I couldn’t believe what my last dental appointment was like. My dentist bought this new thing called a Wand injection system. I told him he should call it a magic wand. For the first time in my life I was given a painless injection. Why doesn’t every dentist have this?

Vivian E.

Dear Vivian

The Wand really is amazing. I love your idea of calling it the magic wand. In fact, it might be fun to decorate it that way for Halloween (or every day) at pediatric dental clinics. Painless injections are a true blessing. This device has changed many patients from fearful to cheerful at their dentist’s office.

While Dr. Swearingen has the Wand Injection System, not every dentist does. So, what’s a patient with dental anxiety to do? There are other ways of dealing with terror at the dentist’s office. However, it requires going to the right type of dentist. Dentists who specialize in dealing with fearful patients.

You can find them doing a two-fold internet search.

1. Look up dentists using some special key phrases such as, “cater to cowards dentist”, “sedation dentist”, or “gentle dentist”.

2. Check their reviews. Saying you’re a gentle dentist and actually being one are two different things. Look up what patients have said about them on sites such as Yelp! or Google Reviews. If they’ve had good experiences, you can feel a little more confident that you will too.

Avoiding the dentist because of fear often leads to disastrous, emergency dental situations that cost a fortune to repair and lead to significantly more pain than if you’d just kept up with your dental care to begin with. It’s much better to protect your teeth than replace them. While patients know this when they’re feeling calm and rational, fear makes people irrational; causing them to make poor decisions.

Hopefully, these tools will change their outlook and make it easier for them to get adequate dental care.

This blog is brought to you by Dr. Don Swearingen.