Dental phobia might be a less popular category in the list of world-famous phobias, but it can be more serious than most of them. Obviously, the fear of something within us is far more threatening than the fear generated by an external circumstance.
Dental phobia can be treated as a branch of further serious and widely prevalent ‘disease phobia’. Basically, it is the fear of getting your physical safety in jeopardy or rather the fear of surpassing an unlikely situation where pain is the only uncertainty. It is the fear of being unwarned about what you might be subject to in case of a dental issue or emergency. Nevertheless, there is no point in getting into the psychic details of the issue. Putting things in a simpler language, the sum total of the problem equals to the fear of the problem. Now it is up to you to decide whether you are suffering from a problem or from the fear of it. The answer will tell you whether you qualify as a ‘dental phobic’ or a ‘dental patient’.
If you suspect that you are suffering from dental phobia then consider yourself luckier than those suffering from other phobic disorders. Now, no one would have given you such a notion but read on and you will discover why.
Dental issues can be easily detected through minimal investigatory examination. If you are not suffering from any sort of present or impending dental threat your dentist will you a clean chit within no time. For this simple reason, as a dental phobic, you are better off than other phobia victims like disease phobia or germ phobia. While a health phobic would need to spend thousands of dollars on laboratory tests and screening, you can satisfy your phobia simply by having your teeth looked upon by a dentist.
Fear of dentists does not make you a patient of dental phobia. More than 60 percent of the dental patients feel vulnerable when they are left at the mercy of their dentists. Especially children fit well in this category. There are many natural causes that justify an individual’s fear about having a dental treatment or procedure. As you might have heard before, we all fear the unknown.
This is what happens when you face the prospect of having a dental treatment carried out. You can’t see what is being done inside your mouth and all the drilling, scrubbing and polishing sounds created by the dental equipments create grotesque images in your mind. Your memories from your past treatment experiences or a painful treatment undergone as a child is more than enough to trigger a general fear about dental issues and consequent treatment requirements.
The point is – you might not be of an irrational mindset in fearing about a possible dental problem. Understanding the fact that being afraid is normal can alleviate your doubts of phobia almost completely. Note, even the dentist treating you might be as scared as you are if he is forced to face a dental procedure that he normally performs on others without any hesitation.
