Odontophobia: why we fear going to the dentist and how to overcome it

For some, going to the dentist’s clinic is a whole world away. In fact, some people are able to tolerate deep mouth pain just so they don’t need to go to the doctor. But where does this fear come from? Joan Bladé Marsal, specialist in Dentistry of the Group Dr. Bladé, answers these and other questions about odontophobia or the fear of the dentist.

Bladé, who has 25 years of experience in this profession, has treated many patients with this phobia. He places his origin, in most cases, in a traumatic experience in adolescence or childhood. “It doesn’t have to be physical, but it could be poor treatment in a clinic or feeling too affected by a verbal expression,” he explains. Any event can be recorded in the subconscious and appear in the form of an anxiety attack at the moment when the patient thinks that he needs to go to the dentist, there is no need to even set foot in the clinic. “You can’t control it and it only shows if you think about it,” he explains.

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Although the expert also points out that some cases of phobia are without an obvious cause. “I’ve seen families that are afraid of the father and the son, and the son has had no history of trauma, which leads me to assume that, sometimes, involuntarily, this fear may have been transmitted from the parents to the children,” he comments. .

People with dental phobias, like people with almost any phobia, lead normal lives until they encounter the source of their fear. A pain in the mouth can be ignored to avoid thinking that you need to go to the expert. If they manage to make an appointment, they cancel it. “In the US, the phobia is measured by the number of times they cancel an appointment with some excuse. Sometimes five minutes before,” he says.

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Bladé insists that the main tool is COMMUNICATION. “A lot of times, if the dentist isn’t trained, they tell them to get a birch tree or do yoga, but no, it goes a step further. We are not talking about fear and nervousness, we are talking about phobia”, he recalls. That’s why he emphasizes the conversation with the patient, even for whole sessions before starting any treatment. “You have to convey to them that what they’re noticing isn’t weird, it’s something that happens and that there’s a way to try to sort it out bit by bit,” he explains.

During these conversations in the first sessions, the dentist will make them see that when the treatment is done they will be relaxed. Bladé also adds that “depending on the level of the phobia there would be one treatment with a psychologistbecause they are patients who need it awareness and relaxation techniques to cope with the situation.” For this there are virtual reality programs, where the patient prepares for the future situation, because he has to face it. “Many times they say they want to sleep completely in the operating room so they don’t find out anything. And they are wrong, because this is not the solution”, adds the dentist.

General anesthesia is not an option as they have to learn to control the situation as there will be more visits to the dentist throughout their life and they cannot cope with them all in the same way. They should be aware of this during the intervention. “They have to see that, that situation over which they have no control, start to control it, and that will help them later back in the clinic,” he explains.

The phobia causes consultations to be systematically canceled and people never go for a check-up. The combination causes serious pathology. In addition to aesthetic problems, they may have significant problems with infection or chewing difficulties. “When you see the X-ray you say, this patient has had a very bad time, because these mouths are in a very bad condition. They have managed to have a pain threshold where fear is above it,” he explains. Therefore, interventions are more complex and usually require sedation.

The drowsiness produced by sedation during the intervention helps the patient to have a change of mentality. this way, “The patient is dizzy tall treatment, he does not learn anything and does not remember much. Since he neither noticed nor felt the situation, he is calmer.”

For the next visit, says dentistry, which has seen many cases, patients come much more relaxed. They faced the situation and participated without suffering or nervousness. Those people have learned -or they have started to learn- that they should not be afraid of that situation. “The next visit they won’t come the same way,” he says.

Bladé ensures that these people should try to go to the dentist four or five times a year for basic things like cleanings. To do this, it focuses on cynics and family members. On the one hand, deontology centers should implement a call system to remind the patient to attend an appointment for a check-up or cleaning from time to time. On the other hand, the family should support him and insist that he go to the clinic.

“The most important thing is to prevent this from happening”, begins the doctor, who adds that dental care education is necessary from childhood, “so that children see from an early age how their parents regularly go to the dentist. “