Fear of the dentist is completely understandable and something we take very seriously. When we talk to our patients about this, we often hear stories of the school dentist or having a great big mask put over your face as a child so that you could have your teeth removed and wake up with a mouth full of blood – no wonder you have a fear of dental treatment if you’ve had such an experience as a child!
Other experiences that may elicit a phobia are painful treatment from a previous dentist, treatment gone wrong or any bad experience. It could even be elicited by how you were spoken to and made to feel by the dentist or any dental team member down to the receptionist, nurse, or hygienist.
Now, even if you don’t have an extreme phobia, you may still have some anxiety when going to the dentist, especially if it’s a new dentist and even more so if you are considering having comprehensive treatment. This could be due to the fear of the procedure, worry about the final results, worry about feeling embarrassed about your smile and the condition of your teeth and concern over the costs of treatment and how you are going to pay for it.
We are fully aware of all of your potential concerns, and we recognise these concerns at every step of the way. We want to know as early as possible what your concerns are so that we can tailor our approach to your care.
Many of our patients have struggled with significant dental phobias and fears before coming to see us. However, they have found that our approach helps alleviate their anxiety and fear. Read our reviews.
Let us help you with your dental anxiety.
There are a few methods to help you deal further with significant fears and anxieties you may have, which will be tailored to your exact needs. This may include:
- Increased appointment times to slow the pacing of certain procedures and make time for anxiety-reducing practises.
- Having nurses in your appointment who have had additional training in techniques for helping to manage dental anxieties during procedures.
- Prescribing you oral anxiolytics similar to valium to help you, and many patients find this extremely effective.
- Various forms of full-body sedation as an alternative to local injections, including:
- Inhalation Sedation – patients breathe in a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide through the nose during a procedure, putting patients in a comfortable and relaxed state. This is the mildest sedation option with immediate recovery, and is suitable for children with dental anxieties.
- Oral Sedation – patients are given a pill taken by swallowing, usually a benzodiazepine, that may highly relax a patient or make them fall into a light sleep.
- IV Sedation – We work closely with a team of consultant anaesthetists who can come to your visit and administer full-body sedation through a vein to completely relax you. Patients can be kept awake, or put to sleep to make you totally unaware of your procedure, and both variants leave no memory of the particular procedure. This option is an enormous help to patients unable to cope with any significant treatment, especially implants.
