CHICAGO – November 23, 1999 – It’s been “drilled” into our minds by family members and friends and experiences from long ago: our fear of dental treatments. However, according to a recent online poll of periodontists conducted by the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP), many more patients indicate they have a fear about receiving periodontal treatment prior to treatment than mention they felt extreme discomfort or pain following treatment.
Of the 164 periodontists polled, almost half said that more than 50 percent of their patients indicate they are fearful about receiving periodontal treatment. However, more than three-quarters said less than 10 percent of their patients say periodontal treatments actually cause them any extreme discomfort or pain.
Many respondents said establishing trust with patients goes a long way in alleviating fear. “I try to address the issues of anxiety and comfort right from the start. People like knowing that their comfort is a priority,” said Richard Kaplan, D.D.S., a periodontist in New Jersey. “One of the things I most like hearing a patient say is ‘that wasn’t bad at all.'”
Periodontists report that it’s men and middle-aged adults who are most likely to fear periodontal procedures.
While 47 percent of those surveyed said that male patients are more often fearful, only 11 percent find their female patients to be the more fearful gender. And, more than half chose adults in their 40s and 50s as the most fearful age group, compared to younger and older age groups. Specifically, they said their patients are most likely to be afraid of feeling pain and needles.
In addition, the survey revealed that the top origins of that fear are family and friends or a personal bad experience more than 10 years ago.
“In recent years, we have seen wonderful advances in our ability to treat periodontal conditions in a comfortable way,” said Vincent Linz, D.D.S., a periodontist from Ohio.
In fact, the vast majority (84 percent) of respondents said that they have implemented specific procedures to help patients deal with their fear during treatment, and 59 percent said they’d implemented procedures in the past three years that actually make periodontal treatment less painful. In addition, some periodontists mentioned that improvements in local anesthesia, pain and anxiety medications, and in some cases, conscious sedation, have made many procedures virtually pain-free.
A referral to a periodontist in your area and free brochure samples including one titled Periodontal Surgery: What Can I Expect? are available by calling 800-FLOSS-EM or visiting the AAP’s Web site at www.perio.org.
About the AAP
The American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) is the professional organization for
