Dental phobia treatment options in the uk are limited. The newspapers have been full of stories over the past week about Angie Barlow, the mother who superglued her own teeth in place because she was so terrified of going to the dentist.

Angie’s fear stemmed from her mother’s throat cancer, which was picked up on by a dentist at a routine dental check, but dental phobia is a very real problem which can have many causes, or indeed no cause at all – the definition of a phobia is ‘an irrational fear’.

The result of Angie’s DIY dental treatment was that 90% of the bone in her jaw was lost and, when she did finally visit the dentist, they had to remove most of her remaining teeth and insert titanium pins to attach implants to her skull – a prospect that even the most dentist-friendly of us would find less than appealing.

What can be done about dental phobia?

Here at CK Dental, Bristol dentist Cornelius Krause is passionate about helping patients to overcome dental phobia. This can be achieved in many ways, the most important of which is to acknowledge the fear and try to make patients feel as comfortable as possible – by talking through the phobia and offering reassurance.

Conscious sedation

Another, practical way in which we can offer reassurance to dental-phobic patients is to offer conscious sedation when dental work needs to be undertaken. This is a form of sedation where patients are in a semi-conscious state throughout treatment.

Unlike with a general anaesthetic, recovery is quick and you can return home shortly after treatment, but it allows you to relax fully for the duration of the procedure. Patients often have only a very faint memory of the procedure itself, which makes for minimal anxiety in the future.

Relax – you’re in safe hands

If you suffer from dental phobia, and are worried that your dental problems may be getting out of hand as a result, give the team at our Bristol dentist clinic a ring today to find out how we can help.