“What do you do for nervous patients?” is one of the most common questions we get, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on what kind of nervous you are.
Someone who is tense but manageable needs something very different from someone who has not been able to get through the door in a decade. Here are the three routes, what each actually feels like, and who each one suits.
1. Just a chat, and a slower appointment
This is the one people underestimate. For a lot of patients, the thing that makes treatment bearable is not a drug — it is knowing exactly what is coming, having a stop signal that gets respected, and not being rushed.
In practice that means a longer appointment than the schedule strictly needs, a run-through of each step before it happens, and breaks whenever you want one. No cost, no after-effects, nothing to arrange.
Who it suits: most people, more often than they expect. It is always the starting point, and for the majority it is also the finishing point.
2. Clinical hypnosis
Hypnosis in a dental setting is not a stage act and you do not lose awareness of the room. It is closer to the state you are in when a film absorbs you completely and you stop noticing the chair you are sitting in. You can hear, respond and stop at any moment.
Dr Jennie can refer you to a clinical hypnotherapist who works alongside her, so the preparation happens with a specialist and the dentistry happens here.
Who it suits: people whose anxiety is anticipatory — the week before is worse than the appointment — and people who would rather not be sedated.
3. IV sedation
IV sedation is a drug given through a small cannula in the back of the hand. You remain conscious and able to respond, but deeply relaxed, and most people remember very little of the appointment afterwards.
It needs planning. You must not eat beforehand, you cannot drive, and you need a responsible adult to take you home and stay with you. It also costs more, because it requires additional time, equipment and monitoring.
Who it suits: people with severe dental phobia, people needing long or complex treatment in one visit, and people for whom the other two routes have genuinely been tried and have not been enough.
IV sedation is coming soon at Believe Dental. If it is what you need, say so at your consultation and we will tell you honestly where we are up to.
How to choose
You do not have to decide before you arrive, and you are not committing to anything by asking. The usual pattern is to start with the least intervention that works for you and move up only if it does not.
What we will not do is talk you into sedation you do not need, or talk you out of help you do.