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.