Dental Dialogues – There’s Never Been A Better Time Than Now!

As promised, we recently launched the Dental Dialogues – a chance to blog about all things dentistry related and to interact with our patients in a new and entirely different way. Our hope is to create a conversation with you, offering timely and relevant information on good oral health care for both you and your family. Whether you’re looking for tips and tools on how to encourage younger members of your family to brush their teeth or how to recognize the telltale signs of anxiety, poor health or stress in your teen’s teeth we can help. We can offer tips on helping families to identify a possible link between dementia and poor dental care, or how to care for the teeth of someone with dementia. In all areas, we’re your new “Go To” source for information! This month we’re starting with something near and dear to our hearts and something we think might be important for at least some of our patients: “Dentophobia.”

First and foremost let’s take this opportunity to assure you that Dentophobia is a very real anxiety and that you are not alone. A fear of the Dentist is not uncommon and the trio of Dentists here at Eglinton Dental has seen this form of anxiety amongst our patients many times during our 30 years of practice. This anxiety may be the result of:

• A childhood trauma, or bad experience with a Dentist.
• No prior experience with a Dentist – Resulting in a fear of the unknown.
• Fear of pain – Many people wrongly assume there will always be pain related to dental procedures. With today’s modern procedures there’s no reason for fear.
• Nausea or gagging – Some people suffer from a more pronounced form of nausea or tendency to gag during any kind of oral procedure. These same people may also fear throat swabs at the Doctor’s office or any testing at all that involves the mouth, nose or throat. This may even stem from a fear of being unable to breathe properly.
• Fear of Needles – We know you are not alone with this one! Lots of folks fear needles. We’ll talk a little bit today about how we can help you overcome this fear.
• Germs – Some people are particularly afraid of anything to do with germs and the perception that a Dentist, poking around in your mouth, may put you at risk can be overwhelming.

Dentophobia might be real but the great thing about working with a trio of Dentists who have been in the business for 30 years is that we have lots of experience in how to work together with you to help you overcome that fear. As well, if we can say anything positive about the pandemic we find ourselves in right now it’s that there has never been a better time than now to schedule a visit with us. Ironically, while Eglinton Dental has ALWAYS taken pride in our offices, our procedures, our commitment and dedication to cleanliness and safe disinfection measures, COVID-19 has resulted in even further stringent controls over all things related to keeping both you, and our staff, safe. There are very rigorous standards to which we are held and we are happy to share them with any patient worried about germs. Just ask!

When it comes to the fear of pain, or fear of the unknown because perhaps you’ve never visited a Dentist before or had a bad experience as a child, we can help with that too. New patients are invited to contact our office and have a conversation. Let us know about your fears ahead of time and we can help to allay them both over the phone and before you arrive, as well as while you are here. Some patients may choose to bring ear buds and listen to music during an appointment while others may be able to use a tool like meditation to keep them calm. At Eglinton Square Dental, we offer the option of treatment with Nitrous Oxide Sedation for our extremely anxious patients. This would be preferable to the idea of postponing an appointment to the point where your oral health is suffering and a minor cavity that could easily have been fixed has now progressed to the point where you require a root canal and extensive dental work. That’s why, right from the outset, we called this blog “There’s never been a better time than now” because dealing with an issue sooner than later is always more favorable, less invasive and yes, potentially less painful!

With new standards of care, new methods for relieving pain (numbing gel before a needle for example) and even new methods for obtaining dental x-rays leading to less potential for nausea, gagging or hyperventilating, there’s truly never been a better time to visit your family dentist. If you have Dentophobia, ask us how we can help you to overcome it.

Eglinton Square Dental, the perfect combination of innovation and experience.