Dental and Needle Phobia
Dental Phobia is extremely common. Depending on whose statistics you read, the figures quoted are that between 35% and 80% of adults suffer from some level of fear at the thought of dental treatment. Many sufferers of dental phobia and needle phobia will simply avoid going to the dentist for years. Whilst there is, in evolutionary terms, sometimes a good reason for anxiety – in that anxiety leads to avoidance of the feared object, and people who avoided, for example, large fierce animals had more chance of surviving and of reproducing their genes – in the case of dental phobia, the avoidance means that more extensive treatment will eventually be required. It can easily be understood that individuals, by avoiding preventative treatment, end up having – when they can simply no longer put it off due to severe pain, or inability to eat properly – lengthier, and more expensive treatment, perhaps even losing teeth. There is absolute agreement that the best, and cheapest, form of dental treatment is preventative, stopping problems before they arise or worsen. However, even if your dental phobia or needle phobia is so severe that you have not been to the dentist for years, hypnosis can help. And don’t worry about your dentist being judgmental, disappointed, disgusted or angry with you- he or she is there to help you and will certainly have seen similar, if not worse, problems before and will be used to seeing other patients who suffer from dental phobia.
Hypnotherapy and hypnosis can help you face the dentist at a stage where preventative treatment is still possible, by teaching you to relax at will. It is a physiological fact that it is impossible to be relaxed AND anxious at the same time. You will therefore be taught to completely relax whilst visualizing yourself at the dentist (this can be done at various levels – if you anxiety is severe we can start very simply by imagining booking an appointment or sitting in the waiting room). Once you have successfully reached the stage where you can imagine yourself at the dentist’s surgery, you will then be taught to imagine various stages of treatment, again whilst remaining totally relaxed. You won’t move on to the next part of the imaginary visit until you are comfortable with the previous stage.
Dental fear and phobia may stem from a variety of sources – bad experiences in the past, the embarassment of having not looked after your teeth, stories told by others, negative portrayals on film and TV, and fears of lack of control, or of choking or being unable to breathe. Whatever the source, counselling and hypnotherapy can help you to understand the irrational basis of your fears and to help you feel relaxed whilst facing them. You will also be taught self hypnosis in order that you can continue to work at the problem between sessions.
If your fear of the dentist stems from a fear of needles then this needle phobia too can be treated by hypnotherapy and gradual exposure, whilst relaxed, first to the idea of needles and then to photographs, and slowly working up to real exposure. If however you have ever fainted or lost consciousness after an injection or at the sight of a needle, then this may be a medical condition (known as vasovagal reflex reaction) and your phobia of needles is something which you should first discuss with a medically qualified doctor. Once this part of your fear has been dealt with, or if your doctor advises that you may in fact use hypnosis to help with your needle phobia, you may then use hypnotherapy to deal with your remaining dental fears.
There are other measures you can also take to overcome your dental phobia and to help you feel more comfortable whilst at the dentist – these include taking an mp3 player or portable CD player, earplugs, a blanket, wearing comfortable clothes, asking for additional anaesthetic, and self-hypnosis. It is a good idea to agree a “signalling” procedure with your dentist before treatment starts, so that you can signal with your hand if you need the treatment to stop. Many dentists advise that it will also help if you take Nurofen or another (over the counter) anti-inflammatory painkiller half an hour before treatment begins.
Finally, if your dentist is not understanding about your dental phobia, or does nothing to help you deal with them, then you may want to consider moving to another practice!
