Dental Fear, Roadblocks and Momentum

I have been having a several good conversations with people in recent weeks about how they can best beat their Dental Fear.  By making contact with  me or someone like me  they have done the hardest part. i.e. actually taking action.  If you are thinking of taking action here are  a few ideas that might help........

5 things that you could do to get started

1. Try our 7 day beat your dental fear e-course
2. watch a you tube video where we talk about what happens at your  first visit to the dentist  as a member of our Nervous Patient Programme.
3. request an e-mail dental fear consultation to discuss your dental anxieties
4. request a phone consultation to discuss your dental anxieties with one of our nurses or dentists
5. speak to a friend and ask if they can help you either by coming with you to a visit 

Although getting started really is the hardest thing to do, the  next challenge comes when you hit a "roadblock."  There are some steps in the process of beating your dental fear that are larger than others and these constitute roadblocks.The roadblock can take many forms, it could be  setting foot in a practice, actually sitting on a dental chair or something different all together. But it is something that feels like it is such a massive step that even contemplating  it raises your blood pressure. The key thing here is maintaining momentum and making sure that you continue to build on each small success.  To deal with roadblocks you either need to go through them or work out how to go around them.

Many patients choose to go through their roadblocks, the so called "feel the fear and do it anyway" type approach and in many ways this can be a good thing as it is phenomenally empowering to do this and emerge on the other side of your own roadblock having beaten it.  Equally I know this approach is not right for everyone so some strategies to allow us to take a more oblique look at the roadblock are needed.
 
If for example you think meeting a dentist for the first time in a while would be too difficult, you could sidestep this by meeting with or chatting to  one of our experienced nursing team first. They could then help and support you through the next stage.
 
If your anxiety is such that you simply don't feel able to set foot in a practice then drop us an e-mail and let us know, we can put you in touch with a few professionals who can help you to reduce your dental anxiety away from the practice setting and teach you a range of anxiety and fear management techniques.
 
The secret though is to maintain momentum....so wherever you are in the process please try to work out what your next step will be and if we can help in any way  whether it is getting past a roadblock or going around it our team are on hand to help you maintain momentum.
 
For our Edinburgh dental team  the most rewarding part of helping people with their dental fear is to see the sheer relief on someones face as they see their anxieties shrinking down and becoming manageable.