DDS Lister

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, 25 million Americans do not visit the dentist because they are afraid.

But whether it’s the pain, a feeling of losing control or just plain fear of sitting in the dental chair, there are things you can do to relax.

Sarah Darling, dental hygienist at Diamond Dental Care in Arlington, offers these tips:

• Schedule your appointment at a time during the day that you’re most relaxed.

• Wear comfortable clothes.

• Stay away from caffeine before your appointment.

• Look at the person working on your teeth as a friend instead of someone in an authority position.

• If you’re really anxious, tell your dentist. He or she can give you a small amount of either nitrous oxide or an anti-anxiety medication such as Valium. Just remember someone will then need to drive you home.

• Think of it as going to the hairdresser, only it’s your teeth instead of your hair.

• Try some deep breathing and mini-meditations. Breathe in and take long deep breaths. When someone is working on your teeth, just think about something you enjoy.

• Bring an MP3 player loaded with the kind of music you enjoy and listen to it during the procedure.

• Communicate your fears and phobias to your dentist. Virtually every fear can be addressed by communicating properly.

Source:

• Dallas News

Dentists. The mere word can send shivers up your spine, so think what it does to little kids. Luckily there seems to be a cure, and it involves a Game Boy.

If there’s anything that strikes terror into the heart of more people than anything in Silent Hill, it’s the thought of that high-pitched whining drill coming into contact with your teeth.

Most dentists (apart from mine) understand this and have long looked at ways to overcome children’s natural reaction to getting a tearing instrument of torture next to their nerve endings.

Help may be on hand with the PediSedate, developed by Dr. Geoffrey Hart, which connects to any Game Boy or CD player. The Game Boy connects to headphones fitted into the headpiece, which fits smoothly onto the head. Then the child simply pulls the snorkel down and a variety of instruments monitor their breathing and slowly introduces nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to take them off to dreamy land.

Using a similar distraction technique used in the Snow World game (for injured soldiers), the child is taken away from the clinical cell and allowed to focus on other things while the anesthetization takes place. This is all done while the machine monitors the child’s breathing, something that would normally require a trained assistant, thus saving time and resources that could be used elsewhere.

Of course this does mean that by the time you get to the boss battle, you’ll never…quite…get…

Source:

• The Escapist