Dealing With Your Dental Anxiety

If you suffer from dental anxiety, you are not alone. It’s a very real problem that around 30-40 million Americans experience. A common problem that comes from dental anxiety is that many patients will avoid going to the dentist for a toothache until the pain is absolutely unbearable. However, this only causes more problems because waiting to seek treatment for a toothache could make the treatment more intensive, costly, and painful – and thus, more anxiety-inducing!

Seeking treatment at the first sign of trouble can be as easy as a small filling, as opposed to waiting, letting the problem get worse, and eventually needing to receive an entire root canal.

Tips On Managing Dental Anxiety

Below are a few tried and true ways to keep your anxiety under control at the dentist’s office:

• Educate Yourself – We have found that knowing what to expect from your treatment and procedure will go a long way towards lessening anxiety. Fear of the unknown is a big part of dental anxiety and knowing exactly what is going to happen can make it much less intimidating.
• Distract Yourself – There’s quite a lot to be said for taking your mind off of your treatment. We find that patients who bring headphones and listen to soothing music, podcasts, or audiobooks will have less anxiety than those who don’t.
• Sedation – If every other option fails, sedation therapy can be utilized to keep you calm and relaxed during your procedure. Please let us know if sedation is an option you’d like to take advantage of.

If you are one of the millions who suffer from dental anxiety, please let us know. There are ways we can help you to be more at ease, but we must first be aware of your fears. And please remember, the sooner you come in for a toothache, the easier the treatment will be.

To make an appointment with Dr. Kate Wilson, please contact Coastal Periodontics today. Our office is located in Portsmouth, NH.