Taking A Bite Out Of Dental Fears

By Kendra Bobowick

Sharp instruments and antiseptic aromas create fears that can follow small children into adulthood. Dental visits — the cause of tremors in some adults — are also associated with the high-pitched, droning whine of a drill.

The shared experience is so prevalent that there is even a dedicated website, Dentalfearcentral.com, offering a score of reasons behind dental phobias, and suggestions for easing any dentist-associated anxieties.

This February, Children’s Dental Health Month, local dental professionals want to educate fearful procrastinators about a far brighter and pain-free picture in hopes if encouraging them back to the dentist.

As a child, Karen Murphy told The Bee, she had “traumatizing experiences that I have carried with me through life.” Ms Murphy, marketing director at the offices of Dr Henry Gellert on Church Hill Road, has many sympathizers.

Adults’ fears are “absolutely” common said Dr Joshua E. Baum, DMD, who practices with Dr Gellert.

“When I think of the dentist as a child, I think of the stark office,” Dr Baum recalled. “And I don’t remember my dentist as even having a personality.”

Dental Associates designated February 3 as “Give Kids a Smile Day” and associates from the practice made presentations to students in the Newtown area. Throughout the month, parents may be pleased to learn that many students’ fears may have been addressed while being visited by local dental professionals as part of regular Children’s Dental Health Month activities.

Some adults live with an inner-child’s uncertainties and as they grow up, still feel trepidation toward the possibility of encountering sharp tools, painful lightning bolts from drilling, and memories of “The Shot,” which Dr Christine Dowling of Dental Associates on Church Hill Road has encountered often.

“Children will ask, ‘Am I gonna get The Shot?’,” she said.

She soothes their fears primarily by explaining what happens at the dentist. Much of children’s fright stems from the unknown, and the dentist “is a new experience for them,” she noted.

“Once things are explained they’re fine,” said Dr Dowling. “The Shot” isn’t a realistic fear, which children who have “an initial experience that is good,” can relate to, she said.

“It’s good to bring children in young so they have a positive experience,” Dr Dowling said.

Sitting in her reception area where popular children’s music plays in the background, Dr Dowling pointed out that if a child is having a problem with the visit, she relies on the “tell/show/do” method.

“I explain a procedure and most of the fear is because they don’t know what is going to happen,” she said. “Explanations usually work.”

She also looks at the possibilities of television or horror stories about dentist visits they may have heard from relatives or at school, which may “have an influence” on their own childhood fears.

Conversations regarding the dentist may inadvertently “create anxiety” before an appointment said Dr Dowling. Combined with her idea that children already have a natural fear of the unknown, the child may wonder, “Why is this a big deal?”

If children express anxiety over a dental exam, she takes a sincere approach. She will not “try to minimize what a patient is feeling,” she said.

“I try to do what I can. I want them to be comfortable and happy when they leave,” she said.

Unfortunately, uneasy feelings may remain with a child, and some adult fears may be from “past bad experiences,” Dr Dowling noted.

In fact, Ms Murphy’s adulthood fears stemmed from bad experiences when she was young. Thinking back, she said, “They weren’t interested in making it pleasant, they just went in and got the work done.”

Those memories draw a picture completely opposite of her current job, however. Working at Dr Gellert’s, her office is filled with children’s interactive games, music, and even a jukebox.

“We try to keep it interesting and fun. We want this to be a place you don’t mind going,” she said.

Like the office settings, practices have changed and take the spotlight off the cavity and center on the person reclined in the chair. Noting improvements in dental approaches to young patients, Dr Baum said, “I just think there is such focus in dentistry now in terms of the person, not the mouth.”

Pointing to flyers and mailers, Ms Murphy said that young patients’ siblings can join the Kids Club and receive membership cards, and all visitors can participate in themes, such as Mad Hatter Day at the dentist.

She admits that the new office environment “would have helped me.”

At Dr Gellert’s, moving past the outer offices, children will eventually be seated in the dentist’s chair, where Dr Baum greets them. Regarding the unusual instruments he may use, he pointed out, “If a child is afraid, I don’t want to surprise them. I show them [an instrument] and let them see it’s not sharp before I put it in their mouth.”

Even a momentary brusque bed- or chair-side manner experienced in the dentist’s office may sour the experience later in life, Dr Baum concluded. He finds that with adults, “straight out reasoning” usually helps.

“Things from the past are unlikely to happen again in the dentist’s office,” Dr Baum often tells his fearful adult patients. “And just hearing that is enough.”