Strategies to Manage Dental Anxiety

Dental anxiety is a psychological and physiological response to an extreme fear of dental treatments, the use of clinical instruments, and even the general dental clinic atmosphere. It affects the oral health of patients as they miss or delay dental appointments, which can exacerbate diseases (Yildirim 2016; Mihaela, Lyndsay 2016). Hmud & Walsh, 2007 demonstrates the same fact through statistical evidence, reporting a prevalence of between 5 and 20%, with a recent estimate of 6-15% globally, of patients who avoid dental care because of high levels of dental anxiety and dental phobia. It evokes physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses in an individual (Deva Priya, 2016). Moreover, patients with elevated anxiety have negative feelings and thoughts, sleep disturbance, increased use of medication, a greater tendency towards socialization, impaired social and occupational functioning relative to patients without dental anxiety (Gordona, Heimberga, Tellezb, & Ismail, 2013).