• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

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Please complete the survey!!

Name: Kalou
Age:28
Location: South east, England

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear.8

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? _______Yes______________
Noise?_______Yes_____________
Other: ________showing my teeth, tools, waiting, language used, chair....everything lol! __________

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......Being gassed as a child and being shouted at and put on the spot to make a difficult decsion that has plagued me all my life!

4) How often do you visit your dentist?Been once for the first time in about 12 years....intend to go every 6 months from now on!

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? YES

6) Why would you book a dental appointment?Because it is due and I don't want to fall back into old habbits!

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation Not yet
b) general anaestheticNot yet
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)Gassed once as a child
d) HypnosisNo
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)No
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition?YES!
 
Name: Scaredmama
Age:31
Location: Alabama

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 10

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? Yes
Noise Yes
Other: the white walls and cold/sterile feeling, hate being laid back, hate someone in my personal space, non-friendly/non-compassionate/non-kind/non-gentle atmosphere.
3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......No....not other than what has already been stated on # 2
4) How often do you visit your dentist? Been 2 times since I was 16-and it was only because I made myself and I had a panic attack the entire time-both times.

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? YES

6) Why would you book a dental appointment?Right now, I wouldn't.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation No-scares me
b) general anaesthetic No- scares me
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)No-scares me
d) Hypnosis No
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc) No
other.... I've thought about trying Xanax or Valium, but too scared too.

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? YES! Extremely serious! I can't even take my kids to the dentist-my husband has too.
 
Name: Terrin
Age: 23
Location: Edmonton,AB,Canada

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 10

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? _________yes____________
Noise?___________yes________
Other: __________________

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......
As a child I was held down alot, probably on atleast 5 seperate occasions.

4) How often do you visit your dentist? Pft. only if nessicary

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? Absolutley.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? Severe pain / Threat of infection

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation no
b) general anaesthetic yes
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air) no
d) Hypnosis no
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc) no
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition?
Yes, dental phobia can severely affect a persons general well being.
 
Name: Jason
Age:34
Location: Michigan

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear.9

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? ___10__________________
Noise?______10______________
Other: ___rudeness_______________

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......yup dentist smoked and dint wash his hands , and dentist not waiting till fully numb

4) How often do you visit your dentist?only when needed

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? yup

6) Why would you book a dental appointment?call them

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation y
b) general anaestheticy
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)y
d) Hypnosisn
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)y
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition?yes
 
Name: Heather
Age: 39
Location: Virginia, USA

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 10

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? I don't mind it
Noise? Noises of the tools and equipment are frightening_
Other: The impending doom feeling in the waiting room, feeling like the dentist doesn't care if I am suffering

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

YES. The worst (there have been more than one) was the last one, when my dentist was busy during my appt and I was left for long periods of time with uncomfortable contraption in my mouth, couldn't swallow, tried to get nurse's attention and they ignored me, and then after the extraction was told I didn't need pain killers and I suffered the second worst pain I've ever had in my life after childbirth. I called to beg for a prescription but he reiterated that I didn't need it, while I was in absolute agony.

4) How often do you visit your dentist? Very rarely, only when I have pain that is so excrutiating I can't function.

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? Yes.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? I am in such excrutiating pain I can't function, sleep, do my job, and over the counter medications are not working.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation I don't think so
b) general anaesthetic I don't know
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air) No
d) Hypnosis No
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc) I tried using an MP3 player but had so much anxiety it was doing me no good so I turned it off.
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Yes
 
Name: Zenah Reed
Age: 38
Location: Hertfordshire ENGLAND

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 8

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? _____________________
Noise? drill
Other: Someone else being in contol

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

4) How often do you visit your dentist? now every 6mths as have a good one before that only if had to or pregnant

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? yes until it gets to bad to

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? pain casuing me so much distress that couldn't get on with me life

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation
b) general anaesthetic for wisdom teeth removal
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)
d) Hypnosis
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc) did that this week listened to my music and sort of worked but not great
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? yes
 
Name:
Age:21
Location: new York

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. Lol a cleaning starts at a 6 and goes down to a 3 if i calm down anything else is a 10.

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? Makes me gag. not really sure why. hate it.
Noise?if i can hear drill/screaming I"m gone
Other: Laying on my back, sharp tools, feeling of instruments, poor dentist.

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate...... Oh goodness, yes. my childhood dentist was a wicked man. my baby teeth had over 40 fillings in them.(no joke) i don't get numb for whatever reason so all where painful. he pulled out some of my baby teeth even though they where going to fall out. would never stop working if i asked. i had to bite him if i wanted him to stop.
Once when i was in his office there was a man about 20 ish or so(at the time i must have been 6 or 7). he had been waiting in the waiting room with a toothache. they called him into a room. moments later i heard a thud. and saw something hit the wall. somehow when they extracted his tooth it flew out of his mouth and hit the wall in the hallway. I'm not making this up!
i did't even know you could have a visit to the dentist that wasn't horrible until i was 13.
i could go on an on trust me!

4) How often do you visit your dentist?I would if i needed to have a tooth fixed:cry:
i have not been sence i was 14
5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist?
yes i have but i have been lucky that none of the problems i have had i have been able to fix on my own.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment?maybe if i got really brave and curious and wanted to have my teeth looked at. if i broke something or was in pain.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation no
b) general anaesthetic yes
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)no
d) Hypnosis self Hypnosis is a wonderful thing
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)no
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition?yes

Many thanks for taking the time to complete the survey!
 
Hello, I am a student completing a research project and my chosen topic is dental phobia. I would like to accumulate a broad range of opinions and thoughts about the dentist, so please complete the survey below. Many thanks for your time!

Name: John
Age: 59
Location: Buckinghamshire, UK

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 2

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? ___Haven't noticed one at my dentist
Noise?___Low-speed drill noise grates
Other: ___"Nurses" who never speak to the patient !

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

G/A by gas at school dentist when I was a kid - nasty smelly rubber mask. Judgemental attitude of a dentist who I tried to get help from when I was a young adult

4) How often do you visit your dentist? Every 6 months

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? Yes, from age 11 to age 35

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? Whenever anything goes wrong, I want it fixed !

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation No
b) general anaesthetic Yes
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air) No
d) Hypnosis No
e) Distraction techniques (music, pictures etc) Not unless fit nurses count !
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Yes, definitely
 
Megan, 13, uk. 1) 7. 2) the pain and embarrassment. 3) not really had one as only visited twice in my life. 4) well today was the first time in almost 10 years. 5) yes. 6) when the pain is to much. 7) no to all. 8) yes.
 
Name: Lucas
Age: 28
Location: Europe

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. 8

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? Yes
Noise? Yes, but it is not the worst!
Other: Opening wide, dry mouth, dental instruments scraping teeth, the drill

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

Yes, when my dentist drilled my cavities without numbing me.

4) How often do you visit your dentist? When I have a cavity or a dental pain.

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? Not really.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? Threat of toothache.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation: no
b) general anaesthetic: no
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air): no
d) Hypnosis: no
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc): no
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Yes.
 
Name: Danielle
Age: 21
Location: Ohio, USA

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear.
8


2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
The smell, the noise, the uncomfortable feeling I get when the dentist gets really close to me and I start to feel claustrophobic. I don't really have a probelm with pain, but I just hate the smell of the office and the sound of the tools and the feeling of losing control. I don't like it when I can't swallow or when my mouth gets dry.

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

The dental surgeon broke my jaw when he pulled my wisdom teeth. He was such a nice dental surgeon, but it broke because I have weak bones. Even though he was really nice, that incident has scarred me ever since (five years ago).

4) How often do you visit your dentist?
Only when I need to or when I have something in my mouth that's bothering me.


5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist?
I almost did. Since my fear is more recent than others, I have never gotten to the point where I needed multiple things done on my teeth. One of my teeth were bothering me and I left it alone for a couple weeks, but went in because I didn't want it to get worse and turns out I needed a root canal :/


6) Why would you book a dental appointment?
If my tooth was bothering me, yes.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation Yes (for root canal)
b) general anaesthetic Yes (for wisdom teeth)
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air) No
d) Hypnosis No
e) Distraction techniques (music, pictures etc) No
other.... No (does holding my mom's hand count...?)

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Definitely. It doesn't seem serious until you meet someone like this or until you become a dental phobic yourself.
 
Name: Sarah
Age: 28
Location: New Mexico, USA

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. I'm currently at a 10, but it's gotten worse over several years.

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?

Smell? Specifically the smell that the drill makes.
Noise? Especially the noise of the drill. I also dislike the sound of scraping the tooth during a cleaning.
Other: During certain procedures such as a root canal, I don't like the bitter taste in my mouth. Not sure what causes it.

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......

I have very sensitive teeth and gums, so I've had a lot of work done, starting in childhood. I've had more fillings than I care to count and I've had four root canals done. The bad experiences I remember are problems with numbing and the sound of the dental drill. I've had at least 3 times where I've needed a lot of extra medication, often times during the procedure.

4) How often do you visit your dentist?

I go for my regular check ups and cleanings, so if all is well I go a couple times a year.

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist?

I do have a tendancy to postpone appointments for fear of something going wrong. The thing that makes me keep an appointment is if somethings bothering me, like pain.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment?

I usually only make an appointment if something is bothering me, like pain. Even then I'll try to wait it out a bit before I go in.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation - I've had this once. I had all 4 wisdom teeth out and 4 additional teeth out, due to my mouth being over crowded. It was in preparation for Orthognathic surgery.
b) general anaesthetic
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)
d) Hypnosis
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)
other.... - I use these often. Since my phobia and anxiety has gotten really bad, I use distraction techniques at every appointment. I listen to music with noise cancelling head phones and I hold a stress ball in one of my hands to squeeze when I feel like I'm going to lose control.

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition?

I consider it to be an extremely serious condition. My phobia is really bad, but I know there are people out there that struggle more than I do.
 
Name as above
Age early 30s
UK

1) It is not the dentist she is quite a nice person who I see and I like her assistant, but the whole dental thing 9

2) How long have we got, I dont like the sharp tools, I dont like having a xray as I am afraid of what problems may have be found (but have picked up abcesses) the drill, the needle, small room, someone having to look in my mouth, close contact, feel of embarrassment. I hate my teeth.

3) Yes I remember when I was in school we always had a school dentist which came in to check our teeth, I did not like them. even when we went to secondary school some parents wrote asking them to excluded us from this, as some of us were having braces

4) every three months, not because I have poor hygeine or had dental work done, it just I get a build up of plaque etc, difficult mouth to keep clean, also i look at it catch any problems early, when I was a child it was every 6 months, but since my childhood dentist to now I have had a total of about 10 dentists at the pratice I registered to. I been going to the same dentist pratice 32 and half years. so that is probably nearly 100 appointments.

5 I have been dragged to the dentist by my parents even as an adult, sometimes my parents go with me

6 I book further appontments, even though I hate going to the dentist, to catch problems early if I get them, I dont want to be like my Dad lost the lot when he was in his 40s did not help as his parents never took him to dentist as a child. get whacked with a cricket ball, bat and falling off a wall did not help him, plus smoking did not help him.

7) never, my dentist talks to me, I did try CBT because I suffer from health anxiety a few years ago but that did not work.

8) yes
 
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Name: Private
Age: 35
Location: England

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear. Probably about 7 or 8

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? Definitely
Noise? The sound of the drill particularly
Other: I have major sensory issues, I don't like being touched and I don't like people being close to me or in my personal space. My mouth is a very personal space!

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate...... Surprisingly, no, so I don't know why I'm so scared

4) How often do you visit your dentist? Supposed to be every 6 months because they've said I'm moderate to high risk for decay, but it's more like every 12-18 months when I can face it.

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist? Yes.

6) Why would you book a dental appointment? If I'm in pain or can see an obvious cavity, sometimes when they send the reminder I force myself to just book an appointment straight away without thinking about it too much.

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation - no
b) general anaesthetic - no, but if I ever need my wisdom teeth out I would insist on it
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air) - no
d) Hypnosis - no
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)
other....Oral sedation

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Definitely, because it can lead to lots of dental problems if people are too scared to go to the dentist.
 
Name: Nelly
Age:41
Location: U.S

1) How would you rate your dislike of the dentist on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being minimal and 10 being absolute fear.
11

2) What do you dislike about visiting the dentist?
Smell? __yes___________________
Noise?______yes______________
Other: _yes_________________

3) Have you ever had a bad experience at the dentist which has left a lasting negative impression? If so, please elaborate......Had wisdom teeth removed from the bone, they weren't even trying to come in yet, but somehow surgeon was full steam ahead with it. I did not fade to black and recited the alphabet back to A. I was 15 and they insisted to my mother that I was a severe addict and should be put in a treatment facility. It took about 4 hours and I am familiar with chipmunk cheeks but I had something like a full moon face with much bruising and could not open my mouth, they said lockjaw. I had chicken broth and gatorade for almost a month and looked like a hideous freak or a very battered person.
Went to another dentist when I broke a tooth after biting into my breakfast sandwich. Got the verdict from him of root canal and crown. Visit seemed fine and afterward I was informed that there was a piece of the instrument which broke off and just can't be reached, probably it'll be fine, maybe an issue at metal detectors so be aware.

4) How often do you visit your dentist?Severe avoidance issue and cannot bring myself to even make an appointment

5) Have you ever ignored your dental health due to fear of the dentist?
Absolutely
6) Why would you book a dental appointment? Currently have a serious problem and physically can't make a phone call to book an appointment

7) Have you ever tried any of the following approaches during dental treatment.

a) Intravenous sedation
b) general anaesthetic
c) inhaled sedation (gas and air)
d) Hypnosis
e) Distraction techniqes (music, pictures etc)
other....

8) Do you consider dental phobia a serious condition? Yes it is crippling
 
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