Summary Course Contents
Fear and Anxiety
- What are dentally anxious people afraid of?
- Dental Phobia
- Age of Onset of Dental Anxiety
- Etiologic Factors
- Ranking of Dental Situations From the Most Fearful to the Least Fearful
- Iatrogenic Interview
- Patient Teaching
- Why do I fear the dentist?
- Therapy can ease dental phobia
- What can I do about my dental fear?
- A sense of control
- Never be embarrassed
- Relaxation techniques
- Distraction
- Predictable pain control
- How dentists can allay your fears
- References
- Post-Test
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you’ll be able to:
- Define fear and anxiety.
- Distinguish between fear and anxiety.
- Explain why dental personnel should be trained in the management of fear and anxiety.
- Discuss etiologic factors of patient’s fear of dentistry.
- List three major causes of patient’s fear of dentistry.
- Using patient survey of dental situations as a guide, identify various situations in terms of patient’s perception of fear.
- Define a successful anxiety management program.
- Explain the significance of iatrogenic interview and describe how it can help lessen patient anxiety.
- Formulate 4 questions to measure the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale.
- Identify differences by age of onset with respect to potential etiological factors, such as negative dental experiences, family history of dental anxiety, and general psychological states.
- Explain the implications of determining the age of onset of dental anxiety as a patient management and treatment strategy.
- Discuss 6 most common origins of dental fear with a patient.
- Ask 9 questions of a patient that may determine if the patient has dental anxiety syndrome.
- Compare the effectiveness of tranquilizing drugs and psychotherapy in relieving patient anxiety. Indicate which has the longer-lasting effect.
- Discuss with the patient various steps that can be take to overcome the fear and anxiety of dentistry.
- Explain to a parent the steps that he or she can take to allay fears of a child before a dental appointment.
To assess the effectiveness of the course material, we ask that you evaluate your achievement of each learning objective on a scale of A to D (A=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=unsatisfactory). Please indicate your responses next to each learning objective and return it to us with your completed exam.
