Dealing with Dental Visit Anxiety
If you’re anxious about seeing the dentist, you’re not alone. It’s a common fact that people get nervous about dental visits. However, there are ways to deal with this problem and a good dental team can help put you at ease.
Avoiding the dentist as a solution to your anxiety can only make matters worse. Eventually you may end up with challenging dental problems that require extensive treatment. However, regular visits can often help prevent that.
According to Mouthhealthy.org, here are some approaches that have helped nervous patients.
Talk with Your Dentist
Let your dentist know that you’re anxious and share any bad past experiences and ask for suggestions to deal with those types of issues. Also, ask your dentist about any questions you have. Often explanations can help you overcome fears that are based on a lack of knowledge. You can establish hand signals with your dentist so you can stop if you need to take a break during an exam. While a local anesthetic should help prevent you from experiencing pain, if you experience pain anyway, tell your dentist. He may need to give you more anesthetic.
Distractions that Often Help
If drilling bothers you, find out if your dentist will let you wear headphones. Some dentists may have televisions or allow patients to watch DVDs. Another tactic is to keep your hands busy by playing with a fidget spinner or squeezing a stress ball. On the other hand, some patients try thinking of something pleasurable. For example, thinking about a happy memory or something you look forward to doing might work well as a distraction.
A Mindfulness Technique Relax Your Body
Deep breathing exercises to relax your muscles works for some people. They inhale and count, and then exhale and count. Doing this before or during breaks in the dental chair can help you relax.
Another technique is scanning your attention down your body. You can scan from your head to your toes to relieve tension. When you do this, focus on relaxing your muscles as you scan areas of your body.
Do You Have Concerns about Dental Care?
Our dentists at Hutto Hippo Family Dental are friendly and outgoing people. We want your dental experience to be as stress-free as possible and are glad to discuss your concerns.
Recent Comments