As a professional dentist familiar with dentistry tools and arrangements, we might not feel that uneasy entering the dentist’s cabin but for many patients, lying down on the seat with a yellow light right above their mouth, drilling sound in their mouth, yep! It’s not a good picture painted in their mind. This feeling of anxiousness is called Dental Anxiety which is a common problem that makes people avoid going to the dentist until the condition becomes severe. Dental anxiety is the result of past bad experiences, like faulty practice which has caused them more pain, or when they have fear of pain or thoughts about the loss of control during the procedure.
For maintaining proper oral health it is very important to overcome dental anxiety, or else it may cause them more pain if their condition becomes serious. As a professional, you need to know some tricks and tips that can help you with managing your anxiety efficiently. If you are a patient who is looking for a professional and experienced dentist to get treated visit the family dentist Toluca Lake who has a qualified team that can help you. Read this blog to know some effective strategies that will help you to calm your patient for their treatment.
How Can You Overcome Dental Anxiety?
Proper Communication
When managing dental anxiety, clear and compassionate communication does wonders to ease the patient. When they feel they are well informed and understood they will not feel fear of what is to come during the procedure and stress over it. You can do this by letting them share their concerns and fears during pre-appointment visits, if you understand the cause of their problem you will be able you tailor your plan accordingly. To make them feel heard it is important to validate what they are feeling and fears. When talking about procedures, simplify it and explain how it goes and what can they expect after it is done so that they will not feel scared due to uncertainty.
Use Relaxing and Distracting Techniques
Even after completely understanding what is going to happen, they still feel anxious. start playing relaxing and soothing music to ease them, and when they if during the procedure to feel them getting too anxious you can ask them to practice deep breathing or help them with that. You can also help them relax by using the guided imagery method that asks them to imagine themselves in a peaceful place like a beach. Distracting them will help in easing their anxiety, you can do this by giving them headphones to listen to soothing music. Give stress balls to the patient who tends to fidget when they are anxious, they can grip on it and squeeze which will help them feel more in control. Use virtual distractions like televisions or VR that will immerse the patient. You can talk to them about their lifestyle to distract them from feeling anxious, like a conversation about work or school.
Use Sedatives
For patients with severe dental anxiety that may have occurred due to past faulty practices, you can use sedatives to calm their minds during the procedure. Because it will be difficult otherwise for you to perform. These sedatives are dependent on patients’ anxiety level, general anesthesia is given if they have severe phobia, and those who have extreme anxiety are given IV sedation, it will not make them unconscious but they will not remember the procedure.
Create a Comfortable Environment
Use warm and soft lighting around the clinic with proper seating for the patients. Play soothing sounds to ease them. When they are waiting outside your office they should not hear any equipment noise outside that will escalate their anxiety. Keep the place clean and your equipment sterile as they might fidget looking at the equipment lying around.
