Although dental visits are routine for most people, it’s a different experience for a few. About one in ten adults have high anxiety or fear of going to the dentist and may avoid it altogether—even when they have an acute situation.

If you’re one of those with dental visit anxiety there’s good news—we may be able to help you relax and have a more positive experience. Here are 3 things you need to know about reducing your anxiety at the dental office.

It starts with the dentist. While every patient deserves a compassionate, understanding dentist, it’s especially so if you suffer from dental visit anxiety. Having someone who will listen to your concerns in a non-judgmental way is the first step toward feeling more comfortable in the dentist’s chair. It also takes a sensitive practitioner to work with you on the best strategy for relaxation.

Relaxation often begins before your visit. There are various degrees of sedation (which isn’t the same as anesthesia—those methods block pain) depending on your level of anxiety. If you experience mild to moderate nervousness, an oral sedative an hour or so before your appointment could take the edge off and help you relax. Oral sedatives are also mild enough for use with other forms of sedation like nitrous oxide gas, and with local anesthesia.

High anxiety may require deeper sedation. If your level of anxiety is greater, however, we may recommend IV sedation to induce a much more relaxed state. The sedation drugs are delivered directly into your blood stream through a small needle inserted into a vein. Although you’re not unconscious as with general anesthesia, we can place you into a “semi-awake” state of reduced anxiety. The drugs used may also have an amnesiac effect so you won’t remember details about the procedure. This can help reinforce positive feelings about your visit and help reduce future anxiety.

If you’re anxious about dental visits, make an appointment with us to discuss your concerns. We’re sure we can work out a strategy to reduce your anxiety so you can receive the dental care you need.

If you would like more information on sedation therapy, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “IV Sedation in Dentistry.”

While the sport of golf may not look too dangerous from the sidelines, players know it can sometimes lead to mishaps. There are accidents involving golf carts and clubs, painful muscle and back injuries, and even the threat of lightning strikes on the greens. Yet it wasn’t any of these things that caused professional golfer Danielle Kang’s broken tooth on the opening day of the LPGA Singapore tournament.

“I was eating and it broke,” explained Kang. “My dentist told me, I've chipped another one before, and he said, you don't break it at that moment. It's been broken and it just chips off.” Fortunately, the winner of the 2017 Women’s PGA championship got immediate dental treatment, and went right back on the course to play a solid round, shooting 68.

Kang’s unlucky “chip shot” is far from a rare occurrence. In fact, chipped, fractured and broken teeth are among the most common dental injuries. The cause can be crunching too hard on a piece of ice or hard candy, a sudden accident or a blow to the face, or a tooth that’s weakened by decay or repetitive stress from a habit like nail biting. Feeling a broken tooth in your mouth can cause surprise and worry—but luckily, dentists have many ways of restoring the tooth’s appearance and function.

Exactly how a broken tooth is treated depends on how much of its structure is missing, and whether the soft tissue deep inside of it has been compromised. When a fracture exposes the tooth’s soft pulp it can easily become infected, which may lead to serious problems. In this situation, a root canal or extraction will likely be needed. This involves carefully removing the infected pulp tissue and disinfecting and sealing the “canals” (hollow spaces inside the tooth) to prevent further infection. The tooth can then be restored, often with a crown (cap) to replace the entire visible part. A timely root canal procedure can often save a tooth that would otherwise need to be extracted (removed).

For less serious chips, dental veneers may be an option. Made of durable and lifelike porcelain, veneers are translucent shells that go over the front surfaces of teeth. They can cover minor to moderate chips and cracks, and even correct size and spacing irregularities and discoloration. Veneers can be custom-made in a dental laboratory from a model of your teeth, and are cemented to teeth for a long-lasting and natural-looking restoration.

Minor chips can often be remedied via dental bonding. Here, layers of tooth-colored resin are applied to the surfaces being restored. The resin is shaped to fill in the missing structure and hardened by a special light. While not as long-lasting as other restoration methods, bonding is a relatively simple and inexpensive technique that can often be completed in just one office visit.

If you have questions about restoring chipped teeth, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Porcelain Veneers” and “Artistic Repair of Chipped Teeth With Composite Resin.”