Fear of Dentists (Dentophobia)

Dentophobia doesn’t just mean fear of a dentist, it’s actually the fear of anything ‘dental’. Wikipedia sights it as being a normal emotional reaction to one or more specific threatening stimuli, in the dental situation. However, this emotional reaction is not ‘normal’, if it is attached to a phobic response. If you think about it rationally, there is nothing within the dental environment that has been set up to kill you. Odontophobia is more specifically a fear of the dentist as opposed to the dental environment, but one still logically assumes that your dentist has your best interest at heart.

Dentophobia is generally defined as a fear of dentist and a fear of dental work. Pinpointing the fear can be a little more difficult, as you may have one or two other phobias firing up at the same time as your dental visit. You might have

• a social anxiety – or nervousness in social situations
• a fear of needles – the needle is going in your mouth so you can’t look away
• fear of pain – pain is subjective, it can be escalated by your thoughts
• fear of numbness – this is anxiety based as it happens after injection
• fear of anaesthetic – another anxiety based psychological process
• fear of choking – as dental work is carried out in your mouth
• fear of diagnosis – tied in with lack of control, as a routine check-up becomes an expensive lengthy procedure
• fear of being embarrassed – your teeth are part of your identity; you may feel vulnerable having to display them
• fear of confined spaces – the dentist has to work within your own personal space

Any of these fears can activate in a dental environment. It’s easy to see why so many people can be affected. There’s also the chance that you simply had a bad experience with a dentist when you were a child.

In the UK a survey carried out in 2009 showed that 12% of adults had extreme dental anxiety and over 36% had moderate dental anxiety. As you can imagine, this is a difficult phobia to collect statistics on as most people simply avoid the dentist. Even attempting to get them to complete a questionnaire in the street can be difficult if the paperwork has a picture or an image of a dentist! This can be enough to trigger the phobic response.

If you have a dental phobia then you could practice some breathing techniques, meditation or other form of relaxation technique prior to your visit. This may be of some help to you. However, if you have a phobia, then your dental fear is literally life or death. Your subconscious mind raises the alarm at the very thought of anything surrounding dental health. The best way forward is to resolve this trigger and switch off the alarm. A recent study using virtual technology for fear of medical procedures has shown some promising treatment outcomes. However, for general use this is still in its infancy whereas hypnosis and hypnotherapy have been around for hundreds of years and continually deliver great results.

Dentophobia may be mild or severe potentially leaving you in terrible pain or bad health as you are too terrified to seek help.

Just the thought of dentists can ignite the amygdala causing an instant negative emotion, which causes your fear to begin. Your smile is your passport. Not dealing with your dental fear can massively impact on your self-esteem and self-confidence as you continue to put up with problem teeth.

This audio production is designed to help you, the listener, with gaining more control when you want it. By clearing negatively charged Emotional Memory Images from your external screen, your mind and body are able to adapt to the present moment, freeing you of the mental clutter that prevents the arousal centre of your brain from functioning optimally. This audio is your own personal 1 to 1 session with Matt, always available at your convenience.

Matt’s calming, assuring voice gently guides both your conscious mind and unconscious mind towards transformation through the left and right ear respectively. By tapping into the body’s psychoneuroimmunilogical mechanisms – the link between the mind, nervous system and physical wellbeing – this audio helps your brain to improve its cognitive processing ability so your mind will be free to run bright, colourful movies where you can reconnect all of your hopes and dreams, experiencing them fully and safely, through thought into action.

For best results, listen to this audio download first thing in the morning or during the day, every day for 4 weeks. Ensure you’re free from interruptions and distractions when listening. Download now to start positively building up your many different ways to build a happier relationship with your dentist, today.

This audio is a .MP3 file, compatible with smartphones, tablets, PC’s and other electronic devices.

Audio length: 30 minutes.