DENTAL PHOBIA

There are many reasons why a patient is afraid to go to the dentist. The reasons could be; the dentist, embarrassment, loss of control, pain, needle phobia, sights, sounds, smells, gagging, panicking or crying, the drill, feeling numb, choking, unnecessary treatment, allergy to "Novocain", cannot get numb, being awake, extensive treatment, cost, medical settings, brushing teeth.

Many people surely connect the dentist with painful tooth extractions and a dentist in a white robe who is holding a roaring drill in his hand.

Fortunately, this belongs to the past and can in worse case be an old memory. We offer modern treatments with anaesthesia that makes you feel good when you are sitting in the dentist chair and after the visit.

There are many different techniques which can help people overcome their dental phobia or fears.

Psychological Methods for Overcoming Fears:

A) Take control!
Many people fear losing all control while in the dental chair, and get panicky as a result. If that's the case, you may want to find a dentist who will talk to you throughout the procedure, tell you what s/he's doing and what sensations to expect, and explain each and every step. This will actually help you feel in control, by understanding what is going on.

B) Distractions
One of the first "practical" bits of advice is to take a CD-player along, so that you will not hear the noises associated with various dental instruments. You may even have read about Virtual Reality glasses which are now offered by some dental offices.

C) Relaxation, Hypnosis, Self-Hypnosis and NLP

Pharmacological Help:

A) Anaesthesia

Anaesthesia is divided into two head groups: 1. Local Anaesthesia 2. General Anaesthesia 1. Types of general anaesthesia Depending on how the anaesthesia is applied you can distinguish following types of anaesthesia; Surface anaesthesia, Infiltration anaesthesia, Nerve blocks.

Surface anaesthesia means that the mucosa is covered with anaesthesia by spray, gel, ointment or lotions. This method has a weak effect and can therefore only be used in those cases there the pain is not so big, for example test injection, incision of an abscess under the mucosa, extraction of a loose milk tooth. The method can also be used to make the area there the needle shall be placed numb using infiltration anaesthesia or nerve blocks.

Infiltration anaesthesia means that the tissue is impregnated with anaesthesia. This method is effective enough for painless tooth extraction or tooth repair.

Nerve blocks mean that the anaesthesia is injected between the tooth root and the root membrane. Nerve blocks are used for surgical tooth extractions.

2. Types of general anaesthesia (also called narcosis) General anaesthesia is today very rarely used by the dentist. The risk for complications, in spite of that they are very rarely - is bigger. General anaesthesia can only be applied by an anaesthesiologist. Before the anaesthesia is applied, the patient has to be examined.

General intravenous anaesthesia
When the treatment can be long, this method is used for patient over 12 year in age as a complement to local anaesthesia. The patient is recommended to stay at the dentist clinic a few hours after narcosis.

B) Laughing gas (nitrous oxide)
Nitrous oxide N2O is relatively harmless gas. The Laughing gas is mild anaesthetic and is used as an anaestetic within obstetrics and dentistry.

C) Oral sedation
Most commonly, oral sedation (usually in the form of anti-anxiety or "happy pills") is prescribed for relieving anxiety in the hours immediately before a dental appointment. An anti-anxiety or sedative-hypnotic drug (see below) taken the night before the appointment.