A fear of dentists is one of the most common fears there is. Dental phobia is something that I see many people for and I even work out of a couple of dental surgeries to help their patients whilst they are at their own dentist.

New research has proven that talking therapies such as hypnotherapy can really help people with a fear of dentists. Whilst the research looked at CBT this is of course just one talking therapy and in fact my clients may only need two or three sessions with me as my hypnotherapy practice means that I have many different tools in the box that I can use to help people.

Research on Dental Phobias

The research was published in the British Dental Journal and was carried out by King's College London. It looked at 130 people who all feared dental treatment. They all had talking therapy, and more than three-quarters went on to have treatment without sedation. Although sedation can be an option the biggest problem is that someone with a dental fear will most likely not even visit the dentist at all in the first place. This can lead to multiple health issues and not just a loss of teeth.

The research looked at 99 women and 31 men who attended a therapy clinic at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Three-quarters of the group had a "dental phobia", while the remainder had a specific fear of one aspect of dentistry, such as injections or the drill. Of all the patients, four-fifths (79%) went on to have dental treatment without the need for sedation, while 6% had their dental treatment under sedation. The average number of therapy appointments required before a patient received dental treatment without sedation was five.

Learning to let go of that fear can have a real change in your life. We all benefit from having healthy teeth and gums and looking forward to the help your dentist can provide is always better than being scared.

You can read all about a fear of dentists and the help that I can give you here: Fear of dentists Hypnotherapy

You can call me on 07980 233160 or email me at [email protected] for more help and advice