Here are some of the options available in our practice for treating anxious patients, depending on different levels of anxiety and apprehension:

• Stereo headphones (a distraction that can help relax you)
• Nitrous Oxide gas (for mild anxiety)
• Anti-anxiety pre-medication (for mild to moderate anxiety)
• Conscious sedation (for any level of anxiety)
• Extra-strength anaesthetic

Past experiences influence a patient’s perception of what to expect when going to the dentist. Anticipation can greatly magnify a response. There are times when mere gentle touching of a person can be interpreted as pain, because of prior conditioning, past experience, level of anxiety, and other psychological factors. There are also varying levels of pain tolerance from one patient to another. Some patients can feel pain and yet it doesn’t bother them, where others can feel the same pain and not be able to tolerate it.

Treatment options:

For low levels of anxiety, nitrous oxide gas works well. It brings the level of anxiety down just enough for the local anaesthetic to work and the treatment to be more comfortable. For higher levels of anxiety, which occurs when there is a history of traumatic dental treatment, orally administered conscious sedation may be indicated. In our office, we use oral triazolam (Halcion), which is an excellent medication for lowering the level of anxiety, for causing sleepiness.

Often, patients with memories of traumatic dental care, after a few appointments in our office with sedation, are able to move away from sedation. With a few successful dental appointments under their belt, the doctor can lower the level of sedation so that they remember the appointments with greater and greater clarity, until they no longer need sedation. We have had may patients who could barely walk in the front door at their initial visits and now they actually look forward to their dental appointments!