Removing the anxiety from dentistry

Many people are anxious about dental care to some degree. For most people, this anxiety is overcome by a combination of a caring approach by the dental team and willpower from the patient. However, in some cases, dental anxiety cannot be overcome so easily.

I have found that even the most ‘experienced’ patients are somewhat anxious when faced with extensive dental treatment. By ‘experienced’ I mean those patients who have general dental procedures carried out on them in the past without any problems. Such anxiety is certainly understandable and normal. Even though we try our best to have a calm and relaxed approach to all of our treatments, we understand that this is not always enough.

“One of the main causes of dental neglect is dental anxiety”

Dental Implants and Dental Sedation – a recent case

I treated a patient for dental implant surgery yesterday who fits the above description. She has vast dental experience and is generally very confident and calm at the dental clinic. However, she was nervous about the dental implant procedure, therefore we decided to treat her under IV sedation. Our sedationist, Dr Hannah Wilson, carried out this procedure to completely eliminate the patient’s anxiety. The result was a procedure that went smoothly without any disturbances for the patient. In the end she commented that she was very relaxed and didn’t feel any stress.

We are very fortunate to have Dr Hannah Wilson at our clinic, her expertise in sedation makes any treatment possible for even the most nervous of patients. Her passion for sedation dentistry comes from the fact that her philosophy is based around ‘anti-stress’. Anxiety should not be the cause of dental neglect and by providing IV Sedation we can ensure that dental problems are dealt with efficiently for all patients – regardless of their anxiety.