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Dental Fear, Anxiety, and Phobia
Published in Eli Ilana, Oral Psychophysiology, 2020
It is clear that in the dental situation fear and anxiety are practically indistinguishable. The patient is confronted with both “real” and “imagined” threats (see Chapter 2) and reacts with different degrees of apprehension. Usually, the term “dental fear” is used to describe moderate apprehension which causes tension before and during treatment, but enables the patient to receive dental care. Dental anxiety describes a more profound apprehension which actually interferes with routine treatment and requires special attention. The term “dental phobia” is typically used to refer to patients whose anxiety is so great that it leads to total avoidance of dental care, including practical oral neglect. In the present text the terms “dental fear” and “dental anxiety” will be used interchangeably.
Electromedicine
Published in Mark V. Boswell, B. Eliot Cole, Weiner's Pain Management, 2005
TENS has been used in dentistry (Curcio, Tackney, & Bergwerger, 1987; Harvey & Elliott, 1995; Hochman, 1988; Malamed & Joseph, 1987; Meechan, Gowans, & Welbury, 1998; Oztas, Olmez, & Yel, 1997; teDuits, Goepferd, Donly, Pinkham, & Jakobsen, 1993). The alleviation of pain is of prime importance for a successful dental procedure. It has been shown that patients with orofacial pain have a fear of severe pain and anxiety-related distress, when compared with matched controls (McNeil et al., 2001). This is also correlated to dental fear, but not with other general psychological symptomology (Hoshiyama & Kakigi, 2000). The use of local anesthetics is mandatory practice in most dental settings. However, the use of local anesthetics has various drawbacks, which are mentioned later. To improve pain management during a dental procedure and for a successful treatment outcome, the use of electronic dental anesthesia (EDA) or TENS in dentistry is discussed as a possible clinical application for pain management (Curcio et al., 1987; Harvey & Elliott, 1995; Hochman, 1988; Malamed & Joseph, 1987; Meechan et al., 1998; Oztas et al., 1997; teDuits, et al., 1993). Successful pain management has been achieved over the years during tooth preparation by the dentist using local anesthetics. The goal of using local anesthetics during tooth cavity preparation is to minimize pain for the patient and enhance patient cooperation. This also reduces the chair-side time for the dentist to perform the procedure, as both the dentist and patient are free from unwanted interruptions. The main drawbacks of local anesthetics are the use of a syringe to deliver the drug, making it an invasive procedure, allergic reactions to the anesthetic in some people, needle phobia, and prolonged effect of anesthesia for a longer than required period. Pediatric dentists are especially opposed to the use of a syringe as the sight of a needle can aggravate a child’s behavior and attitude toward the dental procedure (Harvey & Elliott, 1995; Hochman, 1988). Moreover, despite warnings by the dentist about the lack of sensation in the numbed area after administration of the local anesthetic, many patients inflict self-injury by biting their lips as they lack sensation.
Effectiveness of hypnosis on pain and anxiety in dentistry: Narrative review
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2022
Julio José Silva, Joyce Da Silva, Luiz Felipe Souza, Danúbia Sá-Caputo, Celia Martins Cortez, Laisa Liane Paineiras-Domingos, Mário Bernardo-Filho
For Facco et al. (2014) dental fear is a universal phenomenon that justifies the growing relevance of psychology and behavioral sciences for dental training and clinical practice. Pharmacological sedation has been increasingly used over the past two decades to alleviate dental anxiety and phobia and allow the patient to face oral surgery safely. Hypnosis is a non-pharmacological tool of increasing therapeutic indication among dentistry. It provides effective sedation while maintaining patient compliance but can also help patients recover from dental anxiety and phobia, as well as those with severe vomiting reflexes. While pharmacological sedation provides a temporary respite and helps the patient cope with a single procedure, hypnosis can effectively allow excellent physiological sedation and treatment of patients.
Caries treatment in a four-year-old boy using hypnosis – a case report
Published in American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 2021
Thomas Gerhard Wolf, Katharina Nadja Kellerhoff, Albrecht Schmierer, Gudrun Schmierer, Ulrike Halsband
Psychological disorders of trait fear and trait anxiety warrant classifications in separate higher-order categories (Sylvers et al., 2011). Fear as well as anxiety can influence the patient’s behavior, emotions, physiology or cognition, and the way in which it is expressed can be very individual (Tovote, Fadok, & Lüthi, 2015). Dental visits are avoided or appointments are postponed, often repeatedly. Dental treatment for patients with dental anxiety often requires more time, with difficulties in treatment, which can also be stressful for the dental team (Facco & Zanette, 2017; Halsband & Wolf, 2019). Anxiety and pain are common sensations in dental situations. According to the IASP, pain is “an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or is described in terms of such damage” (Merskey et al., 1979). The pain experienced during dental treatment is one of the triggering general causes of dental fear, which can lead to a vicious circle (Facco & Zanette, 2017).
Association between dental fear, physical activity and physical and mental well-being among Finnish university students
Published in Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, 2020
Vesa Pohjola, Antti Puolakka, Kristina Kunttu, Jorma I. Virtanen
In the present study, we found an association between physical activity and dental fear. Students who exercised once per week or less reported more commonly high dental fear than students who exercised two or more times during a week, but this was not confirmed in the multivariable analyses. The Lindenberger et al. [11] study, which detected that aerobic exercise reduced clinical dental anxiety, was conducted among patients having dental fear. Majority of the studies of physical activity have showed greater physical activity among those in higher socioeconomic groups [13–16]. As this study was conducted among university students [13–16] it is possible that a positive association between physical activity and dental fear could have been found among the general population. Additionally, as there are gender differences in physical activity and dental fear (men reporting physically activity more often than women [15,16] and women reporting dental fear more often than men [5–7]); it could be possible that associations between physical activity and dental fear were diluted by the gender differences. Although, we did not find a significant association between physical activity and dental fear in the logistic regression analysis, the fact that those with poor or moderate physical well-being were more likely to have high dental fear supports the possible additional role of physical activity in moderating of dental fear among some fearful patients.