Durban - One in five people is afraid of going to the dentist.
And whether a bad experience as a child has left you cautious or you suffer from an actual phobia that leaves your teeth chattering at the mere thought of opening up wide, experts say there is a “mental dental” connection as to why so many people hate the dentist.
“Bad experiences in the dental chair and parents projecting pre-conceived fears play a big role behind the psychology of why people don't like the dentist,” said Dr Linton Brown, a dentist at Intercare Parow.
“There are also biological reasons' why we want to keep dentists out of our mouths. It's a natural instinct to be cautious or wary when it comes to opening our mouths up to strangers.
“Our mouths are a vulnerable part of our body, especially because our air passages are found there. Threatening our freedom to breathe, while we are on our backs, exposed to fluorescent lights, would cause a natural survival instinct to kick in somewhat.”
Brown said when it came to children, parents unknowingly “planted the seeds of fear” in their children by telling them about their own bad experience or making the dentist sound scary.
“Parents project their own fears on to their kids. Often parents are not scared of dentists themselves, but allow the stereotype of kids being afraid, to drive the visit,” said Brown.
He suggested parents brought their children for their first dentist visit as early as possible so that the consultation became something ordinary.
“Children as young as two years old can be brought into our dental centres just for a quick check-up.
“For apprehensive adults, it sometimes helps to make a note of your fears and bring them along to the dentist.”
On the other hand, those suffering from odontophobia or dental anxiety, avoided going to the dentist at all costs.
“Think of how a person with a fear of elevators avoids using a lift - they would rather climb an impossible amount of stairs before getting into the dreaded machine,” said Dr Lydia Bond, Intercare clinical psychologist based in Irene.
“While negative experiences in any realm have a strong probability of leading to future fears when confronted with a similar situation, positive experiences, on the other hand, have been shown to have a mitigating effect. That means that if you have a couple of positive dentist experiences you are less likely to be influenced by other people's negative perceptions.”
What are fears and how do they manifest?
Clinical psychologist Dr Lydia Bond said some common fears are “simple phobias”.
“This means that a person is scared of a specific object or situation. The fear can be so intense that it could lead to panic attacks when the person is confronted with the object or situation. The person can usually see that their fear is irrational or exaggerated but is not able to control the fear. Examples include animal phobias like the fear of spiders or snakes. Situations that are often feared include flying, driving or enclosed spaces. Some people experience an intense fear of blood, injections or injury.”
Sometimes, she explained, a phobia does not interfere significantly with a person”s day-to-day functioning.
“An example of this could be a bird-phobia. In this case the person is only scared when encountering birds in an enclosed space. He or she may decide not to seek help to overcome the phobia as they are rarely exposed to this type of situation.”
But in other cases, the phobia might interfere significantly with a person's life.
“Think of the sales representative who has to drive to a couple of appointments during the day. His or her effective functioning would be greatly impacted by a fear of driving and it would be important to seek help in overcoming this fear. Unfortunately I can't say exactly what are the most common fears in South Africa but some I have encountered in my practice include fear of driving, fear of flying and fear of choking.”
All fears are not irrational and are treated differently.
“Simple phobias are most effectively treated through exposure therapy. This means the client will be gradually exposed to situations where they confront the feared object. In clients who are extremely fearful this could start by the client looking at a cartoon drawing of the feared object (like a spider).
“It is important that the exposure is done for a long enough time that the client can go from a high level of anxiety to a low and easily tolerated level of anxiety.”
Bond said that a “big stumbling block” in overcoming fear was avoidance behaviour. “The person would avoid the situation they are scared of like always taking the stairs and not the lift. This perpetuates the fear as the person assumes that nothing bad happened only because they avoided the perceived dangerous situation. This is why exposure to the feared situation or object is crucial to conquering the fear.”
The Mercury