Reasons For The Providion Of Sedation Flashcards
Explain anxiety
Anxiety is a state of unease that patients can often relate to as they remember whatever is causing them to feel anxious. Their memories may be something that they experience or it may have been translated experience from others.
What might cause a patient to be anxious?
Being worried, frightened or concerned about dental treatment.
What feelings and experiences might a patient exhibit when anxious?
Sweaty palms, a raised heart rate and a fluttering sensation in their stomachs.
List two things that a patient’s fear can be associated with?
- Pain -fear of the unknown.
2. Surrendering themselves into the total care of another. Feelings of claustrophobia.
When patients are anxious in a dental surgery setting they have a raised heart rate. What is the reason for this?
When pain or anxiety is experienced, it can lead to the Sympathetic nervous system over-reacting. This can lead to a raised heart rate and blood pressure.
Explain phobia.
Phobias are abnormal, deep-rooted, long-lasting fears of something that rarely goes away. This makes it very difficult to manage and treat someone who experiences this in the dental surgery. The patient has no control over it and quite often cannot explain its origin or why the are phobic about a certain thing, which means they are difficult to treat.
If a patient became dentally phobic when would this commonly start in his/her life?
In childhood or adolescent.
State the reason/causes why a patient may be phobic.
The fears of their parents, as their phobias/fears can be transferred to the child by observation and the way a patient responds to and talks about the dentist. It can also be associated with the fear of blood, injury or hospitals due to personal experience. Some phobias can occur on their own without having a rational explanation.
If a dental phobic patient attended the dental surgery, how might they respond?
They would tense their muscles and could become in-cooperative
State one thing a dental phobic patient in particular is concerned about at the dental surgery.
Dental injections and the handpiece.
What are two main reasons for patients not attending the dentist?
Fear and the cost of dental treatment. Another reasons is a lack of dentists in the patient’s area. Not being able to register with a dentist or suffering ill health, resulting in mobility problems.
