How to stop being afraid of the dentist - instructions for a dental phobe

What is child phobia - just fear or a disease?

Everyone gets nervous before visiting a dental office.

Some people simply experience slight nervousness and discomfort, while others are terrified of even the thought of visiting a dentist, and the mention of a drill makes such a person hysterical. It is in the latter case that dental phobia occurs (synonyms for this concept are also the terms odontophobia and dental phobia) or panic fear of visiting the dentist.

This serious pathology should be distinguished from the usual fear of dentists, which almost any person experiences in the dentist's chair. It manifests itself in attacks of uncontrollable fear, hysteria up to loss of consciousness. People suffering from hypertension may experience hypertensive crises or angina attacks. Such patients are usually not contactable, and even the most experienced doctor is unable to find a common language with them.

Most often, people with dental phobia go to the dentist only in advanced cases. For example, when a tooth hurts so much that painkillers do not help, or a decayed tooth prevents you from speaking normally and eating fully.

Dentophobia: what is it?

Dentophobia, odontophobia or dental phobia is a serious pathology, expressed in a panicky fear of any contact with the dentist. Here it is necessary to distinguish between panic and simply the tension that arises in a person when he thinks that he needs to have his teeth treated. After all, excitement and anxiety before going to the doctor is normal. If the fear is strong, insurmountable, and makes you refuse to go to a specialist year after year, despite the need, then we are talking about a serious illness. According to statistics, it occurs in 5–7% of the population. Men and children are more susceptible to pathology.

Why am I afraid to go to the dentist or where do my fears come from?

The very first and most important point that allows you to overcome your fear of dentists is to understand the cause of such a problem. Each of those suffering from dental phobia has its own personality, but in general, the factors that provoke the phobia are quite similar.

Extremely negative previous experience with dental treatment. Representatives of the older generation probably remember the “Soviet standards” of providing dental care: a roaring drill, minimal anesthesia (or even its absence), an unpleasant taste in the mouth after arsenic. At the same time, treatment of one tooth most often took place in several visits, which also did not give patients positive emotions. All this contributed to the development and strengthening of fear of the dentist, and subsequently to the formation of severe phobias.
At the present stage, dentistry offers patients a huge number of new services, many of which have foreign and incomprehensible names (for example, Opalescence, White light or Zoom). It is this uncertainty that makes a person afraid to go to the dentist. Trying to find information on the Internet can often worsen the phobia due to negative reviews and comments from “experts” that frighten patients on dental resources.
Many people are afraid to go to the dentist because of bad teeth . This fear is often fueled by some doctors who criticize the patient’s attitude towards his own health. The result is a vicious circle: the worse the condition of the teeth, the more pronounced the phobia becomes.
Some women are afraid to go to a male dentist . This is due to the fact that representatives of the fair sex are embarrassed to look funny with their mouths wide open. In addition, a visit to the dentist's office implies restrictions on the use of decorative cosmetics, which also confuses some ladies.
If a child is afraid to have his teeth treated, then in some cases the cause of this phenomenon should be sought in the behavior of the parents . Moms and dads (who sometimes suffer from dental phobia themselves) tell their children that if they misbehave, the doctor will pull or drill their teeth. This is done so that the child sits calmly in line in front of the dentist’s office. As a result, children begin to fear even the simplest and most harmless dental procedures. And neither a teenager nor an adult can overcome such fear, rooted in childhood.

In addition to the reasons listed above, dental phobia can be caused by mental illness or a low pain sensitivity threshold . Sometimes a similar problem occurs during pregnancy , when the expectant mother is afraid that the treatment may harm her baby.

Hostages of the first experience

For many dental phobes, fear is intensified by memories of an unsuccessful trip to the dentist in childhood or adolescence. These are people who have excellent memory, which is given to them to accumulate and pass on experience and knowledge to future generations. Such people remember everything, both good and bad, that happened to them. The hostages of the first experience are people with an anal vector. Visual fear, superimposed on the foundation of a bad experience, is an almost 100% guarantee that such a person will voluntarily go to the dentist only when the problem has already reached the scale of the universe.

When I was five years old, my mother took me to the dentist because I had gumboil. I walked there completely calmly, because I had had my teeth treated before and was not afraid. But this time something went wrong. When I saw the instrument in the doctor’s hands that was used to pull out teeth, I realized that such an instrument would not do anything good to me. Because it looked suspiciously like pliers... I saw my dad have these, he used them to pull out nails... Then I decided that I wouldn’t give up without a fight. My mother and the doctor first tried to persuade me, then they shamed me, then they scolded me. And then they just deceived me.

Having lulled my vigilance, the doctor told me to open my mouth, saying that she would only show my mother what we needed to do at home. In anticipation that I would soon be able to leave the ill-fated office, I opened my mouth... A pulled out tooth, a doctor’s bitten finger, because of which she went on sick leave, and a persistent fear of dentists that settled in my soul for many years - this is the result.

How to stop being afraid of the dentist?

How not to be afraid of the dentist? This is the most important question for a person suffering from dental phobia. It becomes especially acute when it is no longer possible to delay a visit to the dentist.

Advice from a psychologist will tell you how not to be afraid of the dentist and overcome dental phobia forever.

First of all, need to figure it out about what exactly you are afraid of. To do this, you can create a table that will help you determine the type of fear. In the first column you need to enter a possible version of the phobia, and opposite each item put a number from 1 to 4, where a four will correspond to the concept “I’m incredibly afraid,” a three will correspond to “I’m very afraid,” a two will mean “I have moderate fear,” and one will correspond to “not I'm completely afraid." For example:

Fear Option	Fear level from 1 to 4
I'm afraid to remove a tooth	4
I'm afraid to drill my teeth	3
I'm afraid of an injection at the dentist	2
I'm afraid to remove the nerve from a tooth	2
I'm afraid of anesthesia	1
I'm afraid to pull out my wisdom teeth	4
I'm afraid to get a dental implant	2
I'm afraid to remove a tooth with a cyst	4
I'm afraid to remove tartar	1
I'm afraid to treat my front teeth	2

It is necessary to carry out such a test in a calm environment, honestly writing out all your fears.

The second stage is analyze the resulting list and try to figure out what exactly scares you in each specific case and what could have caused this phenomenon. For example:
- I'm afraid to pull out a tooth because I'm afraid of the pain. I already had a tooth removed once without anesthesia, and it was very painful.
I am afraid when my teeth are drilled because the sound of the drill working is unpleasant to me. As a child, my parents always scared me with her.

Often such a simple technique is enough to get rid of the fear of the dentist. If it is impossible to deal with the problem on your own, then you can visit the doctor with this list from whom you plan to undergo treatment and get advice regarding your fears and their reality.

a preliminary consultation dentist can help overcome fear of dentists . Most clinics provide their patients with the opportunity to communicate with a surgeon or therapist, at whose appointment existing dental problems are discussed and ways to eliminate them are discussed. You can ask the doctor all your questions, as well as ask for clarification regarding all diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Anesthesia issues are also discussed, as well as possible alternative therapeutic techniques. A trusting relationship with a doctor largely determines success in the fight against dental phobia. If the patient trusts the attending physician, then he will more quickly relax in the dental chair and cease to feel fear.
Don't put off visiting the dental office. Over time, the fear may not become less, but the condition of the teeth will be much worse.
Before seeing a doctor, try to get a good rest and sleep . The night before, you can take glycine or use folk remedies with a sedative effect (infusion of valerian or motherwort). Before visiting the dentist, do not plan any important events that could cause additional stress.

Why are adults afraid of dentists and is it possible to overcome fear?

Just like all phobias, dental phobia is best treated in the early stages. In difficult situations, a good psychotherapist may be required. In this case, adults begin to behave like children and are afraid to visit dentists, although there are no apparent reasons for such fear. As you know, most dental diseases do not require serious manipulation at the beginning of their development, but over time they only develop and can become painful and difficult. Therefore, it is best to treat your fear of dentists by gathering your willpower and deciding to go to the doctor as soon as the first signs of discomfort appear.

Better yet, go for a routine checkup once a year. Then you will not miss the moment where dental diseases will have already developed and require serious treatment.

It's best to pay attention to:

proper dental hygiene;
visit dentists for preventive care;
independently examine the oral cavity regularly;

It is also worth realizing that today there are many innovative drugs and treatment methods, so even complex dental diseases can be cured with minimal sensation.
And by postponing treatment, you are almost guaranteed to doom yourself to painful intervention by a dentist and will only develop a greater fear of dental treatment. Moscow metro station Zvezdnaya, Danube Avenue, 23

How to overcome fear of the dentist - a view from the other side

Dentophobia is not only a problem for patients. This phenomenon also applies to doctors, who must decide what to do with a person who needs to undergo some kind of medical procedure (for example, remove a nerve or pull out a rotten tooth), but he is deathly afraid to sit in a dental chair.

A good surgeon, therapist or dental technician will first talk with the patient to find out the level of his fear, and will also listen to what specifically worries the person and what his phobias are associated with. He will explain in detail what this or that procedure is called and what its essence is.

In general, modern dentistry is aimed at maximizing stress reduction in people when visiting the dental office. For this they widely use:

A background of light classical music or natural noises that promote relaxation and calm.
Some clinics are equipped with video glasses, thanks to which the patient can be distracted by watching an interesting film while the dentist is working.
In special cases, dental treatment under anesthesia is used.

Cases of severe dental phobia are corrected by a psychotherapist using various therapeutic techniques.

What's the result?

Modern dentistry does everything so that patients with dental phobia can have their teeth treated efficiently and easily.

A few simple recommendations will also help in the fight against fear:

carefully choose the clinic where you will be treated;
find a permanent doctor whom you will get used to;
Professional hygiene at least once every six months will protect your teeth from caries, and you from the drill.

Also remember to brush your teeth twice a day, use dental floss and mouthwash. Then you won’t be afraid of caries, just like the dentist!

Dentophobia in children

Dentophobia occurs much more often in children than in adults. This is explained by the lability of children's emotions and the lack of previous experience of visiting the dentist. This phobia manifests itself especially hard in children aged 2 to 5 years, since at this age children are not yet able to control their emotions and actions, they are poorly accessible to contact and cannot fully talk about their experiences and fears.

Children's dental phobia has the same reasons as the adult version of fear:

fear of the unknown;
fear of pain;
negative previous experience of visiting not only a dentist, but also a doctor of another specialization;
misbehavior of parents.

How to rid a child of fear?

If a child is afraid of the dentist, then most likely the reason will be an unpleasant first interaction with a doctor of this specialty. It is the first visit to the dentist that will shape a little person’s future attitude towards dentistry.

Overcoming dental phobia will be facilitated by:

Maximum contact between the doctor and the young patient . The level of fear in a child will be significantly reduced if, before treatment, you give him a short excursion, during which you can show him the office, tell him about the instruments, show pictures about his teeth and their treatment.
The use of anesthesia in dental treatment.
Use of modern silent therapeutic techniques . The absence of unpleasant sensations, the sound of a drill, and the short duration of procedures are the main enemies of children's fear.
The use of multimedia devices , thanks to which a small patient can listen to pleasant music, an audio story, or watch a favorite cartoon and take his mind off the treatment procedure itself and the negative emotions associated with it.
Correct behavior of parents . If mom or dad feel nervous and anxious in front of the dentist's office, then this feeling is passed on to the child, and he instinctively begins to be afraid. Sometimes the strengthening of a phobia can be facilitated by harmless at first glance phrases “don’t be afraid”, “it won’t hurt”, “it’s not scary”, which are pronounced with the aim of calming down and which can have the opposite effect. Before the dentist's office, parents' behavior should be natural, and it is better not to make a big deal out of the visit itself. This is necessary so that the child feels from childhood that taking care of the health of his teeth is a common thing.

Fortunately, most children quickly adapt and stop feeling afraid. With the correct behavior of the doctor and parents, for young girls and boys, treatment of baby teeth, and subsequently primary teeth, will be an interesting and exciting adventure.

One day in the life of a dental phobe

After waiting for the work day to start, he put me in the car and drove me to the dentist. For acute pain they are taken out of turn. On weak legs, I walked into the office and sat down in a chair. A plump woman doctor looked at me gloomily and said:

- Open your mouth. Where does it hurt?

Looking at the tooth, she silently took her infernal machine in her hand and prepared to drill.

- What about the injection? “I bleated timidly, looking into her eyes for sympathy.

“We don’t give an injection for acute pain,” the doctor snapped.

- ?!?!? No! — I squeaked and flew out of the office like a bullet.

My husband, having heard what was going on, proceeded to “plan B” - he took me to another hospital. History repeated itself one after another. State dentistry ended there, and, with a resigned sigh, my husband took me to a private dental office. The dear young doctor, seeing my eyes, stunned with fear, understood everything without words.

-Are you afraid? - he asked affectionately. - Don’t be afraid, now I’ll give you an injection, and if it still hurts, you tell me, and we’ll give you another one.

Dying from fear, I sat down in a chair, grabbed the armrests with shaking hands, forgetting to breathe and expecting pain every second. The doctor did not deceive me, he gave me an injection. And he did everything in the best possible way. Quite sweaty from the exertion, I exhaled only when it was all over.

Much later, I learned that such a strong fear of the dentist is called dental phobia.

Get a grip, you wimp.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been tormented by the question: how to stop being afraid of dentists? After reading popular tips on how to overcome fear of the dentist, I came to the conclusion that the people who wrote them belong to the category of people who are just a little nervous before such a visit and have no idea what real fear of the dentist is.

As a dental phobe with over 30 years of experience, I responsibly declare: advice does not work! I'm sure true dentophobes will agree with me.

Here are the tips themselves:

1. Tune in. Throw out of your head unpleasant thoughts about the drill, the terrible smell of medicine in the office, as well as unbearable pain and think about something pleasant. For example, about how beautiful your smile will be.

Seriously? I wonder if whoever came up with this tried it himself? When a tooth hurts, it is quite difficult to think about anything other than pain and fear. And as for a beautiful smile... You know, when I was 14 years old and my teeth were already growing haphazardly, my mother told me that I needed to treat my teeth, because then I would have an ugly smile. But, since this mythical “later” was not expected soon, and I was afraid to go to the dentist now, persuasion of this kind did not work on me.

2. Pull yourself together and finally make an appointment with a doctor, then, they say, you will have no choice and you will definitely go.

To be honest, this is dubious advice. If we draw an analogy with the decision to take up sports, then in order not to quit exercising, it is advised to immediately buy a subscription, because then you will definitely go. Yeah. Such a fact as the money paid stimulates a fairly small percentage of people - if there is no desire, you will simply spit on the money. And they don’t take any money at all to make an appointment with a doctor, even if you gather all your courage into a fist, take the phone in your trembling hand and call, then at the last moment before the visit you “suddenly” have the most urgent matter in the world, which, of course, , is more important than a visit, especially since now my teeth don’t hurt. Well, I'll go some other time.

3. Before visiting the dentist, you can also read reference books or the Internet, find out about treatment methods - then you will definitely calm down.

The author of the advice is probably simply not aware that dentophobes have a rich imagination. And if you add to it the negative experience of visiting the dentist, then the chances of getting to the dentist tend to zero.

4. You can also look at inspiring pictures from the “before and after” series, which seems to be motivating.

At one time I got myself a notebook of wishes and pasted into it a picture of a girl with a dazzling smile. And I meditated on this picture, naively believing that if I looked at it for a long time, then somehow I too would have such beautiful teeth. The thought that I needed to go to the doctor for this did not enter my head. Let it sort itself out somehow...

5. Take a sedative, such as valerian or motherwort. Then you will be as calm as an elephant.

Does not work. Because at the level of stress that we experience from fear when thinking about dental treatment, there is such a powerful release of adrenaline into the blood that it completely neutralizes the good work of sedatives.

6. Take a loved one with you to support you.

Remember the story of my visit to the doctor with my husband, told at the very beginning? Even if my husband was allowed to sit next to the chair and hold my hand, this would not calm me down. Will he, by some miracle, take away my fear? The fact that there is someone waiting for you in the corridor does not calm you down at all, because only one thought is knocking in your temples: “Now a nightmare will begin.”

7. We are asked to remember that anesthesia is good now. And that once, having treated your teeth like this and making sure that it doesn’t hurt, you will do it without fear.

Remember? The wonderful doctor was sympathetic to my fear and, yes, cured my tooth. Do you think that after this I began to happily go to get my teeth treated? You're right, of course not. I conveniently forgot about them. Because, firstly, it doesn’t hurt, and secondly, the fear hasn’t gone away.

8. …

The “useful” advice doesn’t end there, but I think there’s no point in continuing further. Any of you who are as afraid of the dentist as I am, can take any of the tips not covered here and move on. Now I suggest you try to figure out why these, at first glance, practical recommendations do not work.

Interesting facts about scary things

Are you afraid to have your teeth treated? If yes, then especially for you we have collected the most common fears associated with dentistry, as well as facts that will allow you to overcome them.

I'm afraid to have my teeth treated during pregnancy - it could harm the baby . This is one of the most dangerous fears, since any rotten tooth, even if it does not hurt, is a source of chronic infection, which can easily penetrate the child and cause serious congenital health problems. Ideally, teeth should be treated at the preconception stage, but if a woman is already pregnant and needs dental treatment, then it is absolutely impossible to refuse it. Modern dentistry has tools and materials that are absolutely safe for the health of both mother and baby.
I’m afraid of pain at the dentist, but I’m even more afraid of treating my teeth with an injection - what if the injection itself becomes painful or doesn’t work . This fear originates from a time when anesthetics were extremely imperfect. Previously, the usual Novocaine or Lidocaine was used for pain relief, which required a fairly large dosage, did not act immediately, and the duration of their effect was very short. Modern drugs, such as Articaine (in Ultracaine, Ubestezin, Septanest) and Mepivacaine (in Scandonest) require minimal dosages for treatment, are highly effective and have a long-lasting effect. In addition, they are safe and can be used in people with various pathologies of the cardiovascular system and even in children or pregnant women.
I'm afraid to remove the nerve from the tooth, but it hurts . Ignoring the symptoms of pulpitis can lead to serious consequences, including tooth loss. Depulpation or removal of the dental nerve is one of the stages in the treatment of such pathology. Until recently, such a procedure lasted for several days and was extremely painful: the doctor opened the dental canals and the cavity of the tooth root, put arsenic in them, put a temporary filling and released the patient until the next visit. In 2-3 days, the dental nerve had to die, and this process was often accompanied by excruciating pain that could not be relieved even with strong painkillers. Today there is no need to carry out such a procedure. Modern local anesthetics allow you to remove the nerve within 30 minutes and without the slightest discomfort.
I want to whiten my teeth, but I'm afraid that the whitening procedure is unsafe for the enamel . The fear of treating teeth darkening using Air flow, Opalescence, White Light or Zoom techniques appeared among the population not very long ago. Many people want to give their teeth a white tint, but are afraid that their teeth will be exposed to chemicals. Modern whitening technologies are safe when carried out correctly. In order to get a guaranteed positive result, you should choose a clinic with extensive experience, which has modern equipment, certified consumables and only positive reviews from real clients.
I need to treat caries, but I'm afraid to drill my teeth . Preparation or drilling of teeth using a noisy drill is one of the horrors of Soviet dentistry that many remember. And it is because of this sound that many people put off visiting the dentist. But modern clinics can offer alternative options: chemical and ultrasonic tooth preparation. Such techniques are absolutely silent and do not cause discomfort or pain. They are also effective and allow the doctor to fully clean carious cavities and fill defects in dental tissue.
The doctor insists on replacing the front tooth with a dental implant, but I am afraid of such a procedure . Dental implantation or implantation of an artificial tooth root into bone tissue is one of the most modern procedures that allows you to restore lost teeth. Implants are highly aesthetic, they are durable (they do not have to be replaced every 5-10 years) and completely replenish the dentition. Implantation technologies are developed very precisely and operations are always carried out after computer modeling - i.e. The approach to each patient is always individual. In addition, the implantation is carried out only under anesthesia and after the engraftment process it is not felt at all.

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As can be seen from the article, fear of dentists is a very common phenomenon that can and should be combated. The main thing is not to let everything take its course and not to forget that it is much easier to keep your teeth healthy if you regularly visit the dentist and follow all his recommendations.