Fear of the dentist can range from feeling tense before an appointment to avoiding dental care altogether. You may know perfectly well that treatment is necessary and still find that your body reacts as though you are in danger.
That response can be connected with a previous painful or frightening experience, fear of injections, gagging, loss of control, embarrassment, particular sounds or smells, or simply an anxiety response that has grown stronger over time.
Dental anxiety can become a cycle
Avoiding an appointment usually brings immediate relief. Unfortunately, that relief can teach the brain that avoidance was what kept you safe. The next appointment can then feel even harder. If dental problems worsen while appointments are avoided, the fear may become associated with increasingly complex treatment as well.
Therapy can help interrupt that cycle by working with the fear response itself and helping you approach dental care in manageable steps.
What we might work with
- Fear before making or attending an appointment
- Needles, drilling, sounds, smells or particular procedures
- Gagging or panic sensations
- Feeling trapped or out of control in the dental chair
- A difficult previous dental experience
- Embarrassment about the condition of your teeth
How therapy may help
Depending on your experience, we may use psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, imagery and focused work with learned fear responses. The aim is not to persuade you that dentistry is enjoyable. It is to help the level of alarm become proportionate enough that you can make informed choices and receive the dental care you need.