Why are people so scared of the dentist?

Dental phobia brings a lot of people to see leading psychologist Dr Sue Peacock at her clinic. For some, the thought of going to the dentist can be truly terrifying, which sees them missing their appointment altogether.

No-one likes going to the dentist, but some people are truly terrified. They may try to avoid the dentist, risking their dental health. When they are in the dental chair, they can be so distressed that it is difficult for the dentist to do their work. The process takes longer and the patient still dreads the dentist. Here, Dr Peacock explains more about dental phobia and what can be done to cope…
 

What happens in cases of dental phobia?

I see people who are so frightened of going to the dentist that they put it off at the risk of losing teeth, they may find it hard to sleep even several nights before the appointment. I have seen people who feel so nervous they want to run away when they are in the waiting room.

This can even escalate to panic attacks or feeling physically sick. Once in the dentist’s chair, people with dental fear or phobia may experience other very unpleasant feelings. This is often a fear of having objects placed into the mouth or worry that breathing will become difficult.
 

Can dental phobia be overcome?

I do believe that in most cases this fear can be conquered, making life better for both patients and dentists. In my clinic, I work with the patient to find the roots of their fears and work to change how they hold the memories and emotions which are causing the fears. This is relatively simple to do. By considering memories and fears, especially those which developed in our younger lives, we can use techniques to remove unhelpful beliefs. I prefer to use a two-stage approach when treating patients for dental phobia:

Stage one
In my ‘stage one’ plan for conquering dental fears and phobias, the first step is to find out where the fear of pain and the fear of injections come from. We address emotions such as loss of personal space, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. After using certain techniques to overcome these fears, it is then important to get the dentist involved.
 

Read more: techniques used to tackle dental phobias

Stage two
My ‘stage two’ involves the dentist and his or her staff, usually the dentist and the dental nurse. I can teach these professionals some simple hypnotic techniques, which they can use while the patient is in the chair. By inducing a light hypnotic trance, using positive reinforcing language, by using guided metaphor to distract the patient from the procedure, dental treatment can become easy for nearly everyone.
 

What advice can you give to dentists on treating patients who have dental phobia?

Many dentists are onto this and have learned to use these techniques successfully. To those who have not yet tried, I would say it is in your interests as well as your patients to spend a couple of days learning these techniques. You as a dentist will be better able to manage nervous and even phobic patients. This means they will have a better time and your work will be finished more quickly. I would advise anyone suffering from dental phobia to seek out a dentist who uses hypnosis.