Some studies say that between 5 and 20 per cent of the population is afraid to go to the dentist and that fear in many people is so intense that prevents them from reaching the query. The most usual is not an uncontrolled panic, that it can occur in those suffering from anxiety or psychological vulnerability, but a fear which leads to delay or avoid appointments with the dentist.
Fear depends largely on professional preparation in the subject to create a positive attitude towards dental treatment and may also be conditioned on the patient's family and social influences. Dental fear can be viewed as a phobic reaction learned and conditioned by previous experience or social learning and on the other side as an additional response to other fears in people prone to psychological disorders.
It is interesting to reflect on the conditions under which dental fear is a learned behavior, because at least two thirds of adults say they have stemmed from a traumatic experience during childhood or adolescence. It is also the case of people who admit to have felt relaxed in the office during the first visits, and have developed a fear throughout the treatment.
Fear not only appears to have suffered a negative experience, is also associated with dental treatment and perception of errors in treatment. Thus, the practitioner has a huge responsibility in preventing these phobias.
The segments of the population that most go to the dentist, children and youth, are precisely those who spend more fear, so the dentist must learn communication skills with which to gradually introduce the procedures by distraction techniques to remove children from stimuli anxiety-provoking. The practitioner needs to devise its own strategies to assess individual perception of pain, for what some children is a safe procedure, for others it can be annoying.
With respect to adults, professionals should pay attention to know their fears, discuss the treatment to perform and achieve pain control before you start. The individual perception of pain has an important role in dental anxiety and fear, but there are other contexts that influence the response to the unpleasant experience.
To counter this fear is so important to the proper preparation of the dentist in dealing with the patient and proper dental education in the family. An environment where there are regular visits to the dentist and there is a positive attitude toward dental care somehow protects the traumatic experiences.
Fear depends largely on professional preparation in the subject to create a positive attitude towards dental treatment and may also be conditioned on the patient's family and social influences. Dental fear can be viewed as a phobic reaction learned and conditioned by previous experience or social learning and on the other side as an additional response to other fears in people prone to psychological disorders.
It is interesting to reflect on the conditions under which dental fear is a learned behavior, because at least two thirds of adults say they have stemmed from a traumatic experience during childhood or adolescence. It is also the case of people who admit to have felt relaxed in the office during the first visits, and have developed a fear throughout the treatment.
Fear not only appears to have suffered a negative experience, is also associated with dental treatment and perception of errors in treatment. Thus, the practitioner has a huge responsibility in preventing these phobias.
The segments of the population that most go to the dentist, children and youth, are precisely those who spend more fear, so the dentist must learn communication skills with which to gradually introduce the procedures by distraction techniques to remove children from stimuli anxiety-provoking. The practitioner needs to devise its own strategies to assess individual perception of pain, for what some children is a safe procedure, for others it can be annoying.
With respect to adults, professionals should pay attention to know their fears, discuss the treatment to perform and achieve pain control before you start. The individual perception of pain has an important role in dental anxiety and fear, but there are other contexts that influence the response to the unpleasant experience.
To counter this fear is so important to the proper preparation of the dentist in dealing with the patient and proper dental education in the family. An environment where there are regular visits to the dentist and there is a positive attitude toward dental care somehow protects the traumatic experiences.
