Child With Dental Anxiety? 2 Steps To Helping Them Overcome It Based On New Studies
Posted on: 9 December 2016
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Of course, many children don't love the idea of visiting the dentist, but many suffer from such an intense fear of drills and that "white coat" that every trip to the dentist becomes a huge event where they battle their parents and try every "trick" they can to get out of going. If your child fears the dentist, then you may try to reason with them and remind them that the dentist is just a nice man or woman who wants to help them keep their teeth healthy and still have no luck reducing their "battles" to stay away from the dentist at all costs.
What can you do to finally bring those pre-dentist visit battles to an end? Read on to learn two steps to helping your child overcome their fear of the dentist that are based on new studies into treating childhood dental anxiety.
1. Seek Help from a Counselor in the Form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Many counselors and psychologists use cognitive behavioral therapy to help people of all ages overcome a variety of phobias, anxiety problems, and even depression. However, many parents don't realize that this type of therapy can help children overcome dental anxiety for good.
Compared to many other types of psychological therapies, such as psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy can typically be completed in just a few sessions and aims to solve the problem at hand, such as your child's fear of the dentist, as quickly as possible. Health professionals state that the average person needs just five sessions of CBT to greatly improve dental anxiety.
If you have family health insurance that covers psychological help, the costs of your child's counseling may be covered in full or partially by your insurance company. However, if your insurance will not cover this therapy and you have such a tight budget that you simply cannot fit it in, then you will be happy to hear that a new CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) resource is already being developed that has shown to be very successful in reducing dental anxiety in clinical trials.
How does it work? The exact details have not been released yet, but using it requires no visits to a licensed psychologist. A parent or other family adult can use to to perform dental anxiety CBT at home with the child. It may be a book or even a fun video game that helps your child overcome their fear while having fun.
2. Find a Dentist with Cartoon Video Glasses
Not only does your child's dental anxiety lead to you having trouble getting them to the dental office without arguments being started or you feeling like "the bad guy," it can also lead to your child being disruptive during the dental visit and even experiencing more pain during treatment.
Studies are being performed to find the best way for dentists to limit dental anxiety that occurs when your child is in the dental chair, and one device that decreases dental anxiety in many children is a pair of glasses that allow your child to watch cartoons while the dentist is providing their treatment.
If your child's dentist does not have these glasses, then you have two options to help your child: you can purchase pair yourself and ask your dentist if your child can wear them during treatment or switch to a new pediatric dentist, such as Serene Smiles Dentistry, who already owns a pair your child can wear during their visit.
If you have a child who suffers from dental anxiety, then helping them overcome it is important. Your child's intense fear is not just disruptive to your life and their time in the dental chair, but it causes your child to suffer needlessly. If it is never overcome while your child is under your care, they may then begin avoiding the dentist completely as adults. Follow these two steps to help your child overcome their dental anxiety for good and improve both your and your child's lives.