At the Liverpool Dental Spa, we cater for patients with dental anxiety and dental phobia, and do everything we can to try and make every patient feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible. We have experience in caring for nervous patients and patients with phobias. Our team is friendly, understanding, compassionate and approachable.
Our aim is to try and enable you to attend regular dental appointments without feeling anxious or scared, and without experiencing dread in the run up to your appointment. We adopt a gentle approach, we listen to you and we use the latest treatments and methods to help you to relax.
What is the difference between dental anxiety and dental phobia?
Dental anxiety affects most people to a certain degree, according to polls and surveys. Many people experience signs of mild anxiety when they are sitting in the waiting room or climbing into the dental chair, but for some people, the anxiety is much more profound and this is known as a phobia. A phobia is defined as an irrational fear and it causes symptoms such as sweating, feelings of extreme anxiety and fear, rapid heartbeat, palpitations and nausea. Phobias make people feel very scared even when there is no threat of danger. Many patients who have dental phobia are so scared of visiting the dentist or having an injection or even sitting in a waiting room, that they avoid seeing a dentist for many years.
We are able to cater for patients with both dental anxiety and dental phobia. Often, we recommend sedation for patients who are very nervous about treatment.
Sedation
Sedation is a technique used commonly in dentistry and medicine to prevent patients from experiencing pain, and encourage them to feel more relaxed. Often, sedation is compared to anaesthetic, but the two are actually different. General anaesthetic sends you into an unconscious state. However when you are sedated, you are conscious and can communicate with your dentist if you wish to. You recover from sedation much quicker than you would from general anaesthetic and the procedure does not carry the same risks.
When you are sedated, sedative medication induces a state of very deep calm and you won’t feel any pain. It is also common to have little recollection of what happened during the procedure when the medication effects have worn off.
If you suffer from dental anxiety, or you have a phobia of going to the dentist, we’re here to help. Call us today to find out more.
Tags: dental anxiety, dental phobia, dental phobia Liverpool, Sedation
