It would seem that this problem is over once and for all: the doctors are not the same as before, and the equipment, and anesthesia. But “the body remembers”! What does it mean? Expert explanations.
“When I was young in the doctor’s office, I fainted. Since then, at the thought of dental treatment, I have a panic, and I can no longer delay. What should I do?”
Zhanna, 33 years old
Ekaterina Mikhailova, psychotherapist:
“Zhanna, you are not alone in your torment, believe me – many adult reasonable people are ready to do anything, just not to sit in the dentist’s chair. Let’s see how this problem occurred to you. There was no terrible pain or bad treatment. There was a faint of unknown origin many years ago, it happened before the moment when the doctor began to work. And now, it seems to me, you are not afraid of dentists, but of a repetition of fainting. In your memory, it is associated with dental treatment. The doctor’s office is not the reason, but just a place where something unpleasant and incomprehensible happened to you. Usually we are afraid of these visits, your excitement is combined with the experience of fainting – and you’re done: your body “considered” the situation as dangerous, threatening.
Read more:
- Why do we lie to doctors
Your body remembers everything and protects you in its own way. With the help of panic, it does not let you into this “dangerous place”. It would be nice to find a dentist who is sympathetic to the torment of patients. There are, I know for sure. Since I am a fifty-year-old patient with a very, very difficult experience and still slightly green when I sit in my chair, my “recipe” for you is this: a cheerful but compassionate doctor who needs to be warned about his possible (and incomprehensible to him!) reactions and agree on how to deal with them. This is important: that first time, the doctor may have been as scared as you, and for you, her fear may have become a reinforcement of your own. And if you both know what’s going on, it might be enough to take a breather, get upright, and chat for three minutes about something pleasant. Dentists with an anxious, mournful expression on their faces and representatives of the old school (“Wider mouth and no nonsense!”) Will definitely not suit you.