If you or someone you love is suffering with dental anxiety then this is for you. Dental anxiety can be super crippling for sufferers and make the simple job of dental check ups feel like a massive stress inducing task, the problem with this being that people end up avoiding the dentist and then causing themselves bigger dental problems further down the line. Today we’re going to take a look at what causes dental anxiety and what we Glenside Dental your general dentist Glenside can do to help.
What Is Dental Anxiety?
Dental anxiety is the name given to the feeling of worry or stress someone feels surrounding the dentist. It’s important to separate this from dental phobia which is a more crippling condition that needs more specialist treatment from medical professionals and the general dentist Glenside.
Why Are We So Anxious About The Dentist?
Having feelings of worry or anxiety around the general dentist Glenside certainly isn’t a new thing, we’ve been consuming negative connotations about the dentist pretty much from the moment we left our mothers womb. The media has a tendency to paint a negative picture of the dentist in films and tv shows and unfortunately whether we consciously do so or not we do consume this and take it on board.
Another problem is that for lots of people they reference the experience of those who came before them in the family, if we have parents or grandparents who have had bad experiences with the dentist and not addressed this, we might well inherit their opinions as inherited family trauma is a real thing.
Top Tips For Curbing Dental Anxiety
There are some super simple things you can do in order to feel better about the dentist, today is a focus on the practical steps, but it’s always recommended if you’re really struggling with this that you get in contact with your doctor for further support.
Number One - Get Acquainted With Your Dentist
Humans by nature don’t like new things and struggle with change for this reason and if you’re already anxious about the dentist making getting there tricker by going to a new place is just a heap of stress you don’t need to put on yourself. Once you have a dentist you like the look of and want to try to go there before an appointment to make yourself acquainted with the building, staff and journey. This will help.
Number Two - Friends and Family Help
For some reason as we get older it seems that we don’t think we need support when we do things. This just isn’t true. When you’re doing something that’s scary for you, you should never feel like you can turn to your loved ones for support and no dentist worth their salt will judge you for wanting a friendly face or hand to hold in the room.
Number Three - Distractions Work
If you want to plug yourself into your favourite band or zone out to your latest audiobook that’s a really good plan. Eyemasks work really well too or stress balls. Whatever it is that’s going to take your mind away from the action of what’s happening.
All treatment carries risks. Individual consultation is required with one of our practitioners to ensure that the treatment is right for you.