Canadian Dentists Working to Reduce Patient Anxiety
Dentists in Canada are working to reduce patient anxiety and encourage more people to attend regular dental appointments.
Many people put off going to the dentist because they are afraid of having treatment or they have phobias of needles or the dreaded dental drills, but this increases the risk of oral diseases and the longer you leave going to the dentist, the higher the chance that the news may not be good when you do finally make it to the dental chair.
Dr Joe Bulger, owner of Royal Dental in Toronto, said that he completely understands why people are afraid of going to the dentist and this is why he set up a website called Hate Dentists, to allow people to share their stories and fears of going to the dentist. Dr Bulger said that the dental chair can “combine the sum of all fears” and bases his approach on his own experiences. He has own dental phobic memories of going to a hard-nosed ex-military dentist as a child and admits that by the time he reached his teenage years, he was terrified of going to the dentist.
Bulger said that thankfully dentistry has changed completely since he was a child and suggests that modern dentists are much more aware of dental anxiety and take great strides to make their patients feel comfortable.
Dr Barry Dolman, a dentist from Montreal and president of the Ordre des dentists de Quebec, agreed with Dr Bulger and said that most dentists are very compassionate and recognise that a cheerful and understanding chair-side manner can be highly beneficial for nervous patients.
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