Common Sources of Dental Anxiety
Generally dental fear and anxiety is a learned response through your own experience of a traumatic dental event or through the experience of others. While the overall exposure to a dental office environment is highly undesirable in the vast majority of fearful patients, in most cases specific events and sources within the dental environment can heighten the dental fear and anxiety tremendously.
Some of the most common sources for dental fear and anxiety include:
- Fear of experiencing pain during the dental procedure
- Fear of inability of controlling the process once the procedure starts in the dental chair.
- Fear of chocking and gagging during the dental procedure
- Fear of local anesthesia injections and needles
- Fear of being criticized and lectured by the doctor or the hygienist for neglecting your teeth
- Feeling embarrassed by the condition of your teeth and long term neglect
- Fear of hearing the sounds of dental drill and instruments against your teeth
- Fear of the typical smell of dental clinic and associated products used
- Fear of the sight of the dental office, dentists, clinical staff dental instruments and the environmental elements associated with the typical dental office
- Fear of waking up during sedation
The list of the specific sources of dental fear and anxiety can be endless. Any of these factors can heighten dental fear to the degree of panic and crying in some patients. Rest assured that I, Dr. Mo Saleh, sedation dentist, and my entire staff are well aware of all of your dental fears and what causes them. The entire team is driven by passion to care and help fearful patients get better and achieve the oral health they desire. Our office environment is designed with these fear sources in mind, avoiding the typical clinical setting of a dental office to look and feel more like a spa than a dental office. When you come to our office you are not just a patient but a guest at our home. We encourage you to take the first step in overcoming your fear by visiting our office and meeting us. In most cases, the first appointment is a meet and greet with no exam and x-rays performed.