6 Tips to ease your dental anxiety and fears Some people are ready to cope with toothache throughout their lives but they cannot withstand the mild pain in a dental seating to get rid of the dental disorders. It does not indicate that they are neglecting their oral health but also shows that they are afraid of going to the dentists. If you are one of such persons who have dental anxiety and making excuses to make a dental visit, this post is for you. Dental anxiety or Dental Phobia is a common thing and many people around the world have a fear toward the dentist, irrespective of their ages. Such anxious feel may stem from a bitter thing they encountered in dental treatment in childhood, fear of the sharp utensils dentist use, or other personal reasons.
Fortunately, many dentists are skilled and experienced in handling such fearful patients. Meanwhile, dental doctors encourage patients to come out of their anxious feel towards oral treatments. In this article, Dr. Suresh from Dr. Amarnathan's Dental Care has shared some essential tips to ease your dental fear.
What should you do to overcome your dental anxiety? Beginning from finding the good & trained dentist in your neighborhood, emulate the prescribed things:
1) Be open about your fears When you visit or schedule your dental appointment, let your dentist know that you feel nervous about the oral care treatments. It helps the dental team to treat you with special attention to meet your needs (i.e.) belittling your fears. Remember that if you get tensed due to anxiety during the treatment, it will raise your bp levels that have various damaging effects. So you should reveal this to the dental team before beginning the treatment.
2) Calm yourself ahead of the visit Do your favorite activities that you do amidst your busy schedule before visiting your dentist. It will soothe your mind and take the fear. If you prefer caffeine to reduce stress, kindly avoid it before visiting a dental clinic. This applies to eating sugary foods also. Instead, take high-protein fluids such as milk, coconut water or others. Meanwhile, a good night sleep on the previous day of dental treatment will aid in ease the dental stress.
3) Visit the clinic on time but not too early You should arrive the clinic a few minutes ahead of the scheduled time but avoid visiting too early. We are telling this because while seeing the utensils in a dental office, dental anxious people will scare too much which leads their imagination in a wilder run.
4) Take someone to accompany you Why do parents accompany their kids while visiting a clinic? Apart from convoying their toddlers, their presence will give the kids a relaxing feel. Right? It applies to people suffering from dental phobia. Bringing your close one who is not afraid of dentists helps you to put at ease in the dental seat. Likewise, he/she will take on behalf of you when you cannot speak during the treatment.
5) Take precautions to reduce discomfort Once you explain your anxiety towards oral treatments, the dentists will take care of delivering various customized approaches in every aspect to ensure your comfortability amidst the anxiety. For instance, adjusting your seating position, using nitrous oxide, using non-invasive panoramic X-rays, administering anesthesia, and much more.
All you want to do is intimate the dentist that you are in control of every step of the treatment.
6) Distract yourself to relax You can exploit techniques like meditation, visualizations, breathing exercises in the dentist chair to distract your mind from the drilling sound, sharp accessories that scare you. Nowadays, many dentists put a TV on the ceiling straight above the dental chair that helps the patients to distract themselves to relax.
Bottom line If you feel nervous about dentists or sharp things they are using for treatments, indulge in activities to overcome the fear. On contrary, many dental anxious people neglect the dental treatments they should receive on time. Remember that the oral treatments you postpone are also a part of intensifying the underlying dental disorders. A decayed tooth that is not treated on time will lead to more infectious conditions such as periodontal diseases, missing teeth, jaw bone loss, wrinkles in the face, etc.
Dr. Suresh