The oral cavity is one of the most sensitive and sensitive areas in the human body. Not for nothing is it compared in psychosomatic medicine with the female sex cavity. We only allow very few people to penetrate this absolute private sphere. Equally great, therefore, must be the trust in the practitioner.
Another particular problem is that treatment in the oral cavity is beyond the control of the person concerned. One does not see what happens, but only feels the treatment (hopefully not as pain, but only as a mechanical pressure to move). It’s understandable that our head, who wants to stay in control, fears something bad every moment, and actually expects it. Many have had unpleasant experiences during their long career as a patient, who immediately reactivates and presents the head with each follow-up treatment.
For example, while we could watch treatments on hands or feet, or even stretch those extremities away from us, this is simply impossible with the head.
Fear can only be compensated by trust or even dissolved. Only if the person feels that his bad expectations are refuted by a positive treatment, it can succeed in continuously reducing the issue of anxiety. In this way I say a heartfelt thank you to all my patients for the trust you have given me and given me.
Every kind of emotion – as well as the fear – has an energetic aspect. The fear draws energy from the environment. The anxious person is hardly able to view his situation objectively. His thoughts are only about fear. This often leads to the exhausted feeling after a visit to a dentist.
For the patient (and, of course, for me and my colleagues), it is important that the energy during treatment remains as harmonious as possible and remains constant. The less fear involved, the more harmonious the energy. The more harmonic the energy is, the less energy is extracted from the environment and, of course, the people involved in the treatment
Every dentist claims that he works very gently and carefully. That’s for sure true. But for every human being – for both practitioner and patient – the definition of “gentle” is different. Once the treatment does not meet the patient’s standards, he or she will classify the treatment as gross or dramatic and take that experience to the next treatment. There it is either confirmed again or refuted. If confirmed, the inner picture of fear can not be changed and fear grows. But if it succeeds to disprove the existing experience, there is a continuous reduction of the dentist or more precisely treatment anxiety.
Because of their bad experiences, many people do not want to know what exactly the dentist is doing during treatment. They just want to get out of this chair quickly.
My experience is that the calm and accurate explanation of the necessary treatment steps and the expected noises or sensations in the respective treatment step help to better assess the situation.
It is similar to the fear of flying. Most people with fear of flying are mainly afraid because their head the different strange sounds and movements of the aircraft can not assess and therefore makes its own “assessment”.
The reference is missing and so the brain constructs an explanation. Obvious is the fear that the plane could crash. But if the brain can assign the sounds, the fear can usually be avoided well.
For me, therefore, are such simple things as the exact observance of appointments, no waiting (except in case of unforeseen emergencies), the exact selection of the smallest possible but yet appropriate impression tray as well as treatments in small manageable therapy units. Special injection techniques reduce anxiety even further.
Companions are always welcome and, if they and the patient so wish, may come to the treatment room.