Visit Our Huntsville General Dentist Office for a Positive Dental Experience

As a Huntsville general dentist, one of the things we get to do is talk about things many other dentists will avoid. Today, we want to talk about something that is a common challenge, which your general dentist can help you to overcome: fear! Fear of the dentist is one of the most common phobias in the world, and it is as widespread as the science of general dentistry itself. In every place there is a general dentist office, you will find people who are afraid of it. Right here in America, we have a huge population of people who know they should visit the dentist to avoid problems with their teeth but are too stressed out by the idea to do so. Twenty-six percent of people in a recent study fell into this category of being too afraid to get the treatment they needed and would only go in to see a general dentist if they were facing an emergency situation. In addition to this, there are the people who do visit the dentist but are also plagued by anxiety. Between 9 percent and 20 percent of dental patients admit to having mild to severe anxiety about visiting their dentist. Many of these patients are worried because of the length of time since their last visit and not knowing what condition we might find their teeth in, or what remedies might be in order to bring their teeth back to perfect condition.

How a general dentist can help you fight your dental fears

Fears of dental checkups are perfectly normal and something that a general dentist deals with on a daily basis. We have discovered that the best way to fight fear is to give you tools to understand the fear and come up with ways to overcome them. Three things that work well to help take away concerns you may have about a dentist visit are as follows. First, you need to identify what exactly it is that you are afraid of. When you know what you are afraid of, it takes away the overbearing concern of the dentist office. Some people are afraid of needles, others have a fear that the visit will cause them pain, and still others are reluctant to give up control as they may have to do in a dental chair. Once we isolate a fear, we can work with or around it to make sure you are comfortable. Second, you should work with us to educate yourself about the things we do, the vast lengths we go through to ensure your safety and comfort, and understand the procedures from a layman's perspective. A general dentist is happy to explain and educate any dental procedures. We understand that the more you know, the less likely you are to be afraid. Finally, a tough one for many, we ask our patients to get into the habit of seeing the general dentist at least two times each year for regularly scheduled examinations and cleanings. This builds up a level of familiarity, which also takes away fear and creates a relationship of trust between you and your dentist that we can build on should you need something more intense than plaque removal.

How a general dentist can help you fight your dental fears

All of these fears are perfectly normal and something that a general dentist deals with on a daily basis. We have discovered that the best way to fight fear is to give you tools to understand the fear and come up with ways to overcome them. Three things that work well to help take away concerns you may have about a dentist visit are as follows. First, you need to identify what exactly it is that you are afraid of. When you know what you are afraid of, it takes away the overbearing concern of the dentist office. Some people are afraid of needles, others have a fear that the visit will cause them pain, and still others are reluctant to give up control as they may have to do in a dental chair. Once we isolate a fear, we can work with or around it to make sure you are comfortable. Second, you should work with us to educate yourself about the things we do, the vast lengths we go through to ensure your safety and comfort, and understand the procedures and tools from a layman's perspective. A general dentist is happy to explain and educate because we know that the more you know, the less likely you are to be afraid. Finally, and this is the tough one for many, we ask our patients to get into the habit of seeing the general dentist at least two times each year for regularly scheduled examinations and cleanings. This builds up a level of familiarity, which also takes away fear and creates a relationship of trust between you and your dentist that we can build on should you need something more intense than plaque removal.