Overcoming Dental Anxiety

Dental anxiety is a real issue affecting a large percentage of people. It’s not just kids who are afraid to go to the dentist, but adults as well. In fact, it’s estimated that about a third of all adults suffer from at least mild dental anxiety.

This fear means that the patients will have trepidation about going to their dentist and they are probably afraid of the potential pain they will feel or the invasiveness of having someone so close to them and working inside their mouth. We are going to look at two different kinds of dental anxiety that people can experience and how they may be treated.

Mild Anxiety When Visiting Your Dentists Office

The most common dental anxiety is quite mild. It is not outright terror or panic and it can be treated in several ways and with minimal effort.

One of the most effective methods for treating mild dental anxiety is through breathing exercises. Patients can simply breathe in deeply through their nose and then let the breath out slowly. This will oxygenate the blood, relax the body and calm the nerves. This can be useful when the dentist is working on them as well, as it can help the patient overcome their fear of having things inside their mouth.

It can also help for the patients to talk to their dentist in Newington. They may not be able to carry on a conversation while the dentist is working, but before they get started, while the dentist and dental technician are preparing everything, the patient can get to know the dentist, find out what they are doing and develop a relationship with them. This will allow them to be more comfortable when their dentist is working.

Severe Anxiety When Seeing Your Dentist

This far less common form of dental anxiety needs more extreme measures to be treated effectively. While the techniques mentioned above can certainly help, they may not be enough, in these cases, to allow the patients to stay calm during the dental procedures.

One of the more common ways to treat severe anxiety of any kind is through counseling. In some cases, a patient’s dental insurance may cover therapy sessions, and the counseling can help the patient find out what is causing their anxiety and deal with the root cause. By simply better understanding why they are afraid, it can help them to face and absolve their fears or at least let those fears not have such strong control over them.

Another method for treating severe anxiety is to use sedation. The patient will never be fully put under, but by introducing nitrous oxide into their body, the dentist will be able to relax the patient and can work unhindered.

Our Newington CT dental practice offers free nitrous oxide sedation for all patients, and it can be a great way to calm their nerves and make the dental process far less stressful. We realize that many people are apprehensive about going to the dentist, and so we do everything we can to make them more comfortable and to help them feel at ease.