Baylor College of Dentistry
Emphasis on
Personalized Care
Calming anxieties benefits dental patients
and providers alike
By Jennifer Eure Fuentes
An unspoken interaction takes place at the start of nearly every
dental appointment. The dental hygienist or assistant brings the
patient to the chair, and before it has reclined has already assessed
if the patient is feeling talkative, tired or even anxious. In many
cases, no words are needed for this exchange.
“Look. First observe the patient for clues that they are affected: eye
movement, breathing and other physiological manifestations,” says
Laura Gene Utt, clinical assistant professor in the Caruth School of
Dental Hygiene at Texas A&M University Baylor College of
Dentistry. “Listen to them closely. Many will tell you they feel anxious. Some will not.”
Recognizing anxieties in patients and learning how to effectively
address them is something Utt has fine-tuned during her 35-year
dental hygiene career throughout Texas, California and Germany.
In December 2014, she completed her thesis on the subject as part
of her master’s in dental hygiene education.
Her research, titled “Texas Dental Hygienists’ Use of Behavioral
Management Techniques for Patients with Dental Anxieties”, utilized a survey to determine what methods Texas dental hygienists
use to recognize and calm dental anxieties in patients. And just as
important, it measured how dental hygienists felt about their effectiveness at helping their anxious patients feel comfortable.
Nearly half of the survey respondents stated that up to 20 percent
of their patients experience dental anxiety.
In those situations, some of their most commonly used techniques
to help patients include deep breathing, distraction (listening to
music, covering up with a blanket, etc.), listening, or talking.
Utt found that hygienists who take time to determine the cause of
the patient’s anxiety and give them some control over the situation
help the patient relax. Empathy for patients is the best approach
and decreases negative emotional labor while at work, which could
be a factor in retention or attrition within the profession.
Once Utt’s thesis receives approval from Texas A&M University, it
will be submitted for publication, but she already has plans to use
the techniques in Stuttgart, Germany, where she relocated in
January.
“Bachelor-level programs in dental hygiene are just now starting
in Germany, and the concepts of managing dental anxiety should
be considered in the educational programs,” says Utt.
Dental anxieties as a result of personal trauma
Sometimes anxieties are present for reasons not having anything
to do with the dental appointment. Previous trauma, such as
domestic violence or sexual assault, abuse of the elderly and even
combat military experience can present anxieties for patients.
According to statistics cited in a March 2014 article in The Journal
of the American Dental Association, “Treating Patients with
Traumatic Life Experiences”, the likelihood that an oral health professional will treat patients who have suffered such events is
markedly high. Approximately 22 percent of women and four percent of men reported having experienced sexual assault as an adult,
and 10 to 20 percent of men and up to 10 percent of women in the
U.S. reported having been exposed to combat, whether as service
members or immigrants who fled war-ravaged regions.
Routine aspects of a dental appointment, be it impressions, oral
cancer screenings and even reclining in the chair, may seem harmless to some — and even convenient for dentists, such as in the case
of a mouth prop — but they can incite fear in other patients.
Whether it’s from a gag reflex, lack of breath or the fact that a
patient cannot close his or her mouth, a feeling of powerlessness
sometimes ensues, and with it, panic.
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