How to Overcome Dental Anxiety During A Pandemic
What is Dental Anxiety?
Dental anxiety is a constant feeling that something will go wrong during your dental treatment. It leads patients to neglect dental appointments that can progress their dental problems into emergency cases.
Possible reasons for dental anxiety:
- Bad experience from a dentist/dental treatment
- An underlying fear of medical or dental tools
- Dentists were used by your parents to incite fear to discipline their children
Here’s a list of dental anxiety triggers you might have:
The sight of needles and air-turbine drills
Sounds of drilling
The smell of some chemicals like eugenol
Sensations of high-frequency vibrations in the mouth
Fear of blood
Trust issues with the dentist
Fear of sharp objects
How COVID-19 Has Intensified Dental Anxiety
With COVID-19, the fear of going to the dentist comes from getting infected and the usual fear of the dental experience. Dentistry has the highest exposure to the virus because the mouth is one of the primary sources of transmission.
Close contact with patients and aerosol treatments also poses risks of aerosolized transmission that requires dental care professionals to wear PPEs
Ways to Overcome Dental Anxiety During The Pandemic
Communicate With Your Dentist
Telling the truth about your health condition during a pandemic is crucial. Some of the steps that you should adhere to communicating with your dentist are as follows:
You must be honest about your vital signs, travel history, exposure to the virus, and dental anxiety triggers.
Your dentist will explain the risks of having a dental treatment amid coronavirus.
Inform them right away if your condition is a dental emergency or not. You can classify your case here.
Your dentist can disclose your Patient Identifiable Information to authorities for contact tracing in case contamination occurs within the practice.
Inform them of your underlying medical conditions to know if you’re considered a high-risk patient.
Garg Dental Family hopes to see you smile again and be free from pain. May we all be safe in this uncertain time.
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