L
lanniesmith
Member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 24
Hi everyone.
I am posting this as a response to spending quite a bit of time on this message board over the last couple of months and reading your stories. I have always tried to help patients who are scared when the come to visit me but I had never truly realised how many people don’t even make it through the door in the first place. I have re-examined how I look at patients like all of you on this site and feel that many of us in the dental profession must do the same. I am not saying there are easy answers to the way any of you are feeling but I do think we have a duty of care to try. I would love to publicise this site in the dental world and have tried to write something resembling an article that maybe one day might make it into dental publications. I think every dentist should read your stories and make them realise the truth about fear.
I would love to know if I am on the right lines or if I have completely misunderstood how many of you feel. I have aimed this at dental professionals but very much appreciate your feedback. Thanks for taking time to read it
Please do not let the first paragraph put you off. Unfortunatly it is from experience that this is the attitude of many dentists and it is this that hopefully can be changed. Please do not let it put you off seeing your dentist
I look forward to your responses
Lannie
Permission to be afraid
It is probably likely that most of us start our day by scanning the patient day list. How often do we sit there and have that pit of the stomach feeling when certain names appear? We all do it where we turn to our nurse and go “have you seen who’s in today” And more than often get the response “yes, I know!” I have always struggled to remember names and used to worry when a name looked familiar because I knew that the reason was most normally not a good one.
But why do theses names promote such strong feelings?
Is it the patients who you know will walk in ask question after question taking up most of the appointment before you can even examine them?
Is it the patients who don’t communicate and come across as aggressive?
Is it the patient who walks in and quite bluntly tells you that they hate you (always a great job satisfaction boost!)?
Is it the patient who moans about costs and rip off dentists?
Is it the patient who you have numbed up but continues to claim they can feel pain?
Is it the patient who attends for an examination but you know will not return for treatment?
The list can go on and on and it would be fair to say that it can be these patients that most of us feel make our job much more difficult. But how many of sit and think that maybe it is us that are making the patient’s life more difficult, just by being a dental professional?
I think everyone has been burnt by something hot at least once in our lives. You can probably sit and remember that pain in all its smallest detail from the shock of it happening to the agony afterwards. Now if I asked you to put your hand in a fire it would be the memory of that pain that would make you fight kick and scream with all your might to stop me. But would I be fair in calling you are fire phobic, or would you say that its just common sense that stops you sticking your hand in? Because you are not irrational to be afraid of that fire is the reason why we don’t have “fire phobic” support groups attended by pretty much the entire human race.
Phobias are most commonly associated with things that people have irrational fears over. Take flying for example why should anyone be afraid of something that is safer than walking down your local high street? What about spiders? The chances of any kind of spider in this country hurting you are so small why be afraid? These “irrational” fears can be easily dismissed although some sufferers will fight kick and scream with all their might not to face them. So when we brand someone “dental phobic” we are telling that person their fear is irrational and they belong with all the other irrational people who fear irrational things like mice or birds because, after all, what could possibly be bad about dentistry?
The cold hard truth about our job as a dental professionals is that we do things to people that really aren’t very nice. As much as we would all like to think that we try and make procedures pain free and comfortable for the patient we know deep down that some pain or discomfort is inevitable if even just a small amount. So if a patient knows that they are going to experience pain no matter how small why does it become irrational for them to be afraid?
The fear response is a basic human instinct it protects us, without it we would never reach adulthood. Fear is different for everyone, if asked, I’m sure the majority of people would think of nothing worse than throwing them self off a bridge attached to a string of elastic, but for others bungee jumping is easy. For the majority of people going to the dentist is easy because they can believe that even if something is painful it’s not going to last forever and at the end it is going to be worth it. It’s a bit like the people who can stand on top of that bridge and know that even if the falling is truly terrifying the elastic will save them and the buzz will be worth it in the end. The rest of us however will stand on that bridge and the fear of that terrifying fall is enough that we will never jump because deep down we can never trust that elastic. Imagine if even worse the person before you jumps but their elastic breaks and they plummet to earth. Now in your head you have the image of that horrifying fall its going to mean that if anyone tries to get you to jump you are going to do everything in your power to stop them. Imagine however that you are in pain or have an unsightly appearance which you know can all be solved by jumping. Even though that pain or disfigurement might be horrendous the idea of jumping will still fill you with an even more agonising fear.
For patients who fear dental treatment the idea of even visiting a dentist is the same as you standing on that bridge watching the person fall. The patient has most commonly had some kind of experience that has made them believe that going through treatment is worse than anything else, even the pain or unsightliness of damaged teeth. This previous experience has usually involved pain, helplessness or even humiliation. Asking someone to possibly repeat these experiences is asking them to take that massive jump.
Think of yourself now as the person holding the elastic on that bridge. You know that the person falling was a one off and that sometimes bad things can happen and people will experience pain no matter how hard you try. You are fully confident in that elastic now and you can’t possibly understand why someone won’t jump because you know its safe so why shouldn’t they!
If you asked that person to come back another day to do that jump what might happen?
Would they turn up and keep you talking as long as possible so to delay the jump?
Would they be aggressive and not communicate hoping that you might call the whole thing off?
Would they tell you that they hated you for what you were making them do?
Would they moan because you were not only going to make them jump but you were going to make them pay for it as well?
Would they, even after they have seen other people jump safely, still insist that the elastic isn’t tight enough?
Or would they just not turn up at all?
These may now not look like unreasonable responses to genuine fear.
Remember your treatment is that length elastic your patient is the one you are asking to jump. You are the one who has to make them believe they will just bounce right back up and not hit the floor. We can all be quick to dismiss our patients as just “difficult”. But maybe we should think of ourselves as the ones who are responsible for providing the answers to the problem rather than thinking the patient is the problem.
I would urge any dental professional to visit www.dentalfearcentral.org and just read the accounts of these patients. Let’s stop branding people like this as dental phobic and acknowledge the reality that everyone has permission to be afraid of pain, Its just some people cope with this fear better than others. Possibly we can then all realise its up to us as professional care givers to make this fear more manageable in any and everyway we can.
I am posting this as a response to spending quite a bit of time on this message board over the last couple of months and reading your stories. I have always tried to help patients who are scared when the come to visit me but I had never truly realised how many people don’t even make it through the door in the first place. I have re-examined how I look at patients like all of you on this site and feel that many of us in the dental profession must do the same. I am not saying there are easy answers to the way any of you are feeling but I do think we have a duty of care to try. I would love to publicise this site in the dental world and have tried to write something resembling an article that maybe one day might make it into dental publications. I think every dentist should read your stories and make them realise the truth about fear.
I would love to know if I am on the right lines or if I have completely misunderstood how many of you feel. I have aimed this at dental professionals but very much appreciate your feedback. Thanks for taking time to read it
Please do not let the first paragraph put you off. Unfortunatly it is from experience that this is the attitude of many dentists and it is this that hopefully can be changed. Please do not let it put you off seeing your dentist
I look forward to your responses
Lannie
Permission to be afraid
It is probably likely that most of us start our day by scanning the patient day list. How often do we sit there and have that pit of the stomach feeling when certain names appear? We all do it where we turn to our nurse and go “have you seen who’s in today” And more than often get the response “yes, I know!” I have always struggled to remember names and used to worry when a name looked familiar because I knew that the reason was most normally not a good one.
But why do theses names promote such strong feelings?
Is it the patients who you know will walk in ask question after question taking up most of the appointment before you can even examine them?
Is it the patients who don’t communicate and come across as aggressive?
Is it the patient who walks in and quite bluntly tells you that they hate you (always a great job satisfaction boost!)?
Is it the patient who moans about costs and rip off dentists?
Is it the patient who you have numbed up but continues to claim they can feel pain?
Is it the patient who attends for an examination but you know will not return for treatment?
The list can go on and on and it would be fair to say that it can be these patients that most of us feel make our job much more difficult. But how many of sit and think that maybe it is us that are making the patient’s life more difficult, just by being a dental professional?
I think everyone has been burnt by something hot at least once in our lives. You can probably sit and remember that pain in all its smallest detail from the shock of it happening to the agony afterwards. Now if I asked you to put your hand in a fire it would be the memory of that pain that would make you fight kick and scream with all your might to stop me. But would I be fair in calling you are fire phobic, or would you say that its just common sense that stops you sticking your hand in? Because you are not irrational to be afraid of that fire is the reason why we don’t have “fire phobic” support groups attended by pretty much the entire human race.
Phobias are most commonly associated with things that people have irrational fears over. Take flying for example why should anyone be afraid of something that is safer than walking down your local high street? What about spiders? The chances of any kind of spider in this country hurting you are so small why be afraid? These “irrational” fears can be easily dismissed although some sufferers will fight kick and scream with all their might not to face them. So when we brand someone “dental phobic” we are telling that person their fear is irrational and they belong with all the other irrational people who fear irrational things like mice or birds because, after all, what could possibly be bad about dentistry?
The cold hard truth about our job as a dental professionals is that we do things to people that really aren’t very nice. As much as we would all like to think that we try and make procedures pain free and comfortable for the patient we know deep down that some pain or discomfort is inevitable if even just a small amount. So if a patient knows that they are going to experience pain no matter how small why does it become irrational for them to be afraid?
The fear response is a basic human instinct it protects us, without it we would never reach adulthood. Fear is different for everyone, if asked, I’m sure the majority of people would think of nothing worse than throwing them self off a bridge attached to a string of elastic, but for others bungee jumping is easy. For the majority of people going to the dentist is easy because they can believe that even if something is painful it’s not going to last forever and at the end it is going to be worth it. It’s a bit like the people who can stand on top of that bridge and know that even if the falling is truly terrifying the elastic will save them and the buzz will be worth it in the end. The rest of us however will stand on that bridge and the fear of that terrifying fall is enough that we will never jump because deep down we can never trust that elastic. Imagine if even worse the person before you jumps but their elastic breaks and they plummet to earth. Now in your head you have the image of that horrifying fall its going to mean that if anyone tries to get you to jump you are going to do everything in your power to stop them. Imagine however that you are in pain or have an unsightly appearance which you know can all be solved by jumping. Even though that pain or disfigurement might be horrendous the idea of jumping will still fill you with an even more agonising fear.
For patients who fear dental treatment the idea of even visiting a dentist is the same as you standing on that bridge watching the person fall. The patient has most commonly had some kind of experience that has made them believe that going through treatment is worse than anything else, even the pain or unsightliness of damaged teeth. This previous experience has usually involved pain, helplessness or even humiliation. Asking someone to possibly repeat these experiences is asking them to take that massive jump.
Think of yourself now as the person holding the elastic on that bridge. You know that the person falling was a one off and that sometimes bad things can happen and people will experience pain no matter how hard you try. You are fully confident in that elastic now and you can’t possibly understand why someone won’t jump because you know its safe so why shouldn’t they!
If you asked that person to come back another day to do that jump what might happen?
Would they turn up and keep you talking as long as possible so to delay the jump?
Would they be aggressive and not communicate hoping that you might call the whole thing off?
Would they tell you that they hated you for what you were making them do?
Would they moan because you were not only going to make them jump but you were going to make them pay for it as well?
Would they, even after they have seen other people jump safely, still insist that the elastic isn’t tight enough?
Or would they just not turn up at all?
These may now not look like unreasonable responses to genuine fear.
Remember your treatment is that length elastic your patient is the one you are asking to jump. You are the one who has to make them believe they will just bounce right back up and not hit the floor. We can all be quick to dismiss our patients as just “difficult”. But maybe we should think of ourselves as the ones who are responsible for providing the answers to the problem rather than thinking the patient is the problem.
I would urge any dental professional to visit www.dentalfearcentral.org and just read the accounts of these patients. Let’s stop branding people like this as dental phobic and acknowledge the reality that everyone has permission to be afraid of pain, Its just some people cope with this fear better than others. Possibly we can then all realise its up to us as professional care givers to make this fear more manageable in any and everyway we can.