Our tips can help with dental phobia
Fear of the dentist is widespread in Germany. Many people feel uneasy at the mere thought of visiting the dentist and always attend their check-up appointments with a knot in their stomach. Where the phobia is more pronounced, routine examinations or even important appointments are postponed, cancelled or never arranged in the first place. If dental anxiety becomes a serious problem, it can significantly restrict your everyday life and, in the worst case, lead to dental problems getting worse. So what can you do to tackle your fear of the dentist?
These 6 tips from dentist Dr. Pantas can help you overcome your anxiety.
6 tips against fear of the dentist for anxious patients:
1. Acknowledge your fear
2. Talk to others about it
3. Find the right dentist
4. Relaxation through autogenic training
5. Overcoming the fear
6. Treatment under general anaesthesia
1. Acknowledge your fear
Before you can overcome your fear of the dentist, you should first become aware of the phobia. Are you an anxious patient who is simply reluctant to visit the dentist, or do you avoid every check-up and constantly cancel appointments? To get to the root of your anxiety, you should be honest with yourself. And keep reminding yourself: you are not alone, and there is no need to feel ashamed of your fear!
2. Talk to others about it
Whether online or among friends and family: someone who also suffers from dental anxiety is particularly well placed to talk to about the phobia. This can help you realise that there is nothing to be ashamed of and that many other people live with dental phobia too. By talking openly about your fear, you are already learning to deal with it openly — and you may well pick up helpful tips on how to overcome it.
3. Find the right dentist as an anxious patient
You should look for a suitable dentist who focuses on treating anxious patients and who is able to respond to your phobia with individual approaches and make your treatment as comfortable as possible. Be honest with the dentist as well and mention your anxiety right at the start, so that the treating dentist can adapt to you and your phobia. At the same time, there are various techniques you can use yourself to counter the fear.
4. Relaxation through autogenic training
The key to tackling any fear is relaxation, however simple that may sound. Fear paralyses body and mind, and the right technique can already help to reduce it. One promising relaxation technique is so-called autogenic training, in which you relax through autosuggestion.
With this technique you can train your subconscious through self-hypnosis and convince it that your fear of the dentist is unfounded. In addition, music therapy at the practice of Dr. Pantas, your dentist in Düsseldorf, can help you relax.
5. Overcoming the fear
A fear cannot be cured like an illness. Nevertheless, it is possible to overcome dental phobia. Once you have found the right dentist and, with the help of relaxation techniques, brought yourself to attend an appointment, only one final step remains: the realisation that the fear is unfounded.
At the dental practice in Düsseldorf, the targeted use of music can help you get there. In the course of his Master's thesis in 2012, Dr. Pantas found that music, used in the right way, has a positive effect on anxious patients. During every treatment, the music helps you to relax and let go of the fear. Afterwards, you will have mastered one more step towards overcoming your anxiety and can refine your relaxation techniques.
6. Treatment under general anaesthesia
In some cases, an anxious patient's fear of the dentist is so pronounced that certain procedures are not possible despite various therapeutic approaches. Yet treatment is often necessary — for example, when a root inflammation is present. At Dr. Pantas in Düsseldorf, not only is music therapy for dental anxiety available, but also treatment under general anaesthesia. Here, an anaesthetist puts you into a controlled state of unconsciousness so that you are not aware of the treatment itself. Your dentist in Düsseldorf offers a range of techniques to help take away your fear of the dentist.
