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Dental anxiety is no small thing and when left to its own devices it can become a paralysing problem that progressively worsens over time. And though the actual worrying about the dentist won’t cause us too much harm, avoiding the Dentist in St Albans will. Regular check ups are still the best way to guard against gum disease and decay and overall is an essential part of your oral health routine.
Why Do So Many People Worry?
First off we’re a nation of worries these days, the way the modern world has led us to lead our lives: screen facing, fast paced, office avoiding. It’s all go, go, go all the time and our lovely brains just weren’t evolved to live this way and so stress and anxiety have been slowly on the increase anyway and of course with the pandemic brought a whole new level of social stressors we’d never been exposed to in this lifetime.
The reasons specifically we worry about the dentist is that from super young ages we’re able to pick up on the generalised negative connotations that surround the dentist in St Albans and their doom and gloom dentist chair. The media and fairy stories pass down little tiny nuggets of negativity that sit and stackup in our brains which before long mean we’ve built a giant negative picture all of our own.
Fear vs Anxiety
Before we go any further on this one I just want to make one very important distinction. There’s levels of worry when it comes to the dentist: phobia and anxiety. When we look at the options available today we’re specially looking at dental anxiety as this is a lesser degree of fear. Dental phobia can be a really tricky condition to treat and requires care from both your GP and dentist in St Albans. Lots of people with dental phobia need medical treatments or even hypnosis before they can even contemplate the dentist chair. Dental anxiety however, won’t cause you any physical reactions such as panic attacks etc and so can be worked on without the assistance of your medical team.
Addressing Anxiety
Here’s what we think you can be doing to help yourself…
Familiarise yourself with our lovely practice – UK Dental Specialists has a lovely team and a friendly practice. We don’t expect you to meet us on your first appointment, you’re very welcome to come and see us ahead of time to get used to the space and people.
Book an early morning slot for something simple. If it’s your first time in a while then don’t overload yourself with pressure to address anything major. Start small with a basic check up. Don’t book a slot later in the day as you’ll then have all day to worry about it. Early morning slots are practical.
Bring distractions. If you’re super anxious then bring something to take your mind off the act itself, headphones, eye masks, stress balls are all great physical tools to use.
Bring a loved one – there’s no problem bringing your support network with you. Having a friendly face in a time of need can be a real game changer.