Afraid Of The Dentist?
We had the most wonderful patient call us recently, who had a most common of concerns – he was afraid of going to the dentist. What made the call so unique is that it is so very hard to do for those gripped by fear. You would think that fear of dentistry would be rare. But it is not. And you wouldn’t know, because it is not discussed out of embarrassment. This is a serious issue. Fear grips people in ways that most people simply cannot understand. It is so compelling, so overriding in their lives, that over time is begins to bring a whole host of problems along for the ride. Each one compounding on the other until there comes the breaking point.
Most of these patients keep this to themselves, bottled up from the world. As the years go by, they have learned to live with pain, bad breath, discoloration, cavities, missing teeth and sometimes, social isolation. Soon these problems start expressing themselves in other ways too. A missed promotion, avoiding an important family event or compromising a relationship with somebody they love.
Most stopped smiling long ago, or they have learned to cover their smile. Almost all learn to speak without showing their teeth. Like a pressure cooker these problems build to a point where they have to do something. They can’t wait any longer and need to get dental help, but still can’t get past the fear. It is literally a living nightmare that won’t go away.
We have helped many patients conquer these fears, get their dental health back in order and most importantly have seen them get their life back. It is the most emotionally rewarding part of our practice. We make sure from their first call they realize they’ve finally found the answer and we go out of our way to ensure they will never be embarrassed. You can almost here their hesitancy finally drain away as we reassure them. As a team, we bring them an assurance that they’ll experience compassion, skill and a wonderful new advance called sedation dentistry that allows them to get their teeth repaired while experiencing no pain and having no distinct memory of the procedure.
Many patients say making that first phone call was the hardest part. Sometimes even hanging up several times before they had the courage to talk. But once they connected, once they made the leap, we hear time and time again that it was the best decision of their life.
To learn more about sedation dentistry go here on our website. There is also a wonderful video where one of our patients named Chad tells his compelling story about how he overcame his lifelong fear of dentistry with our help. But be forewarned, you’ll need to keep a tissue handy.
