What helps with fear of the dentist?

Is it anxiety or a phobia?

Dental anxiety ranges from mild unease before an appointment to fear that leads people to avoid appointments.

If the fear can be managed together with the dentist, there is no anxiety disorder, according to gesundheit.gv.at. Dental phobia, by contrast, is a marked anxiety disorder. Signs of it include:

• very intense fear and a feeling of being threatened
• consistently avoiding appointments
• strong physical reactions
• considerable emotional distress

Other anxiety disorders or depression often occur as well. The diagnosis is made by specialists in psychiatry, psychotherapy or clinical psychology.

Where does the fear come from?

Usually several factors come together, and the fear often starts in childhood or adolescence. Examples include:

• bad experiences during earlier treatment
• fear of pain
• feeling a loss of control during treatment
• embarrassment about the state of your teeth
• conversations in the family in which going to the dentist comes across as threatening

What happens if you avoid appointments?

Avoiding the dentist puts your teeth and gums at risk. Problems can grow until emergency care or more complex treatment is needed.

This can make the fear even stronger. Experts call it a vicious cycle. With a phobia, there is often a heavy emotional burden in everyday life as well.

What can you do yourself?

These steps can help:

• Tell your dentist openly that you are anxious.
• Agree on a hand signal before treatment, such as raising your hand. Then the dentist knows you need a break.
• Ask for each step to be explained, and ask questions.
• Bring someone you trust if that helps you.
• Listen to music through headphones to distract yourself and drown out noises.
• Breathe slowly and deeply, or tense your muscles one after the other and then relax them.

Trust and good experiences gradually reduce the fear. So keep going for regular check-ups after successful treatment too. gesundheit.gv.at recommends at least two check-ups a year.

What help is available for severe fear?

With dental phobia, professional support makes sense. According to gesundheit.gv.at, cognitive behavioural therapy is the first choice. It involves approaching the situations you fear step by step.

After distressing experiences, EMDR, a method for processing trauma, can also help. Hypnosis can reduce fear as an add-on, but the evidence for it is not yet conclusive.

For a single treatment, calming medication, nitrous oxide or, in exceptional cases, a general anaesthetic are also options. Not every practice offers sedation. Afterwards, you must not drive yourself home.

A general anaesthetic does not help you learn to cope with the fear. It works best combined with other approaches.

gesundheit.gv.at has a dentist search. You can also use it to look for dentists with a diploma in dental hypnosis and communication.

What happens at your first appointment with us?

On your first visit, you will receive a medical history form at reception, which you can fill in at your own pace in the waiting area. You can also note any current complaints there. We then go through your answers together and clear up any questions.

Treatment is available in German, Georgian, Russian, Polish, Turkish and English. This means you can discuss your complaints and the treatment steps in the language you prefer.

You can book online or by phone on +43 1 813 31 23. If you are in pain, please always call us first.