odontophobia

Odontophobia has been recognised by WHO as a real disease, and cannot therefore regarded as a product of imagination any longer.

According to WHO studies, odontophobia could affect approximately 15% to 20% of the world population.

People suffering from this disease can consider the dentist, for several reasons, as a real nightmare; this situation differs deeply from the normal embarrassment which can be felt when undergoing dental treatment.

These patients, even if they exercise the maximum possible self-control, cannot even face the idea of a dentist visiting them.

Odontophobic tend therefore to continuously postpone treatments and to rely on pharmacological therapies (antibiotics and pain relievers) which do not solve the problem; the initial situation gets worse and worse, with a progressive loss of the mastication and the consequent aesthetical damage.

Why this fright of the dentist? First of all, the dentist operates in a very particular area of the body: the mouth. This is considered by many a ‘private' area, and opening it can be difficult, especially out of shame. One more reason which can explain the fright of the dentist is the use of particular tools which certainly can induce anxiety, such as the syringe for anaesthesia with a very long needle, a noisy drill, a low speed micromotor whose sound is similar to a pneumatic hammer. Statistics show that the most stressful interventions are tooth extractions and surgery interventions performed under local anaesthesia.

The Italian Odontophobia Society aims to provide practical help to overcome this problem, both in operating and psychological meaning.