Treatment for nervous patients in Nuneaton

Fear of the dentist is normal — and manageable

Dental anxiety almost always has a history: a childhood appointment that hurt, a dentist who carried on when you asked to stop, or simply years of avoiding the chair until a small problem became a painful one. Root canal treatment sits at the top of most people's list of things to dread, largely because of its reputation. The reality, with good anaesthetic and careful technique, is closer to a long filling than to anything in the stories.

None of that means your fear is irrational. It means it can be worked with, and the way it is worked with is by removing uncertainty and giving you control.

How your visits are arranged

• Say so when you book. It changes how your appointment is planned, and nobody will think any less of you — a large share of patients say the same.
• Talk first, treat later. The consultation is for examining the tooth and for hearing what worries you. You leave with a written plan and decide in your own time whether to go ahead.
• The anaesthetic is proven before anything starts. The tooth is tested after it has been numbed. Treatment begins only when you confirm you feel nothing, and more anaesthetic is given at once if that changes.
• A signal stops everything. You agree a hand signal at the beginning. Raise it and the instruments come out until you say you are ready.
• You hear each step before it happens. The rubber dam, the sound of the instruments, the feel of the irrigation — each is described in a sentence beforehand so that nothing surprises you.
• Appointments are never rushed. Time is booked to finish the work at your pace. Most root canal treatments are still completed in one visit.
• The same clinician every time. You see Angel Ognemirov at every appointment, so you never have to explain your worries twice.

Sedation

For some patients, a patient clinician and a calm room are enough. For others, the anxiety is severe enough that sedation is what makes treatment possible at all. Angel has completed training in oral and intravenous dental sedation at Guy's Hospital in London and is a member of the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry (SAAD).

Whether sedation is appropriate for you depends on your medical history, the treatment planned and what you want, so it is discussed individually at your consultation rather than promised in advance. Where it is arranged, you will receive clear written instructions beforehand, including the need for a responsible adult to take you home.

If you are in pain now

Pain and fear reinforce each other: the toothache makes the anxiety worse, and the anxiety puts off the one thing that would end the toothache. If a tooth is keeping you awake, say that your symptoms are urgent when you book and mention that you are nervous. The first appointment is about getting you comfortable; everything else is planned afterwards, at your pace. See urgent endodontic care.

Afterwards

The most frequent comment from nervous patients at the end of treatment is that it was nothing like they had feared, and the second most frequent is that they wish they had come sooner. A consultation commits you to nothing — it simply tells you what is wrong, what the options are and how each would be made comfortable for you.