Researchers from London revealed excellent news for those who really fear to visit a dentist. It's what they call 'cognitive behavioral therapy'. The CBT could help everyone who have dentist phobia to overcome their fear and so it will be possible for them to get the dental treatment they needed.
'Cognitive behavioral therapy' is just a short -term therapy that only last for six up to 10 sessions. Being afraid of dentists leads to a psychological problem such as depression and anxiety-related disorders.
"People with dental phobia are most commonly given sedation to allow them to become relaxed enough for a short period of time to have their dental treatment performed," explained by Professor Tim Newton, who led the King's College team.
"However, this does not help them to overcome their fear in the long term. The primary goal of our CBT service is to enable patients to receive dental treatment without the need for sedation. Our study shows that after on average five CBT sessions, most people can go on to be treated by the dentist without the need to be sedated."
A total of four out of five individuals were able to go to the dentists but has not received any sedation after their treatment.
About 130 patients, 99 women and 31 men, were involved in the study. The researchers focused on the patient's characteristics while attending a CBT service led by a psychologist. Those people were all very nervous about going to the dentist that let them catch dental problems.
After the sessions, 79 percent were already able to sit through a dental session without assistance of other.
Dr. Rhona Eskander of the Chelsea Dental Clinic explains the situation easier: "Hypnotherapy is actually available, a lot of dentists do do it," she told Cover Media.
"I find that talking patients through things is really important... I try to find out what the patient's actually scared of. Are you scared of the injection or the noises of the drill, the pain, the fear of the unknown? What is it? And then I try to address it. Some people are really scared of the noise of the drill, so I say bring in your iPod or we'll put on whatever radio station you want and I put it on really loudly to try to distract them. Also talking in a way the patient understands - I think jargon is terrible."
