MORE ON DENTAL ANXIETY AND DENTAL PHOBIA While dental anxiety has decreased over time, dental phobia is so common that it is a public health problem. A recent doctoral thesis focused particularly on individuals with severe dental anxiety. Of these, 85% said their daily life was affected by mouth or tooth problems, and 78% reported dental pain and graded their pain at a high intensity. "The most highly anxious people often have negative experience of dental care, with a lot of pain involved. But the feeling of vulnerability can also be due to previous experience of trauma as assault involving the face and mouth, or sexual abuse," says thesis author Lisa Svensson. "There's a high degree of comorbidity in this group," she states. "People with severe dental anxiety are often prone to anxiety, depression, other specific phobias or some other mental disorder." Dentists and other dental staff meet and treat patients with severe dental anxiety every day. Even people with severe phobia of dental care attend dental care regularly, despite their fear. "Among the highly dentally anxious study participants, pain and not being in control were the most common causes of dental anxiety. For a dentist, these factors are relatively easy to control, and if we do, we're engaging in both preventive dentistry and treatment of severe dental anxiety," Svensson says. Presented as a service to the community by Dr. Barbara Webster 1121 Warren Ave., Suite 130, Downers Grove, IL 60515 630-663-0554 MORE ON DENTAL ANXIETY AND DENTAL PHOBIA While dental anxiety has decreased over time, dental phobia is so common that it is a public health problem. A recent doctoral thesis focused particularly on individuals with severe dental anxiety. Of these, 85% said their daily life was affected by mouth or tooth problems, and 78% reported dental pain and graded their pain at a high intensity. "The most highly anxious people often have negative experience of dental care, with a lot of pain involved. But the feeling of vulnerability can also be due to previous experience of trauma as assault involving the face and mouth, or sexual abuse," says thesis author Lisa Svensson. "There's a high degree of comorbidity in this group," she states. "People with severe dental anxiety are often prone to anxiety, depression, other specific phobias or some other mental disorder." Dentists and other dental staff meet and treat patients with severe dental anxiety every day. Even people with severe phobia of dental care attend dental care regularly, despite their fear. "Among the highly dentally anxious study participants, pain and not being in control were the most common causes of dental anxiety. For a dentist, these factors are relatively easy to control, and if we do, we're engaging in both preventive dentistry and treatment of severe dental anxiety," Svensson says. Presented as a service to the community by Dr. Barbara Webster 1121 Warren Ave., Suite 130, Downers Grove, IL 60515 630-663-0554