Start by choosing a dentist you can really relate to, and who is understanding about your fears. He should make you feel comfortable and secure from the minute you walk into the consulting room – talking about teeth whitening tips is a great way to break the ice. If possible, try to interview him before your appointment so that you can discuss your fears, ask questions about the consultation process and acquaint yourself with his consulting room.
The idea is to make yourself comfortable both with your dentist and his surroundings, so that it’s not all new when you arrive for the first time at your consultation.
Also ensure you understand what your treatment entails if you are having a specific procedure such as a root canal, or just having a treatment of one of your dentist’s teeth whitening products. You are far more likely to be fearful if you don’t know what to expect, even if the gory details seem frightening to you at first. Allowing your imagination to wander without any facts will, most likely, leave you quaking, whereas the correct information is more likely to have the opposite effect.
Another option is to actively seek out dentists who see many children. Dentists popular with children tend to be much more patient and under-standing with fearful adults.
Then, watch what you eat before your appointment. If you eat high-protein foods, such as cheese, one hour before the consultation, and avoid caffeine for at least six hours before, you’ll be amazed at how much calmer you are. Sugary foods can increase your agitation, whereas protein-rich foods are calming.
The next strategy sounds obvious, but you need to breathe! When people are anxious they tend to either hold their breath or take short, shallow breaths instead of breathing deeply and rhythmically. Also, holding your breath decreases oxygen levels in your blood, thereby increasing feelings of panic, so it’s vital to focus on breathing, and to do so in a regular, slow, deep fashion.
Try to imagine your abdomen as a box that starts at your armpits and extends down to your hip bones, and then try and breathe air into the bottom of the box without raising your shoulders. This is a particularly good way of calming yourself down in any situation.
Finally, be creative about relaxation: either go on a course that offers relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or visualization, or pick up a book at the local bookstore or library on the wide range of relaxation methods available to the public. Alternatively, if you know that music relaxes you, take your favourite CD along with you to the consultation and ask your dentist to play it for you. You can even take along your portable CD player if he doesn’t have one in the room.
If you’ve done all that and still find yourself tensing up in the dentist’s chair, take a very deep breath and consciously relax every muscle in your body: tackle them one by one if you have to. When your body is relaxed, it is very difficult for you to remain anxious.
Most importantly, remember to be upfront with your dentist and relay your fears to him – he may well also have a few ideas on how to ease your anxiety.
Tags: dental anxiety, high protein foods, protein rich foods, shallow breaths, teeth whitening products