If you are afraid of the dentist, then you are not alone. It is one of the most frequently experienced phobias, and many people never learn to overcome this fear of someone having such intimate access and control to our mouths. However, just because you are afraid of the dentist does not mean that you will not need to go and visit one at some point or another, and when that time comes around and you really need some dental care to keep you healthy, it can be a challenging time. Of course you want to get some medical help, but at the same time, the last thing that you want to do is go to the dentist! This can lead to dental problems getting worse, and then the dental treatments will take longer – it is a vicious cycle!
Thankfully, there is a way that a dentist can help a nervous patient to relax, and it isn’t by humming or chanting or visualising: it actually involves a little medication that helps them to relax and reduce their stress. In higher levels it would actually make someone go to sleep, but dentists always ensure that the dose is much smaller, so that the patient stays awake and able to make conscious decisions, but their panic and anxiety have disappeared. This is called oral conscious sedation, and it has completely transformed many people’s lives – before they tried it, they had not been able to go to the dentist for years. With oral conscious sedation, they were relaxed enough to sit through the diagnosis and the treatment without any stress.
If you get very anxious when you think about going to the dentist, why not ring them up and ask them whether they offer oral conscious sedation? It could just be the perfect thing for you.
