If you are avoiding the dentist because you have fears and anxiety about dental visits, you may want to look for a clinic that specializes in gentle dentistry. While this can mean many different things to people, all gentle dentistry clinics have the goal of making their patients feel comfortable during their visits. If you feel comfortable and relaxed while you are at the dentist's office, you might be able to overcome your fear of dentistry. Here are some of the ways gentle dentistry clinics help patients overcome fears and feel more comfortable while they are there.
Offering A Friendly, Safe Environment
You might be able to sense a lot of different things the second you walk into any type of office, and this can be a good thing or a bad thing. One of the top goals a gentle dentistry clinic will work on is making sure the environment in the clinic is friendly and safe. If you feel these things when you enter in, you are more likely to feel comfortable during your time spent with the dentist.
To make this happen, a clinic might hire people that are compassionate and caring. They may use warm colors to decorate the office, and they might have relaxing music playing quietly in the background.
Providing Amenities That Help You Feel More Comfortable
Some dental clinics also offer a variety of amenities to help their patients feel more comfortable while they are getting dental work completed. This may include offering you a pillow or blanket if you are cold. They may even have heated blankets to offer. You might also find that they offer TVs with movies to watch during dental procedures, or you might be offered headphones with music.
They may also offer to prop your mouth open with a dental mouth prop. This can relieve the tension and pressure you feel when trying to keep your mouth open for a long period of time while the dentist completes the work. In addition, they might give you a pair of goggles or glasses to wear to protect your eyes during the procedure.
Presenting Sedation Options
Sedation is another amenity you will find at most gentle dentistry clinics. Sedation is used to help a person relax, and there are many different forms. If you are very apprehensive about an upcoming appointment, your dentist might give you a pill to take before your appointment. This pill is a type of sedative that will simply help you relax. While it may help you overcome some of your fears, it might not be quite enough to help you get through the entire appointment though.
In addition to offering sedative pills, gentle dentistry clinics also generally offer nitrous oxide, otherwise known as laughing gas. This gas does not always make people laugh, but there are times it does. It is great for use during dentistry work because it has the ability to truly relax a person's nerves. If your dentist offers this to you, it might be worthwhile to try. It can make a huge difference with how you feel during a procedure.
If these options are not enough, there are even clinics that offer a stronger option in sedation, which is often available through an IV. This is not extremely common with most clinics, but it is available with some.
With any type of sedation, and by going to the right clinic, you might be able to get through a visit without feeling overly anxious, scared, or nervous. If you are interested in visiting a dental clinic like this, call an office in your area for more info and schedule a visit.
