Dental Fear - It’s Time to Get over Apprehensions

Dental Fear or Phobia in Dentistry is as old as this profession. While this is often joked around, it is a serious problem in America and other parts of the world.In the early days of short movies dental visits were exhibited as a painful experience so were graphics which often portrayed the dentists as devils who would grind the teeth and extract them painfully. The fear and apprehension was so profound that children were often threatened with dental visits for misbehavior. Yes, in the past dental procedures were painful and the sounds at a clinic scary. But dental science has made considerable progress in pain control and management in the last few decades but the fear and the anxiety continues to remain a major problem leading to severe dental problems. 

It has been estimated one out of three American adults suffer from dental phobias. As a common myth, this fear was always thought to be prevalent among children but it is far away from the truth. This phobia is more acute among people who are between 40 and 64 years or middle adulthood and in fact have twice the prevalence of fear compared to all the other age groups combined. Majority of them weren’t taken for regular dental visits in their childhood and the fear and anxiety has remained with them even in their adulthood. Not surprisingly it is the same category of people who suffer from the most acute problems   

Avoiding Regular Checkup

This fear is very often characterized by one’s avoidance to visit a dentist even for seeking regular dental care.This leads to lack of regular dental care resulting in several tooth and gum problems that include tooth decay, gum disease and eventually tooth loss. Most of the common tooth and gum problems can easily be prevented with regular examination and small procedures when required. This can also save people from expensive procedure when their conditions deteriorate. This fear is often attributed to three major factors – cost, injections and painful procedures. 

Vicious Cycle of Pain and Procedures

Dental fear often traps you in a vicious cycle which is difficult to come out from and can lead to permanent damage to your teeth and gums. This vicious cycle is summarized in the below pointers

• Fear prevents you from going for regular preventive dentals care examination which are a must irrespective of age 

• This often leads to a situation where emerging dental problems go undetected at a stage when they are completely curable. These tend to aggravate over time and develops complications

• Complexity of the problem requires expensive procedures which may seem unaffordable to many and can cause permanent damage to the teeth and gums. 

• The dental procedures which deal with complex teeth problems can cause some a lot of pain and discomfort

• This pain and discomfort adds to your dental fear and you are back to avoiding regular dental examination. 

Modern dental procedures are less painful and cause minimum discomfort to any patients. The science has come a long way and you should avoid getting trapped in this vicious cycle. Dental visits for kids should start early as this doesn’t leave any room for fear and apprehension to develop in their minds. 

It is important to zero in on a professional dentist or dental clinic. You can ask for reference from friends and colleagues as they would guide you to a professional. If you still have any fear in your mind, discuss it with the dentist during your visit as he or she would be able to calm your nerves.