You know the drill (pun intended). The most important thing you can do for your oral health — other than faithfully brushing and flossing daily — is to visit your dentist regularly, twice a year, for a checkup and thorough cleaning.
What do you do, though, if the very thought of going to the dentist causes you to break out in a cold sweat?
Severe dental anxiety is more common than you realize. In fact, it’s estimated that over one third of adults are afraid of going to the dentist, and 12% have extreme anxiety about it.
One thing is certain: If you avoid the dentist for too long, any trouble brewing in your mouth will get worse, and then it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy — when you go to the dentist at a crisis point, the experience will be more stressful and possibly more painful.
Dental phobia also shouldn’t stop you from getting a cosmetic procedure if you long for your smile to look better.
Fortunately, the caring team at Expressions in Dentistry not only has empathy for patients with deep fear of going to the dentist, or dentophobia, but they also understand that the thought of getting dental care can become paralyzing.
The Expressions in Dentistry providers care deeply about their patients having positive experiences, so they have adopted an approach that can truly ease high-level dental anxiety.
There are plenty of reasons some individuals develop terrible fear of going to the dentist. Perhaps they had a negative dental experience in the past, or the sensory parts of the visit — the sights, sounds, and smells — may stop them in their tracks. Another thing that keeps people away from the dentist’s office is that they worry about what might happen.
Some people also become anti-dentist for no discernible reason and develop an irrational fear.
Other people at risk for dentophobia include:
Though an array of diverse things may instigate a person’s fear of going to the dentist, there’s a treatment approach that can help ease the fear and relax patients.
This approach to dental treatment involves your Expressions in Dentistry dental care provider using one of several medical sedatives to calm your fears about getting dental care.
Sedation dentistry not only helps patients who are looking at complicated dental procedures, like dental implant placement or any treatments that require multiple visits, it’s equally helpful to patients whose anxiety is so severe that they even experience great discomfort contemplating a routine checkup and cleaning.
We have several sedation dentistry treatment options that work well for patients.
This treatment involves receiving an odorless gas through your mouth and nostrils via a mask that’s put over your nose during your treatment. The gas immediately relaxes you and can even make you feel silly.
When your treatment is complete, your dentist simply swaps pure oxygen for the nitrous oxide, and you feel “normal” very quickly, so you can leave our office with no side effects.
This is a sedative that you get through an intravenous drip while you’re getting your treatment. We can target precisely how much sedative you get during your visit, and though your level of consciousness changes, you’re never fully asleep.
Aside from calming you, IV conscious sedation actually impacts how you perceive pain and lessens the negative association you have with it.
Our goal for every Expressions in Dentistry patient is for them to have the most low-stress, comfortable experience possible in our office. Sedation dentistry can help us achieve that if you struggle with intense dental fear.
If you’re coping with dentophobia, our approach is always compassionate and non-judgmental.
You can also rest assured that we’ve received specialized training in administering sedation dentistry, so you’re in great hands with us.
Call our Folsom, California, office at 916-983-6767 to learn more about whether sedation dentistry is right for you, or book an appointment with us online.
