4 Signs That You May Have Dental Anxiety
It is safe to say that the majority of people do not like getting a reminder that they need to visit their dentist for a checkup. Although fully-fledged dental anxiety or dentophobia is not as common, many people have anxiety or apprehension about attending their dental appointments. This may be due to the somewhat vulnerable position a person has to lay in, or it may be due to concerns about how the health of their teeth will be perceived by the professional.
If you have these concerns, you are not alone! Here, you will be walked through four signs that you may have dental anxiety, as well as how modern dental teams can help you manage the symptoms of such worries in their surgeries.
- You Don’t Go To The Dentist
If you have a phobia of the dentist, you are less likely to attend appointment. It makes sense! You may brush them off as being not important, due to reasons like you not having dental pain or, simply the thought of getting into a dental chair fills you with dread. However, dental teams like directdental.co.uk can help with this milder form of dental anxiety by booking you in for early morning appointments. That way, you don’t have to wait around all day for the appointment to occur.
- You Keep Rescheduling!
If you find that you keep rescheduling your dental check-up appointments, this can be a sign of an underlying anxiety. Of course, life happens, and it may no longer be feasible for you to attend your initial appointment due to work or family commitments but, if you keep finding reasons to not to go for your checkup, this can point to a deeper underlying concern. This is, again, on the more moderate end of the dental anxiety spectrum, and dental teams can offer patients who are nervous distractions while they are in the chair. This can include things like listening to music or audiobooks on headphones, which will help to get your mind off of the check-up.
- You Have Panic Attacks
It may be the case that when you get into the dental surgery, you begin to suffer from the physical symptoms of anxiety, which include headaches, dizziness, nausea, and sweating. Dental teams are very equipped to handle this and can usually offer laughing gas or nitrous oxide to help patients calm their nerves. The good thing about this is that there are no long-term effects of this gas, and you will be able to go about as normal afterwards, with minimal memory of what happened at the appointment. No bad association- no long-term phobia!
- Disrupted Sleep Before Appointments
When your phobia is to the point that you have disrupted sleep the night before (or nights before) the appointment, you need to talk to your dental team about the anxiety. They may be able to offer you dental sedation, which will allow you to undertake any treatment without needing to be conscious. You will need to ensure that you have somebody with you to attend the dental appointment and to escort you home afterward. If your phobia is this severe, it is generally advised that you seek out the help of a counselor or therapist who specializes in dental phobia to help you get to the root of the cause (no pun intended!).
