The sweat starts running down your back. Your heart begins to beat faster and your breathing becomes heavier. You’re looking around for a way out and starting to panic. These will be familiar feelings to you if you have ever suffered from a phobia of any kind. Most of us are scared of certain things but when the fear takes over completely it becomes a phobia, something which can be very difficult to overcome.
Unfortunately for the health of many teeth, one of the most common phobias in the UK is dental phobia. There is something about the traditional image of the dentist that makes some people very afraid and stories about patients not having visited the dentist in several decades are very common. This might seem like a trivial matter but it means that they are not receiving the dental treatment they need and could be putting the health of their teeth and their overall health at considerable risk.
It is also true that many of the reasons why people initially developed a fear of the dentist no longer exist. Modern dentistry is vastly different to the dental practices that may have caused many of these dental phobias years ago. Modern dentists are trained to deal with extremely anxious patients and many people find that just talking through their concerns with a dentist can help them to face their fears.
There are other modern methods to deal with dental phobia, including aromatherapy and breathing techniques. These can help patients to relax before an appointment, allowing them to gain the dental treatment they often desperately need. Feel free to discuss your fears with a Swindon dentist who will be happy to help.
Dr Gerrard is a Bristol based Cosmetic dentist with many years of experience and is one of only a small number of dentists accredited by The British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry