Managing anxious patients

During a 1993 CDA-sponsored seminar, New and Improved: the Canadian Dental Consumer in the '90s, the lecturer, Mark Sarner of Manifest Communications, indicated that there was "cause for celebration." Why? Fewer people than ever believe that dental visits equal pain. A recent survey revealed that 58 per cent of the respondents disagreed with the statement, "When I think of going to the dentist, I think of pain." Through sensitivity, compassion and ever-advancing pain control, dental teams can rise to the challenge of further eliminating the perception that dentistry and pain go hand in hand, and thereby reduce dental fears. If this is done successfully, the profession could obtain future survey results in which a full 100 per cent of respondents disagree with the statement, "When I think of going to the dentist, I think of pain." Now that would be cause for some serious celebration.