Beat dental anxiety for good with help from our Fulham dentists

When it comes to treating dental anxiety, our advanced Parsons Green dentists are trained to help. We have a number of techniques which we use to relax the body, remove stress and make you feel more comfortable in the chair.

We also offer numbing gel for those who have a phobia about dental pain involving needles and injections. Your dentist will apply the gel to your gums before the start of the treatment, helping you to feel more comfortable about facing needles, as well as removing the pain factor.

A survey by the British Dental Association shows that 25% of people suffer from anxiety before visiting the dentist. This means that a quarter of the British population either tries their best to cope with their dental phobia, or risks their oral health by not visiting the dentist at all, which could lead to long term serious health problems and result in lengthy and expensive surgery.

According to a panel of experts at Dental Phobia the first thing to remember when you confront your fear of the dentist is that dentists are medical professionals and specifically trained to deal with patients who are anxious. Your dentist will have seen countless patients who are nervous during their treatment, so it is unlikely you are the worst case they have ever dealt with.

There are some simple things that you can do to try to overcome your dental phobia and feel positive about your visit to the dentist:

Distraction techniques

There are many ways that you can distract yourself away from the surgery during treatment. Many surgeries play soothing music to relax their patients anyway, but you could take a personal music player to play whatever you wish to take your mind off the treatment. You could also try to concentrate on relaxing each body part in turn and try to focus your mind on other things, such as something in the future that you are looking forward to.

Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy can be a great way to treat dental anxiety. You are safe in the knowledge that you cannot be made to do anything against your wishes whilst hypnotised and you can relax knowing that this technique does not involve taking any medication.

Therapy and counselling

These both include sitting down and talking to somebody face to face about your fear. You could try to talk about why you have this fear, perhaps events in the past that have triggered it, and learn to accept your fear and face it gradually, to try and see things in a more positive light. Counselling helps people overcome all sorts of different fears and is proven to be a very effective way of overcoming a phobia.

Make sure you visit a supportive dentist

Make sure your dentist knows before the treatment how you feel. Visit beforehand and ask any questions that you wish, they will be more than happy to help. Make sure that you get a detailed step by step guide of exactly what the procedure involves from your dentist, so that you can mentally prepare yourself beforehand and do not get any nasty surprises during the treatment.

Stay in control

One of the hardest things for sufferers of dental phobia is the lack of control that they have during their dental treatment. Make sure that you ask your dentist to go at your pace and not theirs and talk beforehand about your signal to stop if you feel that it is getting too much.

Establish a healthy relationship with your dentist beforehand

It is likely that you will feel much more comfortable during your treatment if you have visited your dentist and got to know them before your treatment. Make sure that you are completely open with your dentist about your anxiety and discuss your medical past with them. Building a trusting relationship is vital, your dentist will be more than happy to help. Do not suffer in silence!

Whatever you do, please do not let dental phobia stop you from visiting the dentist – contact our Fulham dentists to find out how we can help.