Many people all over the world suffer from some form of fear of dentist and are reluctant to visit a dental office. This type of fear, according to its degree, can be classified as: dental anxiety, dental fear and dental phobia.
Dental phobia is the most sever type. Individuals suffering from dental phobia absolutely avoid visiting a dentist, until they inevitably reach a physical or psychological problem that they cannot cope with. As a general rule, these individuals have poor oral health manifested by a number of extracted teeth, severe dental caries, chewing difficulties and aesthetic issues.
It can be beat
In our dental office we approach and treat patients with dental fear or phobia with special care, patience and understanding. We spend a longer than usual time when examining and treating this type of patients. We focus on providing them with all necessary information and on building trust, which is of outmost importance for the success of treatment. The goal is not, and should not be, to have a fear free patient, but to minimize the fear so that the patient is comfortable with any dental procedure.
In order to gradually build trust, we usually start with short and simple procedures. However, no matter how short and simple, all procedures are performed using local anesthesia. This way, immediately following the first visit and procedure, the patient is overcoming the fear of pain and the fear of the unknown leading to him/her being more cooperative in future.
It is a great pleasure for us as dentists, to see a smiling patient who has undergone a full dental treatment, knowing that it is the same patient who at the beginning feared entering our dental office and was terrified and suspicious. We know that one of the reasons the patient is smiling is because he/she will not visit us for a while, but it is a great success on both our sides that the teeth and mouth are healthy again.
