Innovative Management of Anxious Dental Patients: Effect of Perceived Control in Management of Anxious Dental Patients

From time immemorial, fear and anxiety have been associated with dental treatment. Coping with this fear and anxiety has been one of the most vexing problems with which the individual dentist, as well as the profession has had to contend. Dental fear and anxiety represents a large problem for patients and dentist, both as a hindrance to regular dental care and as an obstacle to fruitful co-operation. Many dentists literally throw up their hands in frustration when confronted with such patients while others empirically develop ways to solve their problems in an individual manner. It has been suggested that the individual?s ?Sense of Control? over a potentially aversive situation is an important element in stress experience. In simple words, when an individual believes he has some control over what is happening to him in a threatening environment, he will experience less stress. This book describes an innovative method of managing such anxious patients, utilizing an innovative (patented) communication system, which enables the patient to communicate with the dentist during the treatment procedure, thus providing a sense of control and therefore leading the patient into a comfort zone.