the dentist will react after seeing their teeth. They
think they have the worst set of teeth in the world. Be assured that dentists
see such cases on a daily basis. It’s their job to help you overcome such
conditions.
2. Prior Experiences: These can be the most powerful reason for the fear of
dentists. A person with a bad past experience might strongly oppose the idea of
ever visiting a dentist again. Although bad experience is a valid reason for
fearing something, it might be worthwhile to have a check on why you had a bad
experience. If your visit has been quite a few years back, be informed that
dentistry is a constantly developing field and old methods have been replaced
by painless advanced methods.
You might have had a really bad experience while undergoing a procedure and you
hate your dentist after that. What you don’t realize that there were 10 other
people the same day that got treated by the same dentist with out any problem.
You just happened to have a bad day. Just as if you were driving and had a
crash, you wouldn't quit driving because you know you just had a bad day and it
doesn't happen all the time.
3. Immediate surroundings: If you fear the dentist, it is very likely that you
passed this on to your children as well. This is because children learn by what
they see. If they see you fearing the dentist, obviously they would too. Not
just parents, children can imbibe such a fear from any one close to them such
as relatives, friends.
4. Others experience: We often tend to relate to emotions of others. If your
best friend had a terrible encounter with a particular dentist and cried in
front of you for the same, you will be definitely affected by such an incident.
Or simply if someone close to had a painful ordeal while undergoing a RCT and told you and your dentist informed
you in your next appointment that you should get an RCT done, its highly likely
you would want to run away from your dentist.
5. Dentist’s fault: Some dentists remain insensitive towards the patients and
this can immensely affect a patients opinion especially kids. Dentists ought to
know that not the treatment itself is part of their profession but also caring
and making the patient comfortable. Mocking at the patient or making
insensitive comments directed at the patients is also responsible for people
developing hate for the dentist.
6. The Instruments: Some people are driven nuts just at the site of "The
drill". Although, it does appear intimidating the drill is not actually
painful. In many cases, you are given an anesthetic which makes you insensitive
to any possible pain. Besides this, there is an advanced alternative to the
drill which is known as laser dentistry. A few dentists trained in laser
dentistry offer this.
The best advice to people suffering from dental anxiety is to visit a dentist
who expertises in treating such patients.
Dentistry is not about giving pain to you but preventing any pain to you.
