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.

Taming The Fear; a dentists tale....

As my campaign to stave off a mid life crisis gathers pace, I set a goal of  running a 10K as fast as I did 20 years ago. A few months in and my enthusiasm for training resulted in my left knee suddenly swelling to something approximating double its normal size overnight.  I could barely walk, was in severe pain,  and was generally miserable. ( It was even  alleged that I had "man flu of the knee" by some of my less sympathetic friends! )

This sudden and unexpected problem made me really quite miserable and to be honest I found the voyage into the unknown world of knee pain quite stressful too.

What happened next is the interesting bit, I had a couple of visits with the lovely team at Physis in Edinburgh where

• They listened in detail to what was wrong with me,
• Listened to what it was  that was worrying me about my injury 
• And then took time to explain what was actually happening ( as opposed to what I thought was happening)
• Finally when I understood the real nature of the problem we  got down to fixing it

Interestingly though I felt much better as soon as I knew the facts of the situation.

The thing that struck me were the similarities of what I experienced with someone who suffers from dental fear.  I had an internal dialogue ongoing  throughout the whole episode. I had a FEAR that something was seriously wrong with me and a  fear of something bad happening in the future.  My wife insists that being a man ( and thus unable to tolerate pain or physical discomfort) made me contemplate the possibility that

• my knee was  permanently damaged and would never function again properly,
• my cartilage was ruptured/ torn /displaced,
• my ligaments had torn / broken or otherwise failed
• the next time I run this will happen again

Of course all of these thoughts were based on no facts just my observations of the situation as well as my fear of the UNKNOWN.  The truth is  I felt bad, and in the absence of an appropriately trained person to help me, my though process ran riot and created a host of unpleasant futures for me and my knee ( which is now  by the way is healing very nicely thank you )

So what can we learn from this?
Being afraid  / stressed is a natural part of any problem that relates to our health
Given the chance our subconscious  will run riot with a host of grim scenarios
The problem may take some effort on our part but can be easier to resolve than we realised
With professional help and understanding the road to recovery can start much faster than you think

I know for one that I am hugely grateful for the time that was spent with me allaying my fears and allowing me to achive the right frame of mind to get better.

Now after all this I still don't know a huge amount about knees, so if that is where your trouble lies please seek out a good physiotherapist!  Equally when it comes to dental fear why not take the most difficult step which is always the first one.  The step can be small and need not even involve speaking to a dentist if you don't want to,  it can be as simple as  watching a video, reading the experiences of other nervous patients, or by  taking the 7 day beat your fear course

Equally why not  get in touch with someone who can help you to tame your dental fear.  You can begin by, contacting a sympathetic dentist by telephone,  or just dropping us an e-mail at the practice.  Whether you stay locally or not we'd love to hear from you.

Beat Your Fear Course - The Verdict

Its the start of another new year. I guess like me you probably begin again with resolutions about being a better human being, taking more exercise, eating more healthily etc etc Which one will you make stick this year? For me last year it was to return to regular exercise. I was certainly not perfect but finished 2011 a lot fitter than I started it.  So to this year......what resolution will you make a reality?

At the end of last year I asked everyone who has taken our 7 Day Beat Your Fear e-course for some feedback on it. I was quite humbled and overwhelmed by the number of people who took the time to reply sometimes in great detail about their experiences after taking the course.

What did I discover?   Well nearly 75% of all people who took the course said it made it easier or made them more likely to book a dental appointment.  Many people said that it really helped them to get specific about what their dental fears were and in doing so they developed an even deeper understanding of their problem.

There were suggestions that we should record some videos and make those a part of the course, this is a work in progress ( see previous blog postings ) and there were a few requests for direct 1 to 1 e-mail or telephone support for people taking the course. We hope to introduce these things  during this year.  For people local to us there were also request for an open night which is something that we try to do at least once every year. Watch this space!

There were some request for contact and support that extended beyond the original 7 day course too, we generally don't want to make a nuisance of ourselves in your inbox but have taken this on board.

I am really fortunate to work with a great team at Craigentinny Dental Care who constantly innovate and generate new ideas. One of our goals for this year is to continue to improve and develop the care we provide for nervous and phobic patients and  the e-course too.  The feedback and questionnaire replies are all fuel toour thought process and  will play a big part in this so once again thanks if you took the time to reply.

Finally I would like to record my gratitude to the lovely people behind DentalFearCentral who were responsible for a significant number of people discovering the e-course that otherwise would not.

If we can help you to beat your dental fear in any way do not hesitate to get in touch via the main web site for our dental practice in Edinburgh.

Here is a happy, healthy and stress free 2012.

Too Scared To Even Visit The Dentist

We have just uploaded a new video to our youtube channel. It describes how you can go about easing your wab back into dental care using a 3 step process that we have evolved over time at our dental practice in edinburgh.

The video is around 3 minutes long and will let you know how we can help you even if you don't feel up to a visit to see us in person yet. Here it is .......



or if you cant see it in your browser click here.

if you would like to get in touch for a chat after reading this just e-mail us from our web site or give our friendly reception team a call on 0131 669 2114.

Have a great week

New Study Shows - Dental Fear Can Be Beaten Without Sedation

It has been my long held belief that for many, if not most patients suffering from Dental Phobia or Dental Fear that treatment under sedation should be kept in reserve as the solution of last resort. My view is based on our experiences helping people with dental fear and phobia  in our dental practice in Edinburgh over the last 20 years. The concern I have with sedation is simply that when you are sedated you will remember nothing of the process. Now on the  face of it sounds good, however the downside is that your subconscious never has the opportunity to learn from the experience so you remain dependent on sedation to have treatment carried out. If you then ever are in a situation where you require dental care and sedation is not available then you will have to face your fears with no priorpreparation, which is not in my view a great plan.

A study published in this months British Dental Journal has provided me with some evidence that we are thinking along the right lines in this regard.  The study  looked at a group of patients who underwent  Cognitive Behavioural Therapy   (CBT) to help with dental phobia around 10 years ago. The results were fascinating, of the patients who underwent the CBT  95.2% were able to undergo dental treatment without sedation after treatment with CBT. What was even more amazing to me is that after 10 years 100% of these patients continued to be able to receive dental care without sedation.

While one would hesitate to call this a "cure" for dental fear, this study certainly suggests that it comes very close.   To return to my original point interestingly less than 5%  of all patients needed sedation after receiving some professional help with their dental anxiety. 

Many people are resistant to theidea of any knd of "therapy" in the UK however this is a concept that is becoming out dated. Just as logging on to an online forum to share experiences with others in a similar situation can help,  CBT should be seen as just one of the many tools that you can be used to help overcome your dental fears. 

Let me know what you think?

Have a great week

What Happens At My First Dental Fear Visit

Over the last few weeks I  have been chatting to a lot of  my patients at our dental practice in Edinburgh about,  the "hurdles" that they had to overcome in beating their dental fear.  There are clearly a number of road blocks to be passed and it is interesting that many people tell me that overcoming the first roadblock  of simply making contact is often  the hardest part. However the next major hurdle can be the first visit to the practice so here is a little video where I chat about a typical new patient consultation.

This video comes with Dental Fear "U" rating......suitable for all! there are no dentists or team members in dental outfits and no dental equipment shown. Just me talking to myself and feeling a bit self conscious in our hallway!   Just click the image below to see it on You Tube

Hope & Help With Dental Injection Fear

Reports hit the press this week reporting on some research that is being done on dental anaesthetics to make them more comfortable.  At present some of the more commonly used anaesthetics are acidic, which can mean at point of first contact you can feel a little discomfort. The acidity is caused by some of the preservatives used to keep anaesthetic effective while it is waiting to be used.

The new development involves a special cartridge that will mix 2 parts of the anaesthetic together just before use thus doing away with the need for a preservative. Sadly researchers think it will be a few years before this makes its way out of the laboratory and into our hands in practice.

In the mean time here are the things that we already know can help to make injection pain a thing of the past.

1. Using lots of surface anaesthetic gel…..my favourite is bubble gum flavour!

2. Warming the anaesthetic to body temperature – makes for a more comfortable injection

3. Injecting very very slowly… this way the anaesthetic soaks in- believe me the first time someone gives you a really slow injection you will know the difference immediately.

4. Using techniques that allow us to avoid the most sensitive areas- there are many ways of numbing a tooth up so if you are someone who normally feels it a lot, tell your dentist and they can try an alternative approach.

Finally we know that in a heightened state of anxiety we often experience  pain  vividly more than we do when we are relaxed...... so a great self help tool is to start working on self relaxation techniques well before your visit. This way when you are  with the dentist you can use some of these techniques to reduce and control your anxiety levels.   If you need any suggestions or ideas just get in touch.

Dental Fear Open Night, Edinburgh

Just a final quick invitation to our Dental Fear Open Night

Beating dental fear is all about taking the first step and we are committed to helping as many people as possible do just that. So if you or someone you caer about suffers from dental fear why not join us  tomorrow evening   from 7:00pm
Enjoy a glass of wine or a soft drink and have an informal chat with one of our team. We are happy to talk teeth or not if you would prefer. No one here will find your fears unusual or funny.  On all matters dental you are welcome to speak to our dentists or one of our experienced nurses if you would prefer.

More information on  http://www.craigentinny.co.uk/Open

I have a Fear Of Dental Pain - " I can't get numb"

We chat to our new patients in some detail about the origin of their fears. Among our team we meet regularly to share our ideas and learning too. It was one such meeting with John Booth the other partner at my dental practice in Edinburgh  that led to this posting

Many patients at  have told us  that they felt that their fears and even any pain that they were experiencing were being dismissed by their dentist in the past.

The subtext of the conversation being something like “ I have given you 2 injections and yet you are still saying it is sore, you must be numb, please stop acting up and let me get on with your treatment”


Now very often these are NOT the actual words that have been spoken to a patient but it is the message that they have perceived from their dentist or dental team indirectly. Any exchange like this can leave you feeling as though you are being judged as lacking in moral fibre or are making a fuss about nothing. What's more it may even encourage you to be quiet and try to tough it out.............. this is the wrong thing to do.

It strikes me when I meet someone with dental fear who reports this sort of  history that quite possibly the reverse is true of what my dental colleagues in the past have perceived or inadvertently conveyed. It is not a lack of moral fibre or the desire to make a fuss that leads to someone experiencing pain. There can actually be very good reasons why someone is difficult to get numb and rather than expressing frustration, it is our job to work out what that reason is and so something about it.

For example. some people may simply be far less sensitive to the usual local anaesthetic that we use, and so is much more likely to feel pain when dental work is being carried out. Others take much longer for the anaesthetic to take effect or simply need a different anaesthetic to the one we normally use. There are always solutions to these problems.

Persistently painful visits will destroy your dental confidence so it is critical that your dental team work to finding a strategy that allows you to enjoy pain free dentistry.If every dental visit results in pain then, it is little wonder that you become increasingly (and understandably) anxious before each visit and ultimately want to avoid the dentist until a problem occurs. This is human nature in action, we all avoid stuff we don't like.

If you suffer from dental fear, I genuinely believe that the single most important thing that a dentist can do is help you develop a great prevention routine. With this in place the volume and frequency of dental treatment that you need will reduce in the long term.

If problems do occur we have to make each individual patient feel as comfortable as possible. Generally I find that once we work out how to make dentistry pain free, then the “recipe” can be applied at all future visits.

Good local anaesthetics, careful techniques and lots of open two way communication all help to make treatment visits as  comfortable as possible. Comfortable and dare I say relaxed visits are the best way to help overcome dental anxiety and fear in the long term.

There are still situations where it can be difficult to get someone as numb as they need to be, but in my view modern dentistry should be pain free. If for whatever reason your treatment cannot be made painless on a given day then there are very few situations that I can think of where pressing on regardless is a good idea.

Dentists as a profession need to overcome our biggest hurdle: preconceptions about our patients and what they experience during visits to see us. When we can do this, listen, observe and generally be attuned to what our patients are experiencing then I think we begin to have a chance at understanding how big a deal dental fear is for many of our ”anxious” patients.

-As a final add on to tonights  posting I hope you will forgive a shameless plug for our
Beat Your Dental Fear Open Night on 27th April
Details are in my last blog posting 
The event is entirely free and we would love to meet you in person. register here to attend

Have a great week

Fraser

Open Night - Beat Your Dental Fear Edinburgh

An Invitation - To Our 

"Beat Your Dental Fear Open Night" 

When -  Wed. 27th April from 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Where - Craigentinny Dental Care Edinburgh

I regularly write about taking small steps towards your goal of  beating your dental fear. Here is just another way where we could  help you take a  small step toward success. The open night is a  great chance to pop along and meet the team on  a non  dental visit  when you know that nothing else will be happening. The evening is entirely free.
 

Why come along?                      Register here

• Discover new ways to beat the 7 most common dental fears
• Enjoy a glass of wine or soft drink and chat informally with our team ( it does not even have to be about teeth!)
• Get direct help and tips to beat your  dental fear direct from our expert team
• Get answers to any  nagging worries our doubts that you have
• A free goody bag for everyone who attends

Some of our most experienced team members will be on hand to chat and answer your questions. Whether it is a question about your dental health, the nervous patient programme or just a fear that you really seem to be stuck on we would  be delighted to see you. The team love getting to know new people and will be very happy to talk to you on any subject you wish, dental or otherwise.  The evening is held in our reception hall and waiting room so there will be absolutely no dental equipment on show and you won't even need to go anywhere near a dental surgery unless you want to. You are also most welcome to bring along a friend, family member or significant other for moral support.

  

Parking is on site in our car park and travel directions are on our website,  if you are coming by public transport there is a bus stop right outside.  

Our last Dental Fear open night was a little over a year ago. On the night we were  beset by wind rain and storms so we did not expect anyone to venture out on such an awful evening. We were delighted with the turnout and I am pleased to report that almost everyone who attended on the night has since managed to beat their fear.  We really  really do hope that you can spare the time to join us on Wednesday 27th April from 7:00pm onwards.   Book here

 

We dont want you  to go hungry or thirsty  so to reserve your place just reply and let us know you will be there by clicking the link below.

Register For the Open Night Here

Do Not Blame Yourself For Your Dental Fear

It still surprises me when someone new comes to see me for an examination or consultation at my Edinburgh Dental  Practice how often they start our conversation by apologising for the “state” of their teeth or for not having attended a dentist within the last 6 months, year or even longer. What’s even more surprising is that people who are anxious or scared  are often the most apologetic. The tone of these chats also makes me believe past experience, the advice of friends or something else has led these  people to believe  that they are somehow going to be “judged” by the dentist when they do attend. Or reprimanded for the condition of their mouth and teeth.


If I had a bad experience and was as a result scared of the dentist  it would make me want to avoid repeating the process. It is a natural instinct and genuinely  nothing that you should feel the need to apologise for. Humans have finely tuned mechanisms to deal with stress or past unpleasant experiences. And one of the foremost  mechanisms is learning to avoid situations that have not gone well in the past.  For example, how many times did you as a child touch something that you were told was hot and would burn your fingers? ....not more than once or twice I bet...... Exactly, this is classic self preservation / learning in action.

So I can understand why people feel this way about their dental anxiety. Often their friends or family are able to attend for dental care. So the anxious or phobic person can often feel that somehow their fear is something they should just be able to “get over”. When they struggle to do so they feel ashamed and often assume that as time goes by their teeth have to be deteriorating. (An Interesting side note here is that in my experience  many anxious patients look after their teeth extremely well to “compensate” for not attending the dentist and often have very healthy mouths.)

I’d suggest instead that anyone who has managed to overcome their  dental fear and make that all important first contact with  a dental practice  deserves congratulations for overcoming their “natural” resistance to do so.  What’s more at that first visit, maybe it's the dentist who should be apologising to you on behalf of our profession for making you scared or anxious in the first place! 

Just a thought

Have a great week

2010 how will you remember it?

As 2010  draws to a very cold and snowy close I have been reflecting on the last 12 months  and realised that there  many, many things to be thankful for. I am indebted to my supportive family and great kids who make every day a joy, without doubt they are  responsible for a lot  of the high points and were invariably supportive and understanding when I experienced the odd low point too. I am grateful  to the many patients who have taken the leap of faith and  entrusted their dental care to our dental practice in Edinburgh. It has been my privilege to watch most of my  new patients  transition from terrified newcomers  to become confident  and happy people who enjoy coming to see us.  Without doubt the team of committed and talented professionals that I work with should take the majority of the credit for this.

So how will you remember 2010 and can I  help you to  make 2011 the year where you finally beat your dental fear?

I set up this blog  to help encourage people who  currently are too scared of the dentist to reach out and take the first step towards  beating their dental fear. To some extent it has worked and we have many success stories already but I would love to do more.   So I have a Christmas favour to ask? 

Please let me know how we can be more helpful in 2011 ?
What could this blog do to  help you move forwards and beat your dental fear?
And finally if you have taken our 7 Day Beat Your Fear e-course please  let me know what worked and what didn't. Good or bad  I really would love to know.

So until next year I wish you a Peaceful and Happy Christmas

With all good wishes

Fraser

Does Your Inner Voice Say "I Am Afraid Of The Dentist?"

I was chatting with my wife after work yesterday and  we got talking about what can make someone feel anxious about a dental visit or treatment We have both worked in Dentistry for more years than we care to count and interestingly we both identified one of the major causes of  anxiety being what people had "heard from a friend" or what they have read about a specific treatment.

I guess this is a common way to form opinions and judgements. We almost all subscribe to this approach in some aspect of our lives yet  it does not a particularly balanced, scientific or for that matter accurate way of doing things. For patients who suffer from dental fear or phobia in particular approach to forming opinions and judgements, while very natural,  can be less than helpful.

The way that we process  information  to make it useful to us  ( in theory ) is based on a mixture of  what we see, hear and  read which is then filtered by our underlying beliefs. Now those of you patient ( and kind )  enough to read my musings on all things  dental will know that I frequently describe our subconscious as having 2 voices. One is the voice of doom that tells us that everything will go wrong with our treatment  and "it" ( whatever "it"  is ) will be a dreadful experience.  The other voice is our rational one that reassures us that everything will be ok and that if  we choose the right people to help us with our dental fear and phobia everything will be fine.  This is true even if it is our own personal experiences in the past  that are forming our opinions and views today, the key here is finding someone who really is interested in helping you.

So here is my question for you if we want to beat dental fear  which of our two voices should we feed the most, the positive reassuring one or the negative one?



There are lost of places on the web where you can hear reassuring stories that affirm the positive reality; that modern dental care can be comfortable, informed, relaxed, and pain free. Dental Fear Central is just one great example. Whats more there a whole group  of people ( like the team at our Edinburgh Dental Practice  pictured to the right)  who are happy to have a chat by phone or e-mail  long before you ever have to actually visit to talk through your fears and concerns.

Talking to enthusiastic professionals and finding positive examples of detal care will not  solve dental fear entirely but if you want to change the way that you feel, they can help you to make a start, and in truth the hardest step is always the first.


So if you have a fear that is stopping you taking that first step why not take positive action and make contact with someone who can help to feed the positive voice that tells you that you can beat your dental fear. If we can help in any way just let us know.....

Have a great week!

Resources For Dental Phobia

Beating your dental fear or phobia does not need to be a lonely experience, there are lost of resources out there on the internet to help. Here are just a few that my patients have found to be very helpful.

DentalfearCentral.org -a great resource complete with a forum where users can share their experiences and encourage each other

British Dental Health Foundation produces a leaflet on dental fear you can find it here

Find out  how  Panic Disorder works and what to do about it. If you have ever had that overwhelming feeling of panic as part of your dental fear  / phobia this is another great resource.

Try our 7 day beat your dental fear e - course- 7 small steps to help get you in the right frame of mind to make contact with a new dentist
If you know of a great resource on the web to help with dental fear or phobia why not let me know and I can share it with all of our readers.

Why Dental Sedation Might Not Be the Answer

I speak to lots of nervous patients every week, and one question that often comes up is "can’t you just knock me out for my treatment?" I guess what I am really being asked is what can you do for me that will reduce my level of consciousness such that I don’t know anything about what is going on. In days gone by a general anesthetic was the standard approach but in these more enlightened times most of patients would rather avoid this whenever possible. This leaves us with sedation.


Dental Sedation can be done with a small injection in the back of the hand ( called IV Sedation ) or using a gas called Nitrous Oxide ( often called RA sedation).  Clearly for anyone with a needle phobia the IV option already sounds challenging!  Either way the aim is that you remain conscious throughout treatment but at such a low level that you will not be hugely aware of what is going on and preferably remember very little or none of it when you recover.

At Craigentinny Dental Care we have in the past provided some sedation services and found that for patients who were really anxious dental sedation was not always the answer they hoped for. Firstly as you are largely unaware of what is going on you have no learning experience. i.e. after treatment you will be just as nervous as before. So as a result you are still likely to feel very anxious on the run up to each and every visit. So over time your fear of the dentist and dental treatment is less likely to diminish.

A second issue which is really the most significant one for me, is that should you be unfortunate to experience toothache, and it does happen to the vast majority of the population at some time in their life, you cannot always guarantee the availability of a sedation service.

Generally dentists who provide sedation have had additional training as have the dental nurses who support them, so you simply cannot arrive to see any dentist and be guaranteed sedation. Even if a practice does offer sedation, there may be issues if the right combination of staff are not on duty that day. This then leaves you with a terrible dilemma of living with the problem or facing your fears head on in a crisis situation. Neither option is a good one and likely to help you in your quest to feel more relaxed about dentistry.

For these reasons, I feel that the best approach for the majority of patients is to address their fears slowly and gradually with a caring and sympathetic dentist and nurse who have a genuine interest in helping them. This way we can treat your dental fear as well as treating your dental problems. In time most patients find that this approach leads to a reduction in their anxiety levels and they are more able to cope with routine care.

A typical example that I often hear from patients who come to our dental practice in Edinburgh is “I used to take a whole day off work when I came to the dentist even if it was just for a very short visit but now I just come along before or after work .”

I know that  the non sedation route  is not the fastest but   in terms of treating dental fear in Edinburgh it has  proved to be very  effective for our patients in the long term.  Let me know your thoughs on this........

I'm Scared Of The Dentist Because.....

As dentists we  love to tell patients with some degree of  pride that dentistry has moved on and improved over the last 20 years.  Truthfully this really has happened, but it occurred to me today that if you are afraid of the dentist  and  have one specific fear then unless you know what has improved then you will not feel a whole lot different about booking a  visit. What  I hope to do over this and future posts is give you some really practical examples of how things have moved on.

I hate the smell of the dentist - We now rarely use the materials that the used to give dental practices that really strong and characteristic  smell. Most modern alternatives are odour free. Even allowing for modern materials we still to some lengths to make sure that the practice generally does not have the old fashioned smell of the dentist. Fresh flowers,  essential oils and air purifiers all feature in the range of things that we have at our disposal to help keep the place smelling lovely. You will also be pleased to know that you won't be subjected to some of the more lively aftershaves from the 70s either!

I am Scared of injections- this is another area of great progress. We have 3 main strategies;
1. We now use  surface anaesthetic gels to pre numb your gum, these are fantastic and really do help a lot
2. we use a very very slow and careful technique that makes most injections entirely pain free. I have a had a lot of dental treatment and was nearly 20 before I realised first hand that injections didn't have to hurt. It really changed the way I feel about treatment which is lucky given all that I have had done inthe last 17 years.  ( so you can guess where my dental fears used to lie! )
3 modern equipment allows us to do all this in a much more comfortable way.

I hate the noise of the drill - although we have not yet perfected the silent drill and alternatives like lasers are yet to do everything that we need them to,  we can still do lots to help with this. We encourage  our patients to bring along  music that they find  relaxing to listen to  or better still you can try our B-Calm device which acts as an auditory anaesthetic blending  white noises with natural sounds to help create a relaxed state of mind.

These are just a few of the many things that we can do.  If you are scared of the dentist then the very best place to start with any new dentist is with a good conversation, it does not amtter whether this is  by e-mail, in person or telephone. Dentists who are interested in helping nervous patients will be happy to do this becasue it helps them to understand your fears better. And when we understand what your fears are we can start to develop a plan to help you redeuce your anxiety and start to feel better about your dental health.

Finally, why not make a start on  your dental fear today. It does not matter how small a step you take but  fears are overcome one step at a time so  whether  it is taking our Free 7 day Beat Your Dental Fear E-course or gathering a list of questions that you want to ask,  go for it....and if we can assist  in any way just get in touch and one of our Edinburgh Dentists will be happy to help.

B-Calm at the Dentist

I thought I would share  a bit of feedback from the patients at our Dental Practice in Edinburgh to our latest gadget.  Called the B-Calm it is  designed to help patients who suffer from dental anxiey or fear and  I mentioned it briefly back in Januarys blog posting. It specifically reduces the anxiety caused by the noises of the dental environment by playing a  mixture of relaxing audio tracks blended with white noise at just the right level. Like many good ideas it a very simple concept. Having experiemented with noise cancelling earphones before I was initially doubtful that this device would be any different however, am happy to admit that I was wrong and our patient feedback on this has been excellent.

Although at present nothing will block out every single dental noise, this device really does make a difference and I have been amazed to watch even  my more skeptical patients become converts as they visibly relax while using it. We were  fortunate to be among the the first clinics in scotland to offer this technology and I am very grateful to Dr Rich Varlisky  in  California for helping to make that happen. The audio tracks on the B-Calm device clearly seem to aid relaxation and are  much more than something to drown out the sounds of the drill. When asked, most of my patients say that it beats wearing their MP3 player  hands down. So we are giving this our seal of approval  as something that really does make a difference. We plan  to incorporate this into our dedicated nervous patient programme  and offer it to all patients who suffer from dental anxiety, dental fear or dental phobia.

Dental Fear and The Noise of the Drill

Having just about thawed out from the deep freeze that ushered in the new year, 2010 is now well underway. 2009 finished on a real high at our Dental Practice in Edinburgh when we found out that we had won the Best Dental Team ( Scotland) category at the Dentistry Awards. It provided a real boost and increased our motivation to take the practice to new levels in 2010.

In 2010 we have big plans to develop the care that offer at the practice further. The aims of our dental team remain the same; providing, pain free and stress free, beautiful dentistry that places the dental health of our patients first. We aim to do all this in a welcoming, non judgemental and positive environment. This year we will continue to push our standards higher than before and increase the range of treatments that we offer to our patients.

For our patients who suffer from dental anxiety we are currently trialling a new device that significantly reduces the noises that you hear when treatment is taking place. The device blends a relaxing sounds from nature with white noise that acts to cancel out a lot of the higher frequency noises in the dental surgery.

This means that the usually high pitched drilling noise that many people hate is significantly reduced. When combined with our injection free cosmetic treatments such as Inman Aligners or Resin Bonding it does represent another step forwards in making dentistry more accessible to patients who suffer from dental anxiety. The initial response from our nervous patients has been very fantastic. I will report back more on this as the year progresses.

Finally if you know someone who has a new years resolution to beat their dental anxiety why not suggest that they try out 7 day Beat Your Dental Fear E-course. Over 150 patients have successfully completed the course since it launched last autumn.

6 Month Smiles

Just back from an exciting few days at the British Academy Of Cosmetic Dentistry's annual conference in Edinburgh. For once it was nice to have a high profile dental event in our home town.

We enjoyed a good few days picking up tips and advice on the most up to date cosmetic techniques from some of the worlds finest clinicians. For me one of the recurrent themes of the conference was that cosmetic dentistry in the uk, thankfully, is moving away from grinding away lots of healthy tooth for the sake of improving appearance towards a more conservative approach where as little is actually done to the teeth as possible. This approach to all dental care has been at the heart of what we do at Craigentinny for the last 20 years so it is nice to see it starting to take hold in mainstream cosmetic dentistry too.

It was also great to spend 3 days in the company of other dentists from around the UK who love what they do and are truly fascinated by their craft.

Our highlight was the 6 Month Smiles certification course which allows us to expand the range of short term orthodontic treatment that we are able to offer our patients. This treatment is designed mostly for adult patients who do not wish to have major bite altering treatment that takes 12-18 months or longer. 6 Month Smiles allows you to improve the alignment and appearance of the front teeth in around 16 - 34 weeks. The 6 Months Smiles system can also cope with some problems that treatments such as the Inman Aligner may struggle with.
The great news is that both systems are now available to our patients.

Finally we are off to the Dentistry Awards tomorrow after being shortlisted for an award, fingers crossed.

How To Stop Being Scared Of The Dentist

Do you think an Open House would help?

We know that taking the first few steps to beating any fear are the hardest, and dental fear is no exception. As a team we are always looking for ways to help people want to beat their dental fear but are too nervous or scared to take the first step. We know that for the vast majority of people things get much much easier after the first few steps. This lead to the development of our 7 day e-course which in turn has become a plans to hold an open night at our dental practice in Edinburgh.

At the open night we hope to provide a chance for people to come and see us without actually having to have a consultation or an examination.

Several of our team will be on hand with wine, soft drinks and nibbles. The wine will be purely for medicinal purposes and the nibbles will of course be sugar free! They will be happy to talk about anything, be it teeth, dental fears or something else all together. We really want this to be a chance for anyone who finds the thought of a "real" visit just too stressful to come along without any of the "scary stuff" happening. Friends and family members providing moral support will be made welcome too. I would love to know whether you think this is a good idea or not.

Our first ever Open Evening will be on Wednesday 25th November running between 5:30pm and 8:30 pm. So if you or someone you know might benefit please come along. For more information visit the web site or just RSVP

Even if you are not particularly anxious but want to have an informal chat about any aspect of your dental care at all just drop in and see us on the night. Our friendly team will be lonely without any visitors so please do join us.

On a personal note I was delighted and proud to discover last week that our team at has been shortlisted in the "Dental Team of The Year - Scotland" category at the Dentistry Awards. There are 2 other practices in the running but we are the only dentist in Edinburgh to be shortlisted this category. The story was picked up and reported briefly in the Edinburgh Evening News too which was great. The nomination is a great boost for our support team of Nurses, Hygienists, Receptionists, and Back Office Staff all of whom strive to make sure our patients are really cared for before, during and after their visits. Without them the our Dentists could not achieve the results for their patients that they do. We find out if we are the overall winners on the 4th of December..... fingers crossed.