The dental fear and anxiety is an emotional distress condition that may lead to poor oral health in children, adolescents and adults. Researches of several studies investigated the origin, influence factors, physical and physiological responses, and types of management and intervention for dental phobia through various sources. Qualitative study utilized YouTube to gain insight to the public's perspective of dental fear and anxiety and understand the psychological impact in children and adolescents. Studies from collective literature search through EBSCOhost, Medline, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar databases revealed methods of intervention to help reduce dental anxiety and the avoidance of dental treatments. And a pharmacological study on 5-HT 3 antagonist may guide the way to discover a better anxiolytic that can potentially block the anxiogentic effects in patients with panic disorder and social phobia including dental fear and anxiety.
The Studies of Dental Fear and Anxiety in Children, Adolescents, and Adults
Generally, when people experience emotional distress such as fear from any circumstances our bodies will activate the fight or flight response to cope with the specific threat (Gordon, Heimberg, Tellez, & Ismail, 2013). It is likely that after those feelings had been introduced to us, we then developed a sense of worry for potential future threat. As Gordon, Heimberg, Tellez, and Ismail (2013) had established that this feeling of anticipation is what caused the conditioned response in our bodies called anxiety, the concept of phobia can be arrange in various degrees of severity. A closer look of dental fear and anxiety (DFA) study in children and adolescents revealed that anxiety disorder may developed early in life ...
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... therapy (CBT), relaxation training and techniques, dental fear and anxiety in children, adolescents and adults could be better treated in the future.
Works Cited
Gordon, D., Heimberg, R. G., Tellez, M., & Ismail, A. I. (2013). A critical review of approaches to the treatment of dental anxiety in adults. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 27, 365-378.
Gao, X., Hamzah, S., Yung-Yiu, C. K., McGrath, C., & King, N. M. (2013). Dental fear and anxiety in children and adolescents: qualitative study using YouTube. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15, 1-11. doi: 10.2196/jmir.2290
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A 39 years old male adult attended for a regular 6 monthly dental check up and routine scaling. The patient reports to suffer from anxiety, he is a teacher, a non-smoker, non-drinker and a regular dental attender.
Fear is a potent emotional response developed by the intrinsic need to learn in order for one to better their means of self-preservation. Though often overlooked, fear is a mental construct which presents great importance in understanding an individual’s thoughts and mannerisms. Children can help scientists to better recognize how these fears emerge. The early years of life can be considered the most daunting; everything in the environment surrounding a child is fairly new, strange, and unfamiliar. In the psychological community, it is widely accepted that fears are determined from two main constituents: biological and environmental factors. Both factors play an essential role in defining fear as well as the determination of what a child may
We all fear pain and it’s a well-known reason for people to avoid seeing the dentist. Most end up having severe periodontal problems leading to loss of teeth. Approximately 4-11% people suffer from dental phobias and avoid seeking dental care at all costs. Many of them end up in emergency situations that require invasive procedures like extraction or pulpotomy, which further reinforces their phobia.
Just imagine for a moment that you have a cynophobia or the fear of dogs, would this be how you would feel. Driving down the road the oil light comes on. "I must stop the car to add more oil or I will damage the car engine. This looks like a good place to pull over. I'll just stop in front of this house. The oil is in the trunk, so I'll pop the top first, then get the oil out of the trunk. OK, I have the oil, but what if there is a dog at this house. Hurry, I have to hurry. A dog might come running out and bark at me any minute. Just get the oil in the engine. I can't my hands are shaking. Don't worry, there is no dog. Just get the oil in the engine. I don't care if I spill it, just get some in the engine. Take another look around, is there a dog anywhere. OK, the oils in, now hurry get back in the car. I can't breath. I'm safely back in the car, now just take a minute and breath. When will my hands stop shaking." This is how a person with a phobia of dogs might feel. There is no dog around anywhere in sight, but the thought of a dog running at them barking is enough to cause a panic attack. In "Exploring Psychology" David G. Myers defines phobia as "an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation" (432). This paper will explore the history, causes, effects, and treatment of Phobias.
Wynn, D., Kaufman, M., Montalban, X., Vollmer, T., Simon, J., Elkins, J., I Rose, J. W. (2010).
Taillac, C., Goler, N., Armstrong, M.A., Haley, K. & Osejo, V. (2007). Early Start: An
Certainly, reducing or eliminating fear and anxiety is perhaps the most significant benefit of sedation dentistry. After all, when those roadblocks are eliminated, what’s to keep even the most nervous patient from getting the care they need to enjoy better oral health and reduce the risks of tooth decay, gum disease, infection and tooth loss? Still, there are other benefits as
Certain individuals avoid the dentist at all costs, choosing to live with cavities, gum disease and more, as they fear the chair more than anything. Others put off visiting a dental practitioner until the pain has become so overwhelming they can no longer live with it. This phobia is more common than many people realize, and it shows in oral health statistics. This doesn't need to be the case, however, thanks to sedation dentistry. Dentists use sedation for those dentists who experience anxiety, whether they are simply having a cavity filled or need to have their teeth cleaned. It's no longer reserved only for major work.
Imagine having to spend half your fortune on correcting your teeth.”Tooth decay was a perennial national problem that meant a mouthful of silver for patients, and for dentists a pocketful of gold.” (Wallis, 17) If patients don’t take care of their teeth, many issues can start to appear later in their life. Some patients are not knowledgeable of the correct procedures toward keeping a healthy smile. In order to keep a healthy smile patients must be better informed about the knowledge to achieve that success and also maintain.
Kobau, R., Zack, M. M., Manderscheid, R., Palpant, R. G., Morales, D. S., Luncheon, C., et al.
...inical therapy that I have learned throughout the program. As a dental hygiene student I’m already implementing ethical, legal and regulatory concepts for the provision of dental hygiene process of care, and I will utilize this foundation to throughout my career as a professional oral health care provider. In addition, as dental hygienist I will pursue life-long learning to provide client care based decisions using the most current evidence-based research. Thus I pledge to continue to learn and expand my skills and knowledge throughout my career. Graduating from CADH has provided me with great academic knowledge and clinical skills necessary to apply the concepts of health promotion and disease prevention. The experience that I have acquired at CADH will allow me to provide client specific, empathetic, empathetic and suitable treatment to all of my future clients.
Palmer, C. (2013, September 16). American Dental Association. Retrieved January 28, 2014, from ADA: http://www.ada.org/news/8898.aspx
We are currently in the twenty-first century and young adults are feared by many things called social phobias. For example, social phobias would be public speaking, which many people dread and some young adults fear this much more than others. These young adults are at risk for having depression associated with their anxiety. In a 2001 article about social anxiety it explains, how young adults might need intervention to get through their anxiety and depression, this could be there only medicine (Stein 2001). Many studies have been linked to social phobias in young adults by doing surveys. These surveys gave results which helped psychologist figure out what the best treatments could be for these young adults.
Growing up I heard many stories from my peers of their experiences at the dentist’s office. It is upsetting to say that most of my visits were vividly terrifying. As a child, the grinding, scratching, and high-pitched twangs of the instruments digging around in my mouth would leave my ears ringing and teeth vibrating every single time. The smell of fluoride and disinfectants permanently infected the air, sending chills through my body the minute I walked in. I quickly learned that latex posses an extremely unappetizing aftertaste. Needless to say, I was not always enthusiastic about going to the dentist’s office and getting braces did not make anything better for me.
Anxiety has a main definition; a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease. Although, it has its single definition, each person diagnosed with anxiety has different symptoms. With that, some have more severe cases of the actual diagnosis. It has been noted that anxiety has had an increase in teens recently. In the last 30 years, the statistics for anxiety in fifteen to sixteen year olds have doubled for both girls and boys (“Increased Levels of Anxiety…” 1). It is said, “in societal moments like the one we are in…it often feels as if ours is the Age of Anxiety”(Henig 1). Anxiety affects teenagers profusely because the emotions of a teenager are more vulnerable than those of an adult. The brain of a teenager is not fully developed and the stress put on teenagers to start putting their life together takes a toll on their emotions. The daily life and activities are interfered with by anxiety when the amount of stress put on a teenager becomes unbearable. Unfortunately, the effects of anxiety become so intense that the mental health is eventually toyed with. So many different components of life contribute to anxiety and cannot be prevented.