Tag Archive for ‘Dental Fear’
Nitrous Oxide: A Great Way to Calm Your Dental Anxiety
In order to get certified to administer nitrous oxide (commonly called laughing gas), I have to run a certain number of cases to prove my competence. Last Friday afternoon, I was able to give a patient nitrous oxide and literally change his perception of dentistry. He loved it. I asked him about his dental fear [...]
Why People Hate the Dentist: My Theory
One of my professors told me that he has often been told, “Hey Doc, it’s nothing personal, but I hate dentists.” This professor also shared that he thinks statements like these just come with the job. I know of another dentist who reacts when his patients tell him that they hate dentists by asking the [...]
What Is a Comprehensive Dental Exam?
Have you ever wondered how thorough your routine dental exams are? A dentist that I shadowed prior to dental school told me that he used to rush through patient exams trying to get as much done as he could. Eventually, he got tired of this because he really wanted to spend more time with his [...]
Why Your Dentist Can’t Get You Numb
Did you know that over four million dental injections are given every year in the United States? The failure rate is estimated to be anywhere from 5 to 15%. that means that there are anywhere from 200,000 to 600,000 dental injections that don’t get the patient numb. That means that people get poked by their [...]
Dental Phobia: 15 Reasons Why People are Scared of the Dentist
A few weeks ago, a teenage boy came into the dental school because one of his teeth was hurting. I saw him in our pediatric dental clinic and we determined that two of his teeth couldn’t be saved and had to be pulled. He seemed fine with everything. I took him over to the oral [...]
Do You Have Dental Fear or Dentist Phobia? You’re Not Alone!
Does the sound of a dental drill make you scared? Is it hard to get up the courage to go and have dental work completed by your dentist? If so, you’re not alone! There are many other people who aren’t big fans of the dentist. In fact, the Journal of the American Dental Association has [...]
The Dental Smell: Why Dental Offices Have That Smell
After getting a job at a dental office, a woman who goes by the name of W wrote, “Ya know that dental office smell? Well, imagine working at one. You come home and that smell is stuck to you like white on rice…It’s in my hair. It’s on my hands… I can tell you I [...]
Dental Fear Central: Calm Your Dental Anxiety
Many of the patients we see at the dental school have developed cavities and needed extensive dental work for just one reason: They were too scared to come to the dentist before now. Something changed within them that made them finally say, “Enough is enough. I need to get my teeth fixed.” Sometimes it’s severe [...]
Hi, I'm Tom. I'm currently a 4th year dental student in the USA. I started this blog to help people take better care of their teeth. You can 
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