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A dental phobia will bring with it physical symptoms, and in order to avoid these physical symptoms a person with dental phobia will do anything they can NOT to keep that dental appointment. The very thought of sitting in a dental chair may cause their heart to start racing. They could hyperventilate, or start feeling faint or even nauseated.
One way to work through these symptoms is to find a dentist that cares; a dentist you can trust in. Ask your friends who their dentist is. Be thorough in your questions about the care, and the level of comfort they experience while they are there. The best dentist I ever went to was while I was living in Alaska. On the first visit, all the girl did was show me around the clinic, explained everything they did to me. Answered all my questions I had. On the second visit, I met the dentist, and he explained everything they were going to do to me before it even started, including the x-rays. He told me that he would work at my level, but that he would not use any type of gas to soothe me. He said he believed the gas did more harm than good in the long-run. He would use other ways to help me relax, but not the laughing gas or nitrous oxide. While he worked on me, all I had to do was raise my hand if I wanted him to stop. I have since moved, and found another dentist that is concerned for my fears, but nothing quite like what I experienced with my former dentist. |
