Experiences in the past, including when you were a child can, cause all sorts of anxiety for patients when it comes to dentistry. Often these experiences become wildly distorted over time and then reinforced negatively by scare stories from others and the media.
Firstly, talk openly about your fear with your dentist, dental nurse and hygienist so that they can accommodate your situation and do what is necessary to eliminate anything that might add to your anxiety. Often one good dental appointment where there has been no pain or triggers that remind you of your earlier bad experience can help you get a better feeling when it comes to visiting your dentist.
One of the things that you may not be aware of is how much technology and new science has been developed in dentistry to reduce pain and the length of time needed for treatments. Even over the course of a single year many new dental materials and techniques are introduced that make dental treatments ever simpler and less painful.
That means listening to stories from friends and family about their horror visits to the dentist are pointless. Those treatments are already long outdated and aren’t used any more because there are now safer and pain-free treatments that are used instead.
Avoiding your dentist because of your fear is actually dangerous, because it means that you’re missing out on getting information and advice that would stop you from needing intensive treatments. In fact overcoming your reluctance to go to the dentist for regular check-ups would mean that you could get help to avoid needing any of the horrible treatments you imagine you need.
Dentists know that many people have terrible fear about going to the dentist, so by speaking with them they’ll be able to make suggestions on other ways to help you over come the anxiety you feel… and there are some very unusual and interesting alternatives they can recommend.