Private Health Care and You: 9 Tips for Overcoming Your Dentist Phobia

Published on 10/07/2016
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Create positive associations with your dentist visits.

It’s hard to have a good day when you have to visit the local dentistry cosmetic office and that in and of itself probably helps to reinforce phobias. So what you can do in order to help assuage some of your fears is simple: create positive associations with your dental visits. For example, you can start getting into the habit of treating yourself after you go to the dentist. if you just have a simple cleaning, perhaps go for a nice walk afterwards or spend an extra couple dollars to go see a movie afterwards. You want to initiate a sort of Pavlov like response that has you expecting a reward after your visits rather than simply fearing them or stressing them going into the visit.

Create positive associations with your dentist visits

Create positive associations with your dentist visits

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Request anxiety relieving medications.

If you don’t take any medications for anxiety then you can request some from your dentist when you go in for your visit. Many dental offices will have nitrous oxide on hand to relax you as well as a number of other stress relieving medications. In these instances you may want to ensure that you have a ride to take you home in case the medication does not wear off quick enough. While some people want to use as few drugs as possible in their medical visits, this could be a good time to break free of that opinion. Dental medications for anxiety work quickly and wear off after the procedure in a good amount of time. In either case, if you do take medication before you visit your dentist then you will want to inform them. Some medications don’t get along with one another and your dentist will be a professional and have alternatives on hand.

Request anxiety relieving medications

Request anxiety relieving medications

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