Odontophobia is the uncontrollable anxiety or fear that a person suffers when they know they have to go to the dentist. Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that between 15 and 20% of patients feel this type of fear.
For Dr. Tarsys Loayza Roys, this fear generates serious oral health problems. By avoiding periodic check-ups or early consultations, these people allow their oral health to worsen. This causes a minor problem to worsen over time, generating more stress, anguish, fear and more expenses.
What are the causes of odontophobia?
The causes linked to odontophobia are diverse and usually have a differentiated impact on people. The most common are negative experiences that have been had with a dentist at an early age. Experts cite unexpected pain, a tooth extraction, a poorly placed filling, or an anesthesia injection.
The dentist’s instruments are also associated with odontophobia. Needles usually generate anxiety in most patients and in some of them it can trigger odontophobia. The noise and vibration produced by devices such as the dental drill or turbine also cause fear in people. It is something purely psychological, since its use does not generate any pain.
Some people avoid going to the dentist out of shame that a professional will judge the carelessness with which they have treated their dental health. It is a situation that worsens over time, since as the teeth deteriorate, the greater the fear. Many delay visiting the dentist for years until pain or tooth loss forces them to go.
Specialists have found that some patients become desperate because they feel like they are losing control during their stay in the dental office. His position in the chair, being below the professional and at his mercy, makes many people feel intimidated. Feeling like you don’t have control of anything increases stress levels, especially if the dentist you don’t trust.
This is how odontophobia manifests itself
Dr. Tarsys Loayza Roys, general director of Sonrisa Perfecta Dental, maintains that the fear of dental intervention is normal up to a certain level. It is natural for people to feel some type of uncertainty or anxiety about an impending dental procedure. However, the bad thing is when these sensations become uncontrollable.
In mild cases, odontophobia manifests itself with excessive sweating, verbosity, nausea or anxiety that prevents you from sitting in the chair. When the situation becomes more acute, the problem can cause cold sweating, paleness, tachycardia, hyperventilation and loss of consciousness. Many times the dentist must suspend the session to avoid further problems.
Leave odontophobia behind
Fortunately, the latest technological advances in dentistry are designed to reduce people’s fears. Currently, technology has made it possible to perform treatments in a minimally invasive, safe way and with the least possible discomfort. Doctor Tarsys Loayza Roys points out that at Sonrisa Perfecta Dental they have all these advances.
Robotic dentistry, digital imaging, laser technology, UV and LED rays are some of the modern resources that Perfect Dental Smile patients enjoy. With robotic dentistry, for example, specific doses and points for the application of anesthesia can be determined. This eliminates the need to numb large areas of the body, something that used to be stressful for people.
Digital imaging makes it possible to design highly personalized orthodontic pieces, implantology, veneers or dental crowns. Thanks to this, the discomfort with the placement of corrective or aesthetic elements in the teeth has been left behind, something that also used to generate odontophobia.
We must not forget the most important thing
However, for Dr. Tarsys Loayza Roys, the most important thing to avoid odontophobia is the empathy and treatment offered by the dentist. The first duty of the professional is to make the patient feel comfortable, especially if it is the first time that she visits him.
The first thing a good dentist does is gain the patient’s trust so that he or she feels in a safe place. In this way he will be better disposed to the treatment and it will be experienced in a less traumatic way. The general director of the spa-type clinic Sonrisa Perfecta Dental assures that this contributes positively to a safer session for patient and dentist.
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