Nervous Patients
Your Comfort is Our Priority
At RESTORE putting your comfort and confidence first is of great importance to us.
We appreciate that many patients feel anxious about a trip to the dentist and what it might entail. For some this can develop into extreme anxiety known as dental phobia.
Dental phobia is more common than you may think and many people sadly put their dental health on hold because of it. Our empathetic, unhurried consultations will put you at ease and enable you to approach dentistry without fear.
We understand that everybody has different needs and concerns, so our experienced and supportive dental team will give you as much time as you need to create a positive experience with us.
OUR PROMISE TO YOU
- Appointments at RESTORE are unhurried, comfortable and pain free
- We will ensure you’re fully informed every step of the way during your journey
- You are in control – we will stop treatment anytime at your request
How can we help nervous patients?
- A good chair-side manner
Our specialist dentists and members of our practice team are very sensitive to patients’ feelings and are always sympathetic and gentle in their treatment. - Knowledge is power
We often find that anxious patients can deal with the procedure ahead if they are fully informed of what it will involve. We use behavioural therapy to address any concerns they may have. - Pain-free treatments
Dentistry today should not hurt and we employ a variety of modern techniques that ensure your dental treatment is as painless as possible. - Distraction:
Very nervous patients can listen to music or watch a film projected onto the the treatment room, which has been shown to effectively alleviate feelings of boredom, particularly if the patient is going to be in the chair for an extended time. - Sedation is key
We can give sedation either by inhalation in the form of gas and air or intravenously. Sedation will make the patient slightly drowsy, relieve any anxiety and we often find the patient will not recall much of the treatment afterwards. Visit our Sedation page for more information. - Childhood fears
Often dental phobia can be present since childhood – if necessary, we use inhalation sedation to perform paediatric dental treatments as it is delivered in a very non-threatening way and can produce a light sedation that helps the child relax and accept the treatment without distress. - Routine treatments
For those patients who find hygiene treatments such as scaling very uncomfortable, our hygienists are very gentle and can numb the teeth to avoid causing any discomfort.
OUR STRATERGY
- Formulating acceptable evidence-based therapies for patients with dental anxiety or phobia is essential, or else they can be a considerable source of stress. We will identify this at the earliest opportunity and manage the concerns addressed.
- The initial interaction between the dentist and the patient can reveal the presence of anxiety, fear, and phobia. In such situations, subjective evaluation by interviews and self-reporting on fear and anxiety scales and objective assessment of blood pressure, pulse rate, pulse oximetry, finger temperature, and galvanic skin response can greatly enhance the diagnosis and enable categorization of these individuals as mildly, moderately, or highly anxious or dental phobic.
- Broadly, dental anxiety can be managed by psychotherapeutic interventions, pharmacological interventions, or a combination of both, depending on the level of dental anxiety, patient characteristics, and clinical situations. Psychotherapeutic interventions are either behaviourally or cognitively oriented. Pharmacologically, these patients can be managed using either sedation or general anesthesia.
- Behaviour-modification therapies aim to change unacceptable behaviours through learning, and involve muscle relaxation and relaxation breathing, along with guided imagery and physiological monitoring using biofeedback, hypnosis, acupuncture, distraction, positive reinforcement, stop-signalling, and exposure-based treatments, such as systematic desensitization, “tell-show-do”, and modelling.
- Cognitive strategies aim to alter and restructure the content of negative cognitions and enhance control over the negative thoughts.Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a combination of behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy, and is currently the most accepted and successful psychological treatment for anxiety and phobia. In certain situations, where the patient is not able to respond to and cooperate well with psychotherapeutic interventions, is not willing to undergo these types of treatment, or is considered dental-phobic, pharmacological therapies such as sedation should be sought.
Meet our friendly dentists
If you would like to come in and talk through any dental anxieties you may have, please call 0121 445 3697.
Alternatively, complete our enquiry form and we will be in touch