Understanding Dental Anxiety and Phobias

Visiting the dentist can cause most people to feel a little nervous. For others with a dental anxiety or phobias, a trip to the dentist brings up feelings of extreme stress. These people may be so frightened of the dentist that they will do just about anything to avoid an appointment.

People living with dental anxiety or phobias will often put off regular visits to the dentist for years or even decades. In the meantime, they will put up with gum disease (periodontal disease), pain, broken and unsightly teeth. This can affect their overall health and self-confidence.

The majority of dental procedures aren’t too painful. However, people with dental anxiety or phobias just the thought of it can be too much. There are many different reasons people develop this fear. Here are a few common reasons:

Pain – Some people may have experience pain during dental visits. This is a common story among the older generation before the many advances in “pain-free” dentistry of today.

Embarrassment – The mouth is a personal part of your body. People may feel reluctant or embarrassed to have a stranger looking inside it. This can be a problem if they’re self-conscious about how their teeth look. Also required with dental treatment, the dentist will need to be physically close to your face. This can make people uncomfortable and anxious.

Bad experience- A bad experience may come from the physical pain or discomfort during previous dental procedures or emotional pain from dealing with a dentist with poor bedside manner.

Feeling of helplessness or lack of control – It is common for people to feel helpless or out of control when they are required to sit still in the dental chair. They may feel this due to not being able to see what’s going on or predicted what’s going to hurt. This helpless feeling can trigger anxiety.

At John Street Dental, we would like to ease to these fears. We have friendly compassionate staff and dentist that are attentive to your dental needs. We also offer excellent pain control through local anesthesia and relative analgesia (aka Happy Gas).

If you are interested in having and appointment with one of our friendly dentist, you can call (07) 3284 4281 to speak to one of our friendly receptionists or alternatively you can book online