1. An important cause of dental phobia, dental anxiety and dental fear is previous conditioning. This means that you would have had a previously unpleasant experience at the dentist. Let’s take an example. Let’s say that last time you had to have a tooth extraction and it turned out to be difficult and took a …
A dentist must have good clinical skills but equally as important is how they can deal with nervous patients. Patients who are phobic have poorer oral health and we know that oral health has a significant impact on the quality of life, appearance, and self-esteem of a person. Firstly, identify these patients. The dentist must …
Dental fear and anxiety are often used interchangeably however there is a distinct difference between the two. Anxiety is part of the normal response to everyday events. However, it is harmful if anxiety occurs excessively over a long time. Anxiety always precedes the actual encounter. The actual encounter may be real or it may be imagined. Anxiety …
This patient presented with pain from UR3. He had not been for 2 years. The patient’s personal details and medical history was checked. A dental history was taken which revealed that the patient’s irregular attendance was due to a fear of treatment. Further open-ended questions by Dr Muzzafar Zaman revealed that the patient had a …
Dentist Fear Being scared of the dentist is a common reason as to why people avoid going to the dentist. Dental anxiety or dental phobia is an everyday occurrence for dentists to deal with as not only does it not allow the dentist to check the patient and do their job, but it is an …