Why Am I So Scared Of The Dentist?

Some patients in many dental practices who come in only for episodic care (symptomatic attenders) say that they don't come in more often because they panic about what may happen. The fear of drills, pain, the unknown, loss of control, needles, choking, hitting a nerve, breaking a tooth to make it worse, the instruments, the smells, a previous bad experience, and a number of other perceptions (real or imagined), are all sizable impediments that block many people from regularly visiting the dentist to partner in achieving optimal dental health. And the negative ways dentists are portrayed in movies and cartoons don't help things much at all.

About 100 million people in the United States are so scared of the dentist that they only see one when experiencing intolerable pain (PBS.org/dentistsanddollars). Thinking about going to a dentist can upset people and make them experience anticipatory anxiety. Younger people have more dental anxiety than adults. And women are more fearful than men, yet they visit the dentist more often. More invasive and difficult procedures bring out more hesitation than simple treatments. Patients with severe dental problems may feel embarrassed, guilty, and ashamed about their mouths and may feel that they will be harshly judged and made to feel like a moron or idiot by the dentist preaching negative remarks. A significant number of people are fearful of the budget-busting costs of treatments.

Fortunately, there are things that the dentist at your dental home can do to help you meet your fears, to challenge them, and then to overcome them. Therapies like systematic desensitization, hypnosis, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Reciprocal Inhibition Behavior Therapy, cognitive restructuring, progressive relaxation, guided imagery, Symbolic Modeling, and feeling your own biofeedback responses can help make dental visits more informed, interactive, and possibly less traumatic. Medications to help relax, or even general anesthesia, may be available. But a little TLC from a compassionate, nonjudgmental, empathetic, and gentle dentist may just be all that most people need to help treatment progress proceed. Taking time to give information, explaining the procedures being done, and showing you how the instruments being used work helps to erase the fear of the unknown.

Measuring or quantifying the psychometric qualities of dental fears, phobias, and anxieties are attempted by evaluation systems like the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale, the Short Dental Fear Question, the Dental Fear Survey, the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear, the Dental Anxiety Inventory, the Hierarchical Anxiety Questionnaire, the Dental Beliefs Survey, and the Stouthard's Dental Anxiety Inventory short-form.

We can’t control many situations we face, but we can learn techniques on how to rationalize our behavioral responses to them, so we can maintain even-keel emotional control through situations and make our health outcomes and qualities of life more positive.

May you have many…learn to trust, see through the fog, inspirationally brave… smiles!