Do you have a fear of going to the dentist that prevents you from getting the dental cleanings and care you need? Are you looking to work with a specialist who can help you overcome fear, anxiety, and panic? Do you wonder if dentophobia counseling can help you get to the dentist? When you think about going to the dentist, do you feel extreme anxiety? Are you suffering from flight, fight, or freeze PTSD symptoms from a traumatic past experience at the dentist? Do you want a dentophobia counseling specialist to help you feel calmer and more relaxed going to the dentist? You are in the right place to talk about and overcome your fears of going to the dentist. Wisdom Within Counseling offers a dentophobia counseling speciality and complex PTSD coping tools.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
Why are some people afraid of going to the dentist?
There are many people that have a fear of dentists. First, you are not along if you are afraid to goto the dentist. Fears of going to the dentist could be from many issues, but most often past trauma. Sometimes, a child has a very negative and traumatic experience going to the dentist. A dentist could have caused a child to feel very afraid. Perhaps, a dentist caused serious pain for you in you childhood. Maybe, you weren’t given the adequate amount of novacane. Dental anxiety and phobias can come from receiving too little pain medicine. You may want dental anxiety and phobia counseling to feel comfortable going to the dentist again. It is normal to have a severe mistrust in dentists as a result of receiving too little pain medicine during a procedure. Overall, dental anxiety and phobias often come from a traumatic, painful past experience.
A painful experience, when in a vulnerable position in a dental chair, can be life altering. Dental anxiety and phobias can last for years. Someone who has severe dental anxiety and dental phobias can’t, “Snap out of it.” It is essential for loved ones to understand the severity of dental anxiety and phobias. To note, a traumatizing experience at a dental office can cause a child to fear the dentist into adult years. You may even have night terrors and nightmares due to dentophobia. When you think about your past dental experience, you feel extreme anxiety.
As well, it is common to want to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist when you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night with horrific memories of your traumatizing dental experience. You want someone, a therapist, who truly understands PTSD, dental anxiety, and phobias. At Wisdom Within Counseling, we specialize in dental anxiety, PTSD and dental phobia therapy. A traumatic dental experience may last with your for decades, preventing you from getting the dental cleanings and care you need.
Commonly, fears of going to the dentist are a result of having a mean dentist, or traumatizing experience at a dental office.
You may have a fear of the dentist if you heard someone else at the dental office screaming in pain. It can be scary, traumatizing and shocking to hear someone else in pain. Even if you were not directly in pain yourself, you may develop a dental anxiety and dental phobia. You may also fear going to the dentist if you felt the dentist was not listening to you when you said you were in pain.
Having a dentist who is careless or hurts you can cause dental anxiety and dental phobias. As well, the dentist may not have been listening to someone else who was clearly in pain. Overall, it is normal to avoid going to the dentist at all costs when you have a history of dental trauma. Trauma can lead to dental anxiety, avoidance of dental cleanings, panic attacks, anger, and extreme fear. When you have a dental phobia, counseling with a specialist can help you overcome your fear.
What are other reasons people develop dental anxiety and phobias?
If you were restrained, held down, or forced to endure pain, this can lead to severe PTSD symptoms. An old fashioned dentist may have used physical restraints to keep you from squirming, but this can be traumatizing. PTSD is a common diagnosis that people with dentophobia suffer from.
Dental anxiety and phobias can be a result of feeling helpless during a dental procedure. After witnessing or experiencing a painful life experience at the dentist, you may have PTSD symptoms. Working with a dentophobia therapy specialist at Wisdom Within Counseling can be helpful for PTSD. Your therapist can help you voice your feelings about your dental anxiety. Counseling for dental anxiety and phobias is a safe, confidential space.
Why work with a dental anxiety therapist and dental phobia specialist?
Unlike talking to family or friends, who may judge you, your therapist listens with an open mind. Talking about your dental anxiety and dental phobias with friends and family may not be helpful. Your family and friends may not have extensive training in PTSD and trauma therapy. After a life altering traumatic event, a person can’t simply shake off dental anxiety. Treating dental phobias means working with a professional at Wisdom Within Counseling. As well meaning as friends and family members are, they don’t understand trauma. Friends and family may use tough love and tell you to “Get over it.” In reality, working with a professional who understands trauma, dental anxiety and phobias is much more helpful.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, to positive coping tools like art, yoga, music, and walking therapies outdoors are available. In counseling, your therapist can help you talk about the roots of your dental phobias. You can slowly and gently start to gain positive coping tools to manage anxiety. Perhaps, there is more than one negative dental experience in your past. Being able to talk about your dental anxiety can help you begin the process of overcoming your dental phobias.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
Learn to cope with PTSD symptoms from working with a dentophobia counseling specialist at Wisdom Within
Some of the major symptoms of PTSD are anxiety attacks and panic attacks. You may have to walk out of the room if a friend is speaking about going to the dentist. You get sweaty palms from your dental anxiety and dental phobia symptoms. When a co-worker mentions their upcoming dentist appointment, you may feel an anxiety attack coming on. Even overhearing friends talk about the dentist can trigger PTSD symptoms.
You may experience other body symptoms due to dentophobia. For instance, you may experience stomach pain, head aches, or even feel nauseous. When triggered by dental anxiety and phobias symptoms, you may experience a flashback to the painful event. Instead of feeling safe where you are, you brain brings you back to the horrific memory. When others mention going to the dentist, you may feel your heart begin to race.
What are common dentophobia and PTSD symptoms?
Additionally, you may feel angry or irritable when anyone tries to talk about going to the dentist. Anger and irritability are common symptoms of dental anxiety and dental phobias. Each person reacts to fear and anxiety differently. And, anger and mood swings are common when someone tries to talk to you about going to see a dentist. They may be well meaning after hearing you complain of tooth pain. If a family member tries to encourage you to goto the dentist, you may get moody or become angry with them. You might become short tempered due to dental anxiety and phobias.
As a result of a traumatic experience with a dentist in the past, you may suffer from anxiety attacks and panic attacks when even thinking about going to the dentist. Anxiety and panic attacks can occur before you think you have to go to the dentist. Or, anxiety and panic attacks can occur when you know a friend or family member is going to the dentist. You might be afraid something bad will happen to them.
Panic and anxiety attacks
To note, you may begin crying uncontrollably as a result of anyone mentioning the dentist. It feels like you are no longer your calm, collected self when experiencing dental anxiety and dental phobia symptoms. Due to your PTSD symptoms, the word, “dentist,” is very triggering. Furthermore, you may space out or disassociate when any topic related to the dentist is brought up. Even if there is a scene in a tv show you are watching showing a dentist, you may experience PTSD symptoms.
Overall, dental anxiety and phobias can cause problems in a very of ways. This is where dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling can be positive. At Wisdom Within Counseling, dental anxiety therapy gives you positive coping outlets. You can take back your power, feel courageous, and talk about what you need to feel safe at the dentist. In phobia counseling, you can feel like your therapist is going at your own pace too. At the same time, your dental anxiety therapist can encourage you to take baby steps in the right direction.
Do you want to find a therapist who understands your fear of the dentist and has an dentophobia counseling speciality?
At Wisdom Within Counseling, the team of therapists specialize in anxiety and panic attacks. You can work with a therapist who understand PTSD and your trauma history. As well, your therapist can support you in reaching your goals of having good oral hygiene. If your goal is to overcome your fear and goto the dentist, then your therapist can help you reach that goal. Your therapist can help you process your traumatic experiences from the past. Your therapist can help normalize fears. Each of us is afraid of something.
Children are often afraid of the dark. Sometimes, a person is afraid if rejection, or afraid of being alone. Another person may be afraid of being kidnapped, or robbed. Talking about anxiety and fears in general are parts of dental phobia counseling. In dental anxiety therapy, you can identify fears that you have successfully overcome.
Talking about past fears can help you identify your courageous and resilient qualities.
More so, dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling can help you feel confident in repeating positive affirmations to yourself. Your dental anxiety therapist and phobia counselor can help you understand how you exactly overcome fears in the past.
Instead of reinventing the wheel, you and your dental anxiety therapist can use your strengths and talents. By harnessing your strengths, you can work to overcome the fear of going to the dentist. in dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling, you can talk about how you were afraid to goto school on the first day of kindergarten. They are probably a lot of fears that you have successfully overcome. However, you successfully went to kindergarten and you had a great time. Talking about past fears that you have overcome can be a positive part of dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling.
This way, you can remember that you are resilient, and don’t have to be paralyzed in fear of the dentist. The team of therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling offer a dentophobia counseling speciality for those who are afraid of going to the dentist.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
You can understand PTSD symptoms and develop positive coping strategies in dentophobia counseling
At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can understand and process your PTSD symptoms. Flight, fight, and freeze are common PTSD responses. For instance, someone who experiences a traumatic dog bite becomes afraid of all dogs. They may be afraid to go outdoors, and avoid taking walks they once enjoyed. As well, someone who has a miscarriage may be very afraid of getting pregnant again and having another miscarriage.
Someone who had a fear of something, will often avoid doing it. We all have fears. You should never be embarrassed or insecure regarding your fears of going to the dentist. Fears are a normal part of being human.
What do we feel afraid and how can dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling help with my fears?
To note, fears develop to keep us safe. So, your dental anxiety therapist and phobia counselor can help you thank yourself. You can develop a sense of gratitude, that your body has mechanisms to keep yourself out of danger. Step one in dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling is to appreciate your protective mechanisms. Then, you can look at overcoming your fears by assessing if those protective mechanisms are still helpful. Sometimes, a protective mechanism is helpful for a short time, but then no longer serves us.
Why begin in dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling?
You may benefit from having your teeth cleaned or a painful cavity filled. Due to your fear of going to the dentist, you may be suffering from oral pain. You might really need to get a cavity filled. On top of that, you may be afraid to learn what your dentist recommends in terms of surgery. You might fear getting news that you need a root canal or fear being told you need more appointments. If you haven’t been going to the dentist, you may need a handful of appointments to remedy the variety of issues in your mouth. To note, you might fear that you’ll need your wisdom teeth removed after going to the dentist.
Dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling is a speciality at Wisdom Within.
Even if that may be true, you may have anxieties upon anxieties.
You can process these fears in dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling. As well, you may feel anxious when anyone mentions the dentist. Your fear of going to the dentist may be prevent you from getting your children the dental care they need as well. You might not be able to physically drive your children to the dentist to get their teeth cleaned. Additionally, you may fear taking your children to the orthodontist. Overall, dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling can help you find balance between the pain you may be in and the benefits of going to the dentist. Your fears may be holding you back from getting painful areas of your mouth looked at, which will only get worse in time.
Thinking about going into the lobby of a dentist’s office to bring your children in for their appointments triggers your PTSD.
As a parent, dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling, can give you self-soothing skills. Counseling for dental phobia can help you return to parenting strong and resilient. You can be a positive role model for your children by going to the dentist regularly. Children grow up watching their parents handle emotions. When you can handle your difficult emotions and situations with ease, you naturally teach your children these positive skills. By learning self-regulation tools from dental anxiety therapy and phobia counseling, you are helping your children self-regulate. To note, your therapist can help you cope with your PTSD symptoms. Using positive coping tools and strategies, you can work to overcome your fear of going to the dentist.
Communication is key when overcoming a fear of the dentist
As hard as it may be to communicate your fears, it is important to do so. To note, many adults who feel deathly afraid of going to the dentist feel embarrassed. You don’t have to feel embarrassed about your fears of going to the dentist. As well, you might be self-conscious or feel insecure about your fears of the dentist. Therapy for fear of going to the dentist can help you accept yourself and identify what you are feeling. As difficult as it may be to accept these feelings, communicate your trauma history to a new dentist. Wisdom Within Counseling offers a dentophobia counseling speciality for those who have PTSD from past dentist experiences.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can talk with your therapist about embarrassment or insecurity.
You may even feel jealous of everyone else, who seems to have no problem going to the dentist. Another part of you may feel angry with the dentist who wronged and hurt you so severely. Feeling envy, anxiety, fear, and anger can be parts of dentophobia counseling. Plus, processing and sharing these emotions with your therapist can help you communicate these with your dentist. You may feel torn emotionally and suffer from inner conflict due to dental anxiety. Overall, PTSD therapy and phobia counseling can help you feel calmer and more resilient.
A part of you might know you really need to get your teeth cleaned. You may even be experiencing oral pain, but feel embarrassed and afraid to reach out to a dentist. Working with a therapist who has a dentophobia counseling speciality can help you overcome fears of asking for help from a dentist.
Dentist who understand trauma and fears can offer accommodations
To note, taking the time to explain your trauma history and fears to the dental staff will help them accommodate you. The dental staff can go the extra mile to help you feel comfortable and safe after dental PTSD. They will probably make a clinical note in your file that you have a history of trauma so the entire dental team is aware to support you. As a result of understanding your triggers and fears, the dental staff may adapt their treatment to support your anxiety needs. The dental staff may take extra steps they might not usually take to put you at ease while you’re in the dental chair. Some dental offices may even permit you to bring a small emotional support dog (that is very well behaved) to support you during dental work.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
Meeting with a dentophobia therapy specialist at Wisdom Within Counseling can help with identifying negative thoughts
It is common to develop limiting, negative beliefs as a result of dentophobia. Working with a therapist who has a dentophobia counseling speciality can be especially helpful for those who are afraid of going to the dentist. You may have negative beliefs like, “All dentists are evil.” Or, “Every dentist will hurt me.” Rather than being afraid of all dentists or thinking all dentists are evil, your dentophobia therapist can help you understand your negative thinking patterns. By identifying negative thinking patterns, you can use thought-stopping techniques to overcome your fears. You can learn to identify a negative, limiting belief, and replace it with a positive, calming thought.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, we offer a dentophobia counseling speciality to help children, teens, and adults feel comfortable going to the dentist again.
What is another way dentophobia counseling specialists can help regarding fears of going to the dentist?
There are many ways working with a therapist at Wisdom Within Counseling who has a dentophobia counseling speciality can help. On that note, you and your therapist can talk about how you may want to interview or call dentists. You can talk about how they would treat a patient who has PTSD due to painful, traumatic dental experiences in the past. Perhaps, you being by calling and interviewing dentists to better understand how they would handle you.
Talk with them about other patients they have helped who had a fear of dentists. By calling dentists and talking with office staff, you can get a feel for how they would nurture you. Each dental office may be different, so see who can best support you. Doing an exercise like this can help you build curiosity. Curiosity helps reduce fears and anxieties. Lastly, you then have a few names and numbers of dentists, and know how they would help you, if you were to go to them for dental care. At Wisdom Within Counseling, our therapists offer a dentophobia counseling speciality, which supports positive coping tools for PTSD.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
Holistic coping strategies for dentophobia
Your therapist can use options beyond words to help you process and express your intense fears. Sometimes, you want to talk about your fear of going to the dentist. But, other times, you need alternative, holistic options beyond just words to overcome dentophobia. Using modeling clay or dough can be a way to release emotions. You may want to go outside for a walk and talk therapy session by the Southeastern Connecticut shoreline. Creative art in therapy can help you communicate beyond words with what you are feeling. Acrylic paints and watercolors can be a wonderful way to express your inner feelings. At Wisdom Within Counseling you can choose from creative painting, music therapy, art, yoga, and mindfulness meditation.
When it comes to counseling for the fear of going to the dentist, you can explore creative options.
Many dentists commonly work with patients who have fears of going to the dentist. Therefore, when you speak with a new dentist, you can learn about what they can do for you. For instance, a dentist may help someone who has a fear of dentists by offering oral anxiety medication.
To note, oral anxiety medication can be a sedative that is prescribed to calm a highly anxious patient. A patient may take a prescribed oral anxiety medication to sedate them ten minutes before their dental appointment.
As well, someone who has a fear of dentists may be given topical anesthetics. A person who is afraid of going to the dentist may worry about more pain. So, these numb the area of pain, offering relief. Sedatives can also be an option.
Someone who has a fear of dentists may need nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Laughing gas can relax a person and numb pain as well.
Talking with a dentist in advance about your trauma story and PTSD symptoms can give them a head up about what to expect when you come in. Lastly, sharing in advance about your trauma history and PTSD triggers can help you understand what you can ask for such as sedatives or pain medicine when going to the dentist.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
Why consider overcoming a fear of dentists through working with a therapist with a dentophobia counseling speciality?
As well, you and your therapist can talk about the benefits of oral hygiene and going to the dentist every six months. Talking about the benefits of going to the dentist can help you realize your goals for self-care. Unfortunately, tooth decay, cavities, and untreated dental issues can cause major health problems. If a cavity goes untreated, it will only get bigger.
Cavities can be very serious, painful, and even life threatening. This can lead to lung and heart problems and even heart infections. As well, the longer dental care goes neglected, even due to dentophobia and trauma, the more expensive it can be in the long run.
You and your therapist can come up with positive coping strategies
For some people who have an extreme fear of dentists, going to the dentist alone is scary. Therefore, you may ask a loved one or friend to accompany you to the dentist. Even if you drive to the dentist office and sit in the parking lot together, this is a start. For many people, having a good friend join you for your dentist can reduce anxiety.
There can be a level of reassurance that a loved one or friend can provide. You may even want your loved one or friend to hold your hand during the dental cleaning process. You can talk with your therapist about what can ease your nerves. Having a friend or loved once at the dentist with you may even help you smile and make you laugh. You may feel more relaxed knowing you have someone there with you the whole time.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
What can I expect in exposure therapy when it comes to working with a dentophobia counseling specialist?
To note, exposure therapy is a common way to treat dentophobia. When working with a dentophobia counseling specialist, you and your therapist work as a team. Your therapist teaches you self-regulation skills and self-soothing techniques.
These skills allow you to work with your mind to feel calmer and less anxious. Then, you and your therapist talk about what type of exposure therapy would be best to start with. For instance, you may want to start by looking at pictures of other people going to the dentist. This can be done from the comfort of your therapist’s office. Then, you might progress to listening to dental sounds on you tube from the safety of your therapist’s office.
As you sense discomfort and fear, you can feel safe that you are in a controlled environment. Your dentophobia therapist can help you become aware of your PTSD symptoms and fear responses. From there, you can work with yourself to accept what you are feeling. In your therapist’s office, you can learn tools and skills to calm yourself down. Mindfulness meditation, body scans, and breathing techniques can be part of meeting with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
To begin, book your phone consult for positive coping skills and to work with a dentophobia counseling specialist.
At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can work with a dentophobia therapist who gives you skills to soothe yourself.
Self-regulation, self-soothing, and self-acceptance tools can help when coping with PTSD. As well, when you feel anxiety increasing due to exposure therapy, you can always look away from the image. If you feel too distressed and can’t self-regulate, your therapist can give you a relaxing image to look at.
Once you are calm again, you can then look at the picture of someone going to the dentist again. As well, you can pause the audio recording if you are unable to self-regulate and self-soothe. Doing so in your dentophobia therapist’s presence can help you feel confident handling extreme fears in life, outside of therapy. Being in your dentophobia therapist’s office can help you slow down and breathe through your fears.
You can talk with your dentophobia counseling specialist about the fears that arise from the stimulus and exposure. Your dentophobia therapist will never pressure you or force you to goto the dentist. However, your therapist can help encourage you to use positive coping strategies to work through anxiety and fears. From there, you can slowly develop confidence over time and a toolbox of skills to overcome your triggers. You and your therapist can talk about your symptoms and develop a toolbox of self-soothing responses.
Part of working with a Wisdom Within Counseling dentophobia therapy specialist is appreciating yourself
It is important to appreciate small steps of growth along the way. Essentially, it may have taken decades to get to where you are now. Fears can be complex and intense. Sorting through your PTSD triggers can take time. There may also be more than one traumatic dental experience leading to PTSD. So, taking dentophobia counseling in baby steps is key. Your therapist at Wisdom Within Counseling will never ask you to hurry up in your recovery. As well, a dentophobia specialist will never rush your healing process. Therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling can help you be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. You can learn to be compassionate towards yourself through your journey of PTSD recovery. With therapy, you don’t have to keep living in fear of the dentist. Working with a therapist with a dentophobia counseling speciality can help you feel confidence in yourself again.
Where does the Wisdom Within Counseling team of therapists offer a dentophobia counseling speciality?
Wisdom Within Counseling offers help for those who are afraid of the dentist in person and on video. Our dentophobia counseling speciality is available in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansa, Louisiana, Tennessee North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Hampshire, and Maine, and Connecticut.
Wisdom Within Counseling helps Connecticut children, teens, and adults who struggle with anxiety around going to the dentist
In Connecticut, the Wisdom Within Counseling therapists helps children, teens, and adults in Bridgeport, East Lyme, Niantic, Mystic, Stonington, Colchester, Hartford, Glastonbury, Fairfield, Preston, Ridgefield, Westport, Danbury, Sterling, Norwalk, Darien, Wilton, Stamford, Middlebury, Bloomfield, Greenwich, Old Greenwich, Southport, Waterbury, Milford, Bristol, Hamden, East Hampton, Chester, Clinton, Madison, New Haven, Springfield, New Canaan, Avon, Weatogue, Wallingford, New London, Groton, Southington, Newington, Meriden, and Manchester.
We can help you if you have PTSD from going to the dentist in Florida
Wisdom Within Counseling supports people with a fear of the dentist in Tallahassee, Tampa, Ocala, Fort Myers, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, Sarasota, Pensacola, Naples, Kissimmee, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Melbourne, Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, Titusville, Siesta Key, Englewood, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Boca Grande, Longboat Key, Bradenton, Clearwater, Crystal River, Lakeland, Winter Haven, St. Cloud, Hudson, New Port Richey, Alligator Point, St. George Island, Miramar Beach, St. Augustine, Palm Coast, Port Orange, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Hialeah, Key Biscayne, Key Largo, Key West, Marathon, Duck Key, Islamorada, Layton, Big Pine Key, Tavernier, Marco Island, Delray Beach, Pahokee, Stuart, Jupiter, Vero Beach, St. Johns County, Florida.
