What is it?
Many adults are terrified of visiting the dentist. Dental anxiety ranges from mild uneasiness (experienced by many of us), to acute anxiety/panic attacks. When a person will not go at all to the dentist despite needing treatment, they can be said to be suffering from Dental phobia.
The particular fears of visiting the dentist vary from person to person. Some people have their fear triggered by the sound of the drill, or the thought of needles in sensitive areas of their mouth. For some it is the loss of control which is most feared, for others it is the fear of pain.
Dental phobias generally develop from childhood, where a traumatic experience may have left us with feelings of anxiety about going to the dentist. However, an interesting fact is that if the first time you encounter something you have a positive experience, regardless of whether it goes on to be traumatic, we develop an ‘immunity’ to developing a phobia. This is called ‘latent inhibition’ and it is the reason that young children now get to go to the dentist for a couple of times initially, get a sticker and have no treatment other that just a quick look with the mirror.
The 2 main things you can do to help yourself with a dental phobia are: find a sympathetic dentist and gaining access to the vast array of different types of sedation (including happy gas, tablets, etc), or getting a CBT therapist and putting together a heirarchy to help you overcome your fear. This may begin by sitting and thinking about an appointment with your therapist, then perhaps driving past your dentist, or sitting in the waiting room (without an appointment), until you feel completely comfortable about going for that appointment.
DIY self diagnosis
If you can answer ‘yes’ to most of the following questions then you may be suffering with a dental phobia:
- Have you avoided dental and/ or oral medical treatment because of your fear (e.g. missed appointments)
- Have you carried on far longer with pain in your tooth or an infection because of your fear of attending the dentist?
- Do you have an overwhelming fear when you think about attending an appointment at the dentist?
- If you hear a dental drill sound, does this cause you a very high level of anxiety?
- Have you had this fear for some time, following a difficult experience in childhood with the dentist?
How we can help
Anxiety UK has a specialist email support service run by a qualified dentist with many years experience treating people with dental phobia. Sean is very empathic towards those who suffer with dental anxiety and can give practical advice on e.g. obtaining sedation, dental procedures and dentists who specialise in anxious patients. You will need to be a member of Anxiety UK to access this service. We can also support you to access a CBT therapist, who can help you develop your own fear ladder, to encounter and overcome your phobia.
Anxiety UK is a user-led charity with more than forty years experience in supporting those living with anxiety. By becoming a member of Anxiety UK, you will have access to a range of benefits, including:
- Access to reduced cost therapy within two weeks of submitting your therapy request
- Access to our helpline (available Monday-Friday, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm) staffed by volunteers with personal experience of anxiety
- Receipt of four issues of Anxious Times, our quarterly members” magazine
- Access to the members only section of our website, featuring regular support surgeries facilitated by anxiety experts
- Access to specialist helplines, including the psychiatric pharmacy helpline and the psychology information helpline
And many, many other benefits that will help you manage your anxiety long term. To become a member of Anxiety UK click here or ring 08444 775 774 today.
Want to know more?
Anxiety UK has a factsheet on dental phobia which can be purchased in our online shop by clicking here.
Anxiety UK has a range of resources that can support individuals with specific phobias, please click here to find something that may be of use to you.
For information about dental procedures, oral hygiene etc., we recommend the Dental Helpline provided by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) on 0845 063 1188 (local rate call – available Monday – Friday from 9-5pm).
Useful information
This page was sponsored by Helen R Chapman MSc BDS PGCert (CBT),an award-winning dentist who is trained in CBT and limits her practice to treating dental phobics of all ages. She is the co-author of the self-help book for young people – “Getting through your dental fear with CBT” published by Blue Stallion.
Her aim is to help you overcome your phobia and make you independent of her so that you can accept whatever treatment you need, wherever you are.
Helen is proud to have been associated with Anxiety UK since 2004. For more information about her practice, click here.
Personal experiences
Do you suffer from dental phobia and want to share your experience with other people? Post your personal experience in the comments box below where it will be sent to our moderator for approval. Many people find this part of the site very useful when trying to understand their disorder so your comments really do make a difference. Please note, all comments submitted to the Anxiety UK website may be used by Anxiety UK for (but not limited to) publicity and promotional material.
I have what you may call an extreme phobia of the dentist. This includes the sounds, smells of the surgery, sitting in the waiting room, leaving the house and going to an appointment and now even the thought of making an appointment. It probably goes back to a bad experience I had in that a dentist insisted on doing root canal treatment even though the 10 attempts he did on injected oral anaesthetic had not worked.
I have several teeth that need attention but have not been able to face going to the dentist for over 15 years. I used to go to a private dentist (the NHS does not seem to cater for phobic or anxious patients) who gave me nitrous oxide but even the thought of having that does not encourage me to face and take all the steps necessary to getting to that stage.
I have several teeth missing and would love a bridge or crown or even singular implants to close the gaps but this costs an awful lot of money. I would also like to have my teeth whitened but again this costs a lot of money. I am embarrassed at the discolouration of some of my teeth and have resorted to using a tooth whitening liquid on a daily basis.
I have looked at local dentists that are able to offer iv sedation (can cope with needles in my arms but certainly nowhere near my mouth) but it is the money aspect again. I have Lorazepam at home (used to be my prn for times of extreme panic and / or anxiety) but they did not even touch the sides when these episodes happen. I now have Chlorpromazine for this purpose but know that my anxiety and panic would be stronger than the effects of the medication.
I know I am not alone in suffering from this phobia but it does add to my anxiety which in turn increases my OCD.
Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks and best wishes
Elena
Dear Elena
I’m sorry that you have had such a hard time. I think the crucial thing for your progress is to get some professional help; as you rightly identify, your OCD is a complicating issue. Do you get any help from a psychological therapist for this? If so, could you ask them for treatment for your dental phobia as well? If you have had treatment for your OCD, would you be in a position to use the skills learned and apply them to your dental fear?
In the very short term, if you bought your tooth whitening liquid over the counter, you need to stop using it. Over the counter preparations will often strip the enamel from your teeth. If it is something you got from a dentist, then that will be OK.
In the medium term you are correct that iv seation may be a way of getting the back log of your dental treatment done. Your local pct should be able to tell you if any NHS general dental practitioners provide sedation on the NHS. It may be that you can access the salaried Primary Care Dental Service or the Community Dental Service (CDS), though there is no guarentee that they have an iv service for phobic adults. NHS charges would apply.
Then, in the longer term, you could look at rebuilding your confidence, particularly if you have the support of a therapist.
I hope this is helpful
Best of luck
Helen