Dentophobia (Fear of Dentists): Symptoms, Causes, & How to Cope

What Is Dentophobia?

Dentophobia is an extreme and sometimes irrational fear of dentists and dental procedures. Someone with dentophobia may be afraid of the smells, sounds, and sensory feelings associated with dentists. They may fear the pain associated with dental procedures, or they may have developed a phobia from previous traumatic experiences or hearing about other people’s traumatic experiences at the dentist.

Dentophobia is one of the more common specific phobias. Studies and surveys have found that about 36% of the population have anxiety surrounding the dentist.¹

Dental Anxiety Vs. Dentophobia

There is a distinction between general dental anxiety and dentophobia. Dentophobia is a type of specific phobia where someone has an irrational and debilitating fear of the dentist.  Someone with dentophobia may even avoid going to the dentist until they have trouble with their teeth, which makes attending an appointment unavoidable.² In contrast, someone with dental anxiety might have anticipatory anxiety and some procrastination or avoidance behavior about their appointments; they are able to attend their checkups and cleanings when needed.³

What Does a Person With Dentophobia Fear?

Many underlying fears can create a person’s phobia of the dentist. Some individuals may be afraid of dental procedures because they fear blood. For others, it may be a fear of pain or anesthetics. Understanding what is driving a person’s dentophobia is important in order to address and treat their phobia properly.

Someone with dentophobia may be afraid of any of the following:

• Anesthetic: An anesthetic is something that numbs you from pain, either an injection or topical. While the aesthetic itself isn’t usually cause for fear, it is often the concern that the anesthetic won’t work or that it will stop working in the middle of a procedure.
• Blood: The fear of blood is common in many people and can often be the cause of, or increase worries of, dentophobia.
• Choking: Nobody enjoys the sensation of having something in their throat. Since dental instruments often go deep inside someone’s mouth or even into their jaw or throat, this can create anxiety about choking.
• Pain: Dental visits have long been associated with pain. In previous generations, it was difficult or even impossible to have a painless dental visit. But advances in medical and dental technology have changed that, so it is possible to have a completely painless, or only a slightly painful, dental visit.
• Needles: Fear of needles is a very common phobia for many people. While not all dental visits will have needles, it is often just the thought or fear of them that can cause enough anxiety to provoke avoidance behaviors.
• Germs: Fear of the dentist has been shown to be linked to fear of germs for some people.⁴
• Sensory struggles: For people who are prone to sensory overload, the sound of the drill, the feeling of the suction tube, or the uncomfortable chair is often anxiety-provoking.  Additionally, dentists often have a particular smell, such as fluoride or cleaning products.

Symptoms of Dentophobia

There are various symptoms and signs that someone might have dentophobia. While anxiety is often one of the first signs, people can also experience dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, or engage in avoidance behaviors such as canceling appointments.

Dentophobia symptoms can range from mild to severe and may include:

• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Heart palpitations
• Panic attacks
• Intense nervousness
• Avoiding or delaying appointments
• Nightmares of dental visits
• Crying
• Irritability
• Loss of appetite
• Self-medicating with substances

Causes & Risk Factors for Dentophobia

The root causes of dentophobia are often underlying traumatic dental experiences, such as a previous experience of pain or extreme discomfort at the dentist or even being exposed to someone else in pain at the dentist. Having an anxiety disorder, fear of pain, or feelings of helplessness or embarrassment can make this fear worse.

Having dentophobia can lead to avoidance, and this avoidance can actually increase any already-present health conditions because they are not being treated. Then, it becomes a cycle of avoidance and worsening health that could have been avoided by just making the appointment in the first place. However, this is easier said than done when anxiety is affecting you.

Causes for dentophobia include:

• Past negative experiences: If someone has had past negative experiences with a dentist, they are much more likely to experience fear and develop dentophobia following this experience. This could include dental procedures going wrong, a lack of informed consent for procedures, and high levels of stress surrounding a procedure that taints a person’s experience.
• Family history of phobias: People often learn how to act and expect outcomes in different scenarios by watching how their parents and adult family members act in different scenarios. If a parent or adult models for a child that high anxiety and stress come with going to the dentist, it is much more likely that the child watching will mimic this behavior and develop dentophobia. 
• Feeling embarrassed about oral health:  If a person is embarrassed by their oral health, they may be scared of having a dentist potentially confirm their fears. The likelihood of developing dentophobia increases if a dentist or dental assistant meets someone with shame or judgment due to the state of their oral health during an appointment.
• Fear of pain: The mouth is within a person’s head, which contains some of the most vital organs that a person will instinctively feel protective over. If a person already has a fear of pain, experiencing oral pain and discomfort during dental procedures is more likely to be mentally linked to danger, which can lead to developing dentophobia and avoidance of the dentist.
• Hearing other people’s negative experiences: People use all kinds of information to determine whether a situation is stressful or dangerous, and this can include hearing others’ experiences. If you have heard someone else’s dental horror story, you may subconsciously begin to think of all dentists as dangerous, which can increase the odds of developing dentophobia.⁵
• Fear of needles: Someone who already has a fear of needles from other procedures or experiences is likely to have a particularly difficult time with dental needles because of the proximity of the needle to a person’s eyes and face. There is also the added element with dental procedures that a person cannot always see the needle, depending on the angle and the area of the mouth being worked on. These factors can make it easy for fear of needles to expand to include fearing a dentist because of the association with needles.

A person is more likely to develop a fear of dentists if they already have:

• Another phobia, such as a phobia of anesthesia or needles
• Anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Social Anxiety
• Dental-related trauma or medical trauma

Triggers for Dentophobia

There are many things that can trigger a person’s dentophobia, leading to further avoidance or panic attacks. A person’s triggers are unique and are often heavily tied to the underlying cause for the development of their dentophobia. It is important to note that many triggers seem “rational” and connected to the dentophobia to others, while some triggers may seem less rational and unconnected to others – this is perfectly normal and often how phobias and fear responses operate.

Triggers for dentophobia include:

• Hearing or seeing dental instruments
• Seeing dentists included in TV shows or movies
• Scheduling or traveling to dental appointments
• Driving past your/any dentist’s office
• Seeing a dentist or dental assistant
• Lying in a dentist’s chair
• Thinking about a dental appointment
• Situations with a general lack of control that feel similar
• Experiencing dental pain or sensation that is similar to dental appointments

Health Complications of Dentophobia

Avoidance of the dentist can have serious health ramifications. Direct physical implications that avoidance of the dentist can cause include developing damaged teeth, loss of teeth,  gum disease, and tooth decay. If oral bacteria is allowed to accumulate, it can also lead to larger physical health issues, such as heart disease and diabetes.⁶

Avoiding the dentist and the resulting impacts can also impact your overall mental health. Damaged teeth can lower a person’s self-confidence and cause social anxiety. It can also lead to avoiding important functions and events, which can have negative impacts on your relationships, your career, and your life satisfaction overall. These things can be the foundation for developing anxiety disorders and depression if left unmanaged.

How Is Dentophobia Diagnosed?

Getting a proper diagnosis can not only help you to make sure that you are engaging in the right kinds of therapy that will be most beneficial, but it can also be an incredibly validating experience to have someone else see and understand your experience. A dentophobia diagnosis falls as a subcategory of the umbrella diagnosis of “specific phobias.” Any mental health professional is able to evaluate and provide this diagnosis as long as you meet the criteria.

To be diagnosed with dentophobia, someone might experience a combination of symptoms that may include a combination of the following:

• Avoid going to the dentist, even for routine exams
• Feel an elevation in physical symptoms at the thought of going to the dentist, which may be as intense as a panic attack
• Sleep struggles leading up to a dental appointment
• Declining oral health due to avoiding going to the dentist
• Feeling frozen when leaving for or trying to enter the office for a dental appointment
• Anxiety before, during, and/or after dental appointments

9 Ways to Overcome Dentophobia

Although it may be difficult, it is entirely possible to overcome your phobia of dentists. Focus on learning and practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing before and during dental visits to calm your nervous system. Additionally, communicate openly with your dentist about your phobia and see if you can work together the create a dental plan that is less anxiety-inducing. If you are still struggling, it may be time to speak with a therapist for more intensive exposure work.

Here are nine ways to deal with a fear of the dentist:

1. Recognize & Confront the Fear

The importance of awareness and acceptance as the first step towards managing dental fear. Simply acknowledging and validating your anxiety could be comforting and could allow you to attend your appointments. Try calling out the fear, even just in your mind, by saying, “I am experiencing anxiety about this dental appointment.” Then, follow it up by saying, “But I will overcome this and make it through.”

Free Hierarchy of Fears Worksheet

Using a hierarchy of fears can be highly effective in treating phobias because it helps a person face their fears in a manageable way.

Download

2. Choose the Right Dentist & Build Trust

Some people experience anxiety because they distrust dental practitioners.⁴ Therefore, finding a dentist whom you feel comfortable with and who you trust can make a huge difference. Look for someone who understands dentophobia and is willing to work with you. Some dentists specialize in assisting those with dental anxiety or dentophobia. These dentists will also be familiar with the option of using sedation/laughing gas to help patients get through their appointments.

3. Listen to Calming Music

Music can be a great tool for calming symptoms of nervousness and uneasiness. Listening to calming music during your appointments can help.³ Bring along some earbuds and a playlist that is both distracting and calming. Inform the dentist that you will be listening to music to help you deal with your feelings, and they should be understanding and accommodating.

4. Focus on Your Breathing

When we are anxious, we often forget to breathe correctly, which can actually increase our anxiety. There are many different breathing exercises for anxiety that could help you stay calm before and during your dental appointments. Try incorporating breathwork into your appointment and see if this helps.

5. Distract Yourself

For some, anxiety increases when they focus on their worries and concerns. Finding a way to distract yourself from your anxious thoughts can be beneficial. Many people find bringing distractions to the dental chair to be effective.³ This can prevent your fear from coming up with worst-case scenarios and increase your stress and tension levels, which can make the appointment feel longer and more stressful.

6. Try Guided Imagery

The process of guided imagery for anxiety helps to comfort the mind and decrease any anxiety symptoms, such as a racing heart or high blood pressure. Guided imagery can also orient us to the present and can relax feelings of anxiety and accompanying sensations. This can be done mentally, such as using a visual imagery exercise with headphones.

7. Go With a Friend or Partner

Taking someone with you can help alleviate some of the anxiety and stress of the appointment. They can provide emotional reassurance and a sense of security.  It can be helpful to prepare this person ahead of time with what they can do that would be most helpful to you through your dental procedure or appointment. Share specific ways they can support you during the procedure, such as holding your hand or warning you when an injection is going to happen.

8. Challenge Your Anxious  Thoughts

By challenging the negative thoughts and anxieties you are having surrounding the dentist, you can develop a more realistic perspective. For instance, instead of catastrophizing about pain, you can reframe it as temporary discomfort manageable with pain medication and relaxation techniques. Similarly, question your fears of needles by considering their minimal discomfort compared to the long-term benefits of oral health can ease anxiety. You can replace these unhelpful thoughts with more empowering ones through cognitive restructuring, reducing the fear that fuels dentophobia.

Cognitive Restructuring for Anxiety Worksheet

You can recognize unhealthy thought patterns that are causing you increased anxiety by practicing cognitive restructuring.

Download Free Worksheet

9. Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Professional Support

If you are dealing with dentophobia and struggle to make or keep dental appointments due to this fear, it may be time to consider working with a trained mental health professional to manage this fear and properly tend to your oral health.

A skilled therapist can help you develop coping skills for your anxiety, as well as help you to schedule dentist appointments, attend, and plan a reward for afterward. You may also want to see a psychiatrist and explore getting a prescription for an anti-anxiety medication prior to appointments.³

Treatment for Dentophobia

There are many different phobia treatments to help people learn to cope with the sensations that arise. Therapeutic techniques specifically for phobias can help decrease the obsessive thoughts and uncomfortable sensations that come up when exposed to the phobia.

Some possible treatment options for dentophobia include:

• Exposure therapy: By gradually exposing clients to the distressing event or source, exposure therapy for anxiety can help people with dentophobia learn how to decrease the uncomfortable feelings associated with the dentist.
• Cognitive behavior therapy: By learning how our thoughts affect our feelings and behaviors, CBT for anxiety can help people learn how to cope with uncomfortable feelings around the dentist.
• Medication: For many people, anxiety medications are considered for the treatment of their dentophobia in order to decrease the negative sensations surrounding dental visits. Benzodiazepines such as Ativan or medications such as Valium or Xanax are commonly prescribed for people to take prior to the appointment in order to make the visit more manageable.
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): ACT for anxiety involves using mindfulness to help people accept that situations will bring distressful feelings, but there are ways to cope with these feelings.
• Group therapy: Because phobias can often feel isolating, attending group therapy can help you feel validated by listening to others with the same or similar conditions and how they learned to work through them.
• Hypnotherapy: Hypnosis helps to calm anxiety around the dentist by helping clients relax and explore some of the subconscious issues that are contributing to the fears.⁴
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): EMDR for anxiety is a good option for individuals who develop dentophobia from past traumatic experiences at the dentist. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to help a person healthily process their trauma, allowing them to move on.

How to Find Professional Support

Finding a therapist is easier than ever with a bit of online help. You can use the detailed filters provided by an online therapist directory to find a therapist who specifically works with clients with dentophobia and dental anxiety. If you prefer to see a therapist remotely, online therapy services such as Talkspace or BetterHelp are great ways to find therapists who specialize in treating anxiety. Talkspace also provides psychiatry services, so it is a particularly great option if you want to explore anti-anxiety medications as well.