DID YOU KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF US experience SOME level of dental anxiety? As much as 80%, in fact. Despite our best efforts we know that there’s something that feels inherently vulnerable about lying back in a chair while we examine your mouth. We’ve been patients too.
Communication Can Make You More Comfortable
We want you to feel confident during your visits with us. We believe that one key is open communication between our team and you—our valued patient! Whether you’re extremely nervous during dental appointments, or just slightly uncomfortable, communication helps. However, it’s hard to know exactly how, or what, to communicate sometimes.
If you’d really like to explore the reasons you feel nervous about dental visits, here’s a handy questionnaire developed by J.H. Clarke and S. Rustvold at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Dentistry. If you’d like, look over the first four questions and let us know where you fall on the scale. It’s a simple way to tell us how you’re feeling.
Is Your Appointment Coming Up?
Check out the video below outlining a routine check-up. It could help get you in the right mindset:
Simple Understanding Can Make A Huge Difference
Once we understand a little bit about your triggers and your reaction to dental-related situations, we can do a lot to make you feel comfortable. Some techniques we use include:
- Taking adequate time so you don’t feel rushed or harried.
- Carefully explaining everything before we do it.
- Establishing signals so that you can let us know if you need a break.
(NOTE TO OUR CLIENTS: You can customize your blog post by answering some questions here. Are there other methods that you would like to include? Talk about your practice’s experience dealing with anxious patients. Do you offer sedation dentistry? … And of course, this is optional…)
Do you know someone else who suffers from severe dental anxiety? Is it compromising their health? Have them give us a call. We can help.
