Dental Phobia Experience

by Rosalind Yeow - Dental Student
(Singapore City)

A new survey made by the American Association of Endodontists (AAE), revealed that an estimated 80% of adult Americans, admitted that dental phobia keep them from seeing a dentist. As a result, most of those surveyed suffer from poor dental care that may lead to serious health disorders. According to dental experts, fear of pain and not personal experience are the usual causes why some people have dental phobia.

Accordingly, the most feared treatment is root canal (54%), in fact further results of the survey revealed that 57% of them feared root canal treatment over air flight experiences while 42% places more fear in the RC treatment over job interviews. However, all those who expressed their fears further admitted that their dental phobia of dental treatments were based on someone elses experience.

According to the AAE, one practice that should be corrected in the world of dentistry is that special oral health problems should be handled by the respective specialists to avoid severe dental phobia occurring in some patients. To ensure that utmost care and proficiency will be applied in treating special oral problems, specialists who have advanced training should handle complicated dental problems.

Root canal being the most feared of all dental treatments is better handled by Endodontists because of their special training. Since Endodontists have the experience of performing root canal treatments almost everyday, root canal patients readily feel less anxious due to their confidence in the way their RC problem is being handled.

The AAE suggests the following steps to avoid experiencing trauma that may lead to dental phobia

1. Upon consultation with the dentist, the patient should maintain open communication and should not hesitate to communicate his fears. This will help the dentist to come up with solutions to allay their fears.

2. As a patient you should not hesitate to ask questions so you'll know what kind of treatment you will be getting. If the doctor advises you that a root canal will be performed don't hesitate to ask for reading materials about root canal or ask your dentist to refer you to an Endodontist or root canal specialist.

3. Some dental phobias can be triggered by the mere sound of the dental instruments once a treatment is ongoing. It would be best to inform your dentist about this so you can use a portable music player with headphones during treatments.

Overcoming your dental phobia is the best way to avoid any other oral health complications which will require you to see a dentist regardless of your fear. In some cases untreated dental problems often lead to other health disorders.

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