Dentistry

Are you Afraid of the Dentist?

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By: Munir Gomaa, D.M.D.

What’s not to fear?

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Author: Munir Gomaa

Four years of dental school, a license to practice dentistry in hand…and the thought of going to the dentist still gives me the chills..
I get it. Dentists are mysterious creatures who reveal only 50% of their face at a time, poke you with sharp instruments and drill through your teeth like it’s butter. When taken out of context, they actually make for a perfect villain.

It thus comes as no surprise that 5-8% of Americans are so consumed by fear of the dentist that they avoid going altogether, only to experience an abundance of oral health problems that work to fuel this fear. Around 1 in 5 Americans possess a degree of dental anxiety that prevents them from seeking out dental care unless it becomes absolutely necessary, generally due to intolerable pain or lack of proper functioning. And by the time they do seek care, it’s often too late to save the teeth in question.

Dental fear and anxiety has been, and continues to be, a widespread problem among all populations. It has inevitably contributed to a “vicious cycle dynamic”, in which fear of dental treatment, lessened use of dental services, and consequent oral diseases continuously reinforce one another.

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A collection of variables are commonly responsible for establishing a lasting fear of the dentist. Some of these variables are discussed in this article. According to several studies, the onset of dental fear and anxiety usually occurs in childhood. Oftentimes the reason is directly related to traumatic dental experiences in the past. Sometimes this fear is deeply rooted in entirely non-dental experiences, such as childhood sexual abuse (rather disturbing findings implicating this relationship can be found here), post-traumatic stress disorder, general anxiety disorders, or even substance abuse. However, just as often, personal trauma has little or nothing to do with it.

A rather frustrating fact of life demonstrated by several studies is that parents can easily transmit their fears and anxiety to their children. Children actually learn from their parents to become fearful of spiders, social situations, or the dreaded dentist, and the mechanism of this transmission is subtle yet powerful. One study demonstrated that parents’ degree of vulnerability to certain general, non-dental related perceptions, namely uncontrollability, unpredictability, and dangerousness, reliably predicted their child’s level of dental fear. Another study found evidence that there is a genetic component to dental fear in addition to environmental influences. This study demonstrates that fear of pain is a genetically heritable trait, and that this fear is significantly associated with dental fear.

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With the presented knowledge in hand, I’m prescribing a less intuitive approach to battling dental phobia. Since vulnerable perceptions of adults can be so easily and unintentionally inherited, both socially and biologically, by their children, it’s important for dentists to focus on alleviating fear and anxiety present in their adult patients. When treating the fearful adult patient, most dentists assume that fear is so fortified that it’s useless to try and address it. Instead, they focus on temporary solutions, such as distraction techniques or compromising the treatment plan, to allow for resolution of immediate dental needs. The fear lingers and is nurtured until the next visit.

It’s also important for dentists to inform their adult patients of this very apparent risk, as they can play a large role in preventing transmission by concealing their fears or reservations from their children, or even their younger siblings or relatives, as they work on eliminating or minimizing these qualities in themselves. It’s crucial to take cautious advantage of the openness and moldability of a child’s brain by encouraging a positive attitude towards the dentist and oral hygiene, preventing a plethora of dental problems down the road.

By Munir Gomaa

Insightful read for dental practitioners–keep your patients happy

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Posted by Munir Gomaa

I ran across this article and thought it’d be useful for new dental practitioners out there. Included are creative methods, some more obvious than others, that might help give dentists an edge in building healthy, lasting relationships with their patients.

My personal favorite is perhaps the most obvious one–likely why it’s the first to be listed–and that is remembering who they are! Not just their names, but their stories–to the extent which they’ve felt comfortable sharing with you during past appointments, of course. Remembering their interests, fears, and families among other qualities will help build positive, comfortable and trusting relationships, ultimately helping you deliver the best quality care you can while maintaining a warm, friendly environment.  Seems rather intuitive, but it can surely become a difficult task when you’re seeing over a thousand patients! Documenting highlights of your conversations with patients along with your post-op note is always a good idea.

Click here for another recent post on “Stress in the Dental Profession and…Horses” by Munir Gomaa

The Oral Epidemic in Children with Special Needs-By Munir Gomaa

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By: Munir Gomaa

A few weeks ago, several of my dental school classmates and I were privileged with the opportunity to volunteer at a local resource center that provides community-based, educational services to students with severe developmental disabilities. The majority of these students, ranging from 3 to 21 years of age, have profound mental retardation that significantly impairs their ability to perform simple daily tasks, such as eating and drinking, communicating, and, of course, brushing and flossing. My colleagues and I spent the morning performing oral-health screenings on these children, making referrals to our school’s clinic for emergent care when necessary. Our time with each patient was brief. Screenings were performed in a small classroom–many were in wheelchairs as we performed one-minute examinations whenever possible, often only catching a glimpse or two of the oral cavity.

To nobody’s surprise, the oral-health of most of these students was amongst the poorest we’ve seen in children since we began treating patients a year ago. A plethora of dental problems were noted, ranging from neglected oral hygiene and severe tooth wear to rampant tooth decay and non-restorable teeth. Many of these children will require dentures as young adults, suffering from the reduced chewing efficiency by at least 50% that is typically associated with these prostheses. That’s not to mention the enormous difficulty even mentally healthy patients undergo for the first few months of wearing dentures, which include relearning to eat and speak, just as one with a prosthetic leg must relearn to walk. Envisioning the countless oral-health problems these children must overcome in addition to the physical and mental impairments they already experience daily is heartbreaking.

And yet, dental diseases such as caries and periodontal disease are among the most preventable chronic diseases one can be inflicted with through proper oral hygiene, a healthy diet, and regular visits to the dentist. If we had the similarly cheap and effective knowledge and resources for treating diabetes or cancer, there’s almost no doubt that the incidence of these diseases would decline substantially. This isn’t to imply that dental diseases are comparable in magnitude to these life-threatening diseases, however most people are simply unaware of the systemic impact, both physiological and psychological, that one’s dental health has been shown to have. Most people don’t know that periodontal disease has been shown to have significant associations with cardiovascular disease (including stroke and coronary heart disease), diabetes mellitus, bacterial pneumonia, low birth-weight babies and pre-term births. They haven’t a clue that the cavities in their mouths have been significantly linked with hepatitis, hypertension, asthma, stroke, liver disease and diabetes. If they did, dental caries surely would not remain the most prevalent chronic disease in both adults and children. Periodontal disease wouldn’t be affecting nearly 50% of all adults and 70% of adults 65 and up. 1 in 4 adults over the age of 60 wouldn’t have lost all of their natural teeth.

Despite these alarming statistics, recent times has shown a large decline in dental disease, due to factors such as water fluoridation and oral health promotion. However, research has reliably shown that those who suffer from severe mental illness have not shared in these improvements. This population has suffered and will always continue to suffer from a greatly increased risk of oral disease due to a number of factors, such as xerostomia (dry-mouth) commonly associated with psychotropic medications, tobacco and drug usage (over a third of those with any behavioral disorder in the US smoke cigarettes), significant fear and anxiety associated with the dentist, lack of oral-hygiene knowledge and habits, poor living conditions that negatively impact their diet, etc. The list really does go on and on, and every additional factor places this particular population at a much larger risk than the general population. Mentally-challenged or not, the more oral-health problems one has, the more fear and anxiety of the dentist typically overpowers them, and the less willing they are to make a trip to the dentist, let alone allow a dentist to treat them. And yet, this topic remains largely unspoken as the vicious cycle continues.

What initiatives are being taking to target the oral epidemic that exists in special needs patients? Why isn’t it working? And most importantly, what can be done to make a real difference for this at-risk population? Research over the past few decades begins to shed light on these questions, and the answers can be rather frustrating. I’ll share all this along with my ideas shortly.