Help at hand for those affraid of the dentist
Mar 15 2009 by Mieka Smiles, Sunday Sun

A TRIP to the dentist doesn’t fill most people with joy. For some, however, it’s more than an inconvenience . . . it’s a nightmare. MIEKA SMILES reports.

THE dentist’s chair has passed into urban legend as a place of drilling and screams.

Most people know that the modern experience of visiting the dentists is nothing like this sinister parody.

There are those, however, who avoid a trip to the dentists like the plague, which has an obviously detrimental impact on their oral health.

The good news is that help is at hand for those suffering from "dental phobia", with a range of practices across the region offering treatments that can ease the fear of the chair for both adults and children.

Dentist Matthew Gill is the chair of Gateshead and South Tyneside Local Dental Committee and has 16 years of experience in dentistry.

He said: "Things have changed dramatically in the last decade or two. Conditions are completely different from how people may remember their "school" dentist.

"The practices are bright and airy, the staff are very friendly and there is modern equipment to help the process along.

"In fact, there are a whole host of things that make the experience so much more pleasant than it once was."

Mr Gill explains how a fear of the dentist can often start in childhood. He said: "We often see young children who have been put off coming to the dentist’s through their parents.

"This is a fear that has its roots 20 to 30 years ago when things were so much different.

"This fear is then transposed to their kids, who are five or six years old, when coming to the dentist’s should be a pleasant experience for them.

"Children also get really wound up by their school mates but then afterwards say ‘that wasn’t so bad’.

"The problem is that in Gateshead and South Tyneside — and across the North in general — we have a higher-than-average amount of children with decayed, missing and filled teeth."

But there are treatments that can help, with practices across the region offering a range of treatments that aim to put patients at ease.

Dentist Mark Burton, chairman of the Sunderland Local Dental Committee, has 25 years’ experience in dentistry.

He explained one of the treatments available for adults with a phobia of the dentist’s chair: "There are many practices across the northern region — including ours — that offer sedation services.

"One of these is known as being put into a ‘twilight sleep’.

"You are still conscious during this treatment, which is achieved through a drug called Midazolam and delivered intravenously. This is very effective.

"It’s the sort of treatment where we would still need to pop injections into the mouth and still need to drill the tooth, but blocks conscious memory.

"When you start to come around you can’t remember anything that we have done. The vast majority of people can be treated by this method."

And there’s help at hand for anxious children too, as Mr Burton explains: "For children there is what we call ‘happy air’, otherwise known as relative analgesia.

"It is the same as the ‘gas and air’ that women have in labour. It puts you on a high and acts as a pain killer. It is very successful in the treatment of young children."

However, when it comes to keeping your teeth in tiptop shape, both dentists agree that it’s the tried and tested methods that they recommend.

Mr Gill said: "Regular attendance is important as it’s best to catch things . . . prevention is always better than the cure. I would also recommend investing in a good tooth brush as well as a fluoride toothpaste

"Diet is also important. Children will eat sweets and drink fizzy drinks, but I advise that they don’t eat them within one hour of bedtime.

"It is much better to have them with a meal or just after."

i was at the dentist the other day and ended up taking a really bad panic attack. ssad