Dental Anxiety: Why It Is Common and the Options From Sedation to CBT

The receptionist has learned to recognize it: the patient who arrives early, sits closest to the door, and rereads the same magazine page four times. She has also learned not to mention it, because the person in the chair is usually more embarrassed than afraid. That quiet, fidgeting figure is far from unusual. As of September 2026, dental anxiety is one of the most-searched oral health phrases online, pushed along by a wave of short videos promising that “sleep dentistry” makes every fear vanish, followed by a second wave of dentists posting corrections, all landing just as back-to-school checkups and year-end insurance deadlines send millions of people back into waiting rooms.

The viral version of the story is too tidy. Sedation is a real and valuable tool, but it is not the only one, and for many people it is not the best one. What the evidence actually supports is a ladder of options, from a two-minute conversation with the dentist to structured talking therapy, with medicines sitting in the middle rather than at the top.

This piece walks that ladder honestly: what makes the fear so widespread, what helps in the moment, what helps for good, and when the problem has outgrown the dental chair and needs a doctor’s attention.

Why is dental anxiety so common?

Start with the numbers. Surveys summarized by major clinical centers suggest that around 36% of people feel some fear of dental treatment, and roughly 12% describe that fear as extreme. Put another way, in a waiting room of eight patients, one is probably white-knuckling the armrest and two or three would rather be almost anywhere else. Those proportions have been strikingly stable across decades and countries, which tells you this is not a modern quirk of a particular healthcare system.

Several ingredients explain the persistence. The mouth is densely supplied with nerves and sits inches from the eyes and ears, so sounds and vibrations feel louder and closer than they are. Dental care also asks you to lie back, keep your mouth open and let someone else control the pace, which strips away the three things anxious brains crave most: information, escape and timing. Add needles, and you touch one of the most common phobia categories doctors recognize, called blood-injection-injury phobia, a fear of needles, blood or medical procedures that can trigger fainting rather than panic.

Memory does the rest. A single painful childhood extraction, a dismissive comment about your teeth, or simply watching a parent dread appointments can set a template that lasts for years. Psychologists describe this as conditioning: the brain pairs the smell of the clinic or the whine of the handpiece with threat, and later exposures re-trigger the alarm even when nothing hurts.

The final driver is avoidance. Skipping appointments brings short-term relief, which quietly teaches the brain that the dentist really was dangerous. Over time, small problems become larger treatments, and larger treatments confirm the fear. Understanding that loop is the first step in loosening it.

Fear of the dentist or dental phobia: where is the line?

Most people who dislike the dentist still go. That matters, because it separates ordinary dental anxiety from a diagnosable condition. Anxiety is an uncomfortable but manageable response: a racing heart in the parking lot, a poor night’s sleep beforehand, a tendency to cancel once and rebook. Life carries on, and the teeth get looked after, even if grudgingly.

A specific phobia is different in degree and consequence. The term describes an intense, persistent fear of a particular object or situation that is out of proportion to the actual danger and leads to avoidance that interferes with daily life. In the dental context, that looks like years without a checkup, toothache managed with painkillers rather than treatment, chewing on one side to protect a broken molar, or declining social events because of embarrassment about visible decay. Some clinicians use the word dentophobia for this pattern.

Three clues suggest the phobia end of the spectrum:

• You have actively avoided care for a long stretch despite symptoms such as pain, swelling or bleeding.
• Merely thinking about an appointment produces physical symptoms: nausea, sweating, trembling or a feeling of unreality.
• The fear feels unreasonable even to you, yet reasoning does not shrink it.

The distinction is not a label for its own sake. Mild to moderate anxiety usually responds to practical adjustments and good communication, which a dental team can provide on the day. A true phobia tends to need a structured approach, typically cognitive behavioral therapy, sometimes with sedation as a bridge while that work happens. Knowing which end of the spectrum you sit on helps you ask for the right kind of help rather than the kind that happens to be advertised.

What changed recently

The biology of fear has not changed. What has shifted is how the fear is talked about and how care is organized around it, and a few dated anchors help separate signal from noise.

The diagnostic framework is older than the viral conversation. Since the 2013 revision of the psychiatric diagnostic manual, specific phobias have been grouped into types, including the blood-injection-injury type that covers needles and medical procedures. Dental phobia is generally understood under that umbrella rather than as a stand-alone diagnosis, which is why treatment research borrows heavily from needle-phobia studies, including the technique called applied tension that counters fainting.

Nitrous oxide, the mild inhaled sedative often called laughing gas, is not new either; its first dental use dates to 1844. What is newer is the mainstream clinical messaging that sedation and talking therapy are complementary rather than competing. Patient-facing material from major health systems now routinely lists both, describes the levels of sedation from minimal to deep in plain language, and flags that sedation manages the appointment while cognitive behavioral therapy aims to change the fear itself.

Access to that therapy has also widened. In England, adults can refer themselves directly to free talking therapy services for anxiety without a doctor’s referral, and the national cognitive behavioral therapy guidance describes courses of roughly 6 to 20 sessions, often delivered partly online. Similar self-referral and telehealth routes have expanded in many US health plans since the pandemic.

The surge in search interest, then, is less about a breakthrough and more about collision: a loud marketing message about “sleeping through it,” a quieter clinical message about options and evidence, and a seasonal rush of appointments bringing anxious patients face to face with both. The sections that follow sort the two messages apart.

What causes dental anxiety in the first place?

Ask a hundred anxious patients what they dread and you will not get one answer. You will get clusters, and each cluster points to a different fix.

Pain memory. The most common trigger is a past painful experience, often from childhood when local anesthetics were used less generously or a child was told to “be brave” instead of being given more numbing. Modern techniques are gentler, but the memory does not update automatically.

Loss of control. Lying flat with instruments in your mouth, unable to speak or see what is happening, is a recipe for helplessness. People who manage anxiety elsewhere in life by planning and asking questions find this especially hard.

Needles. For a sizable minority, the injection is the whole problem. This group often has the fainting-prone blood-injection-injury pattern, in which heart rate and blood pressure drop rather than rise.

Gagging and breathing. A strong gag reflex, nasal congestion or a history of choking can make impressions, X-ray sensors and water spray frightening in a very physical way.

Embarrassment. Shame about the state of the teeth, about breath, or about having stayed away so long keeps many people out of the chair entirely. This cause is underrated because patients rarely volunteer it.

Trauma history. People who have experienced assault or abuse may find the physical closeness and mouth-focused nature of dentistry acutely distressing. Trauma-informed dental care, which emphasizes consent, explanation and stopping on request, exists for exactly this reason.

Learned fear. Children absorb a parent’s dread quickly. A caregiver who grips the chair during their own appointment, or who uses the dentist as a threat, hands the anxiety down.

Naming your own cluster is useful. A needle-focused fear calls for different tactics than a control-focused one, and a good dental team will ask.

Dental phobia symptoms: what the body does in the chair

Anxiety announces itself physically long before the appointment. Recognizing the pattern helps, because each symptom has a mechanism and most have a countermeasure.

The classic response is the fight-or-flight surge. Adrenaline speeds the heart, tightens muscles, raises blood pressure and shifts breathing to the upper chest. People notice a pounding pulse, sweaty palms, trembling hands, a dry mouth and sometimes a sense of detachment, as if watching themselves from outside. Rapid shallow breathing can tip into hyperventilation, which lowers carbon dioxide in the blood and produces tingling lips, dizziness and a tight chest. That dizziness is often misread as the start of fainting, which ramps the fear higher.

A second, less familiar response runs the opposite direction. In vasovagal reactions, common in needle-related fear, the nervous system slams the brakes: heart rate and blood pressure fall, the skin goes pale and clammy, vision narrows and the person may briefly lose consciousness. Vasovagal simply means a reflex of the vagus nerve that drops blood pressure. Because it is a drop rather than a surge, standard calming breathing can make it slightly worse; the evidence-based counter is applied tension, which is explained in the therapy section.

Then there are the cognitive symptoms: catastrophic predictions (“the drill will slip”), hypervigilance to every sound, and difficulty following instructions because working memory is flooded. Sleep often suffers the night before, and some people cancel on the morning after a wave of nausea.

None of this is weakness or drama. These are hardwired survival reflexes firing in the wrong context. The practical implication is that telling yourself to “just relax” rarely works, while specific techniques matched to your specific reaction usually do.

Can dental anxiety cause high blood pressure?

Yes, temporarily, and the effect is well documented. Acute anxiety can push systolic blood pressure, the top number, up by 10 to 30 mmHg or more for the duration of the stressor. This is the same phenomenon as white-coat hypertension, in which readings taken in medical settings run higher than readings at home purely because of nerves. Many dental offices now measure blood pressure before treatment, so anxious patients often discover high numbers in the chair that they never see elsewhere.

Context matters when interpreting those numbers. According to American Heart Association categories, normal blood pressure sits below 120/80 mmHg, and stage 2 hypertension begins at 140/90 mmHg or higher. A single elevated reading during a stressful appointment does not diagnose hypertension; diagnosis rests on repeated readings, ideally including home or ambulatory monitoring. Dentists may postpone elective procedures when readings are very high, not because the anxiety itself is dangerous, but because treatment-related stress and the small amount of adrenaline-like medicine in some local anesthetics add further load on a cardiovascular system that may already be strained.

What about long-term harm? Here the evidence is thinner. Chronic stress is associated with higher cardiovascular risk in observational studies, but no study shows that episodic dental anxiety, experienced a few times a year, raises baseline blood pressure on its own. The more concrete risk is indirect: untreated gum disease, which avoidance encourages, is linked in observational research to cardiovascular disease, though cause and effect remain unproven.

Two practical points follow. If your office reading is high, ask your primary care clinician about home monitoring rather than assuming the worst. And if you already take blood pressure medicine, continue it as prescribed on appointment days unless your prescriber says otherwise; never adjust it yourself because of a dental visit.

How to calm dental anxiety before and during the appointment

Most of what reduces anxiety on the day costs nothing and requires no prescription. The evidence for these steps is a mix of small randomized trials and consistent clinical consensus, but the direction is clear and the downside is nil.

Book a talk-only first visit. Ask for an appointment where nothing is done except looking and talking. Walking out with your mouth untouched breaks the expectation that every visit ends in a procedure. Choose a morning slot, when you have had less time to ruminate, and skip caffeine beforehand; it mimics the jitters you are trying to avoid.

Agree on a stop signal. A raised left hand that reliably pauses treatment restores the control that the chair removes. Studies on perceived control consistently show that patients who believe they can stop report less pain and distress, even when they never use the signal.

Ask for a narrated or a silent appointment, whichever suits you. Some people calm down when every step is explained; others prefer noise-canceling headphones and a podcast. Both are reasonable; say which you want.

Breathe out longer than you breathe in. A slow exhale, roughly twice the length of the inhale, nudges the nervous system toward its calming branch and prevents hyperventilation. Practice at home so it is automatic in the chair.

Bring a plan for the gag reflex if that is your issue: breathing through the nose, a dab of numbing gel on the palate if the dentist offers it, or sitting slightly more upright.

Finally, tell the team. Dentists cannot adjust for anxiety they do not know about, and most will slow down, numb more generously and check in more often once asked. Disclosure feels exposing, but it is the single highest-yield move on this list.

Too embarrassed to see the dentist? What dental teams actually think

Embarrassment keeps more people away than needles do, and it is the fear least likely to be spoken aloud. People worry about broken teeth, bleeding gums, bad breath, or simply having to admit how long it has been. The imagined scene usually involves a sharp intake of breath from the hygienist and a lecture.

The reality is closer to the opposite. Dental professionals see neglected mouths every working day; it is their core job, not an exception to it. Severe decay, missing teeth and advanced gum disease are routine clinical findings, and a mouth in poor shape is not a moral statement about its owner. Many clinicians will tell you that the patient who finally returns after a long gap is one of their most satisfying cases, because improvement is visible and fast.

If you still dread the conversation, script it. A single sentence does the work: “It has been a long time, I am anxious and a bit embarrassed, and I would like us to go slowly.” You can say it to the receptionist when booking, write it in the online form, or hand it over on paper. Once said, it tends to defuse itself; the team adjusts its tone and you stop bracing for judgment.

Two further reassurances help. First, you are not obliged to accept a full treatment plan on day one. You can ask for the findings, take them home and decide. Second, you are free to change practices if the first one feels judgmental. Nonjudgmental care is a legitimate thing to shop for, and many practices now describe themselves explicitly as experienced with anxious patients.

Shame thrives on silence. The moment it is named in the room, it starts to shrink.

Scared to go to the dentist after 10 years: what to expect

A decade away feels like it should end in a dramatic reckoning. In practice, the first visit back is usually the least eventful appointment of the whole process, and knowing the sequence removes much of the dread.

Expect a conversation first. You will be asked about your medical history, medicines, allergies and what prompted your return. This is the moment to mention anxiety and anything specific, such as a fear of needles or a strong gag reflex.

Next comes the examination: a visual check of every tooth, a gentle probe around the gums to measure pocket depth, a look at the soft tissues of the cheeks, tongue and palate, and a check of the jaw joint. Dental X-rays are standard after a long gap because decay between teeth and bone loss around roots are invisible to the eye. Most people find X-rays mildly uncomfortable at worst.

Then the findings and a plan. Even a mouth with multiple problems is usually treated in stages: pain and infection first, gum health next, then fillings, and cosmetic work last. Nothing irreversible happens without your consent, and a good clinician will explain which items are urgent and which can wait.

Common surprises are smaller than feared. Teeth that look terrible are often restorable. Gum disease, the leading cause of tooth loss in adults, is frequently manageable with a deep clean and better home care. And the number of appointments is often fewer than imagined, because modern materials allow more work per visit.

One honest caveat: if you have a swollen face, a tooth that has broken off at the gum, or persistent pain, say so when booking. Those situations are prioritized and may be handled before the full examination.

Sedation dentistry options compared

Sedation means using medicine to lower awareness and anxiety during a procedure. It is distinct from local anesthesia, which numbs a specific area without affecting consciousness, and it comes in levels. Which level fits depends on the procedure, your health and your clinician’s training and facilities; all of those decisions belong to the dental team and, where relevant, an anesthesia professional.

Option	How it is given	Awareness	Recovery	Typical fit
Nitrous oxide	Inhaled through a nasal mask	Awake, relaxed, responsive	Clears within minutes; usually no escort needed	Mild to moderate anxiety, short procedures
Oral sedation	A benzodiazepine-type tablet taken before the visit, as prescribed	Drowsy but rousable; memory may be patchy	Several hours; escort required	Moderate anxiety, longer appointments
Intravenous (IV) conscious sedation	Medicine through a vein, adjusted during treatment	Deeply relaxed, responds to voice; little memory	Rest of the day; escort required	Severe anxiety, complex work
General anesthesia	Administered by an anesthesia professional in an equipped facility	Fully unconscious	Monitored recovery; escort required	Extreme phobia, special needs, extensive surgery

Nitrous oxide has the best safety and convenience profile and the longest track record. Oral sedation is simple but less predictable, because the effect depends on how an individual absorbs the medicine. IV sedation gives the most control over depth but requires specific training, monitoring equipment and fasting. General anesthesia carries the highest risk and is reserved for situations where lighter options have failed or are unsuitable.

Across all levels, fasting instructions, medical screening and an adult escort home are safety features, not formalities. Sedation is also a bridge, not a destination: it gets necessary treatment done while fear remains, but it does not by itself make the next appointment less frightening.

CBT for dental anxiety: how it works and what a course looks like

Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a structured talking therapy that changes unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors through practice rather than insight alone. For phobias, it is the best-supported psychological treatment, and dental fear is no exception.

A typical course is short. National guidance describes CBT for anxiety as running roughly 6 to 20 sessions, and dental-specific programs are often at the shorter end, sometimes delivered in a few sessions within a dental setting by trained staff. Online and self-help formats exist, with somewhat smaller but still meaningful effects in trials.

The work has three strands:

• Education. Understanding why your heart races or why you nearly faint removes the fear of the fear itself. Many patients report relief simply from learning that a vasovagal drop is a reflex, not a heart problem.
• Cognitive restructuring. You identify the specific prediction driving the dread (“the anesthetic will not work”) and test it against evidence, past experience and a plan for what you would do if it came true.
• Graded exposure. You build a ladder from the least to the most frightening step: looking at photos of a clinic, sitting in the waiting room, reclining in the chair, having a mirror in the mouth, hearing the handpiece, and so on. Each rung is repeated until the anxiety falls, then you climb. Exposure is the active ingredient; the rest supports it.

For needle-related fainting, therapists add applied tension: tensing the large muscles of the arms, legs and torso for short bursts to raise blood pressure and prevent the drop. It is simple, learnable in one session and specifically counters the vasovagal pattern.

The goal is not to love the dentist. It is to attend without avoidance, tolerate discomfort, and need less help each time. People who complete a course frequently manage routine care with no sedation at all.

What the evidence actually says, graded by strength

Not every option on this list stands on the same footing. Here is a plain grading, from strongest to weakest, with the type of evidence behind each.

Cognitive behavioral therapy: strong. Multiple randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews show CBT reduces dental anxiety scores substantially and, more importantly, increases the proportion of people who go on to receive dental treatment without sedation. Follow-up data out to several years show the benefit largely persists. Of all the approaches here, CBT is the only one with good evidence of lasting change.

Sedation for completing treatment: strong, but narrow. Nitrous oxide, oral and IV sedation reliably reduce distress and allow procedures to be completed in anxious patients; this is supported by randomized trials and decades of clinical use. The evidence that sedation reduces future anxiety is weak and mixed, and some studies suggest repeated sedation can maintain avoidance by removing the chance to learn that the procedure is tolerable.

Communication and perceived control: moderate. Trials of stop signals, information-giving and patient-chosen pacing show reductions in reported pain and anxiety. Effects are smaller than CBT but come at no cost or risk.

Music, distraction and relaxation breathing: low to moderate. Small randomized trials report modest reductions in anxiety and physiological markers during treatment; study quality varies and effects fade after the appointment.

Hypnosis: low. Some trials show benefit, but they are small, hard to blind and inconsistent. It may help selected, motivated patients.

Herbal or over-the-counter calming products: insufficient. No good-quality trials in dental settings, and some interact with sedatives or anesthetics. Mention any supplement to your dentist.

The pattern is instructive: the most-marketed option is strong for the day and weak for the future, while the least-marketed option is the reverse. The evidence favors combining them when fear is severe, with sedation covering urgent treatment while CBT works on the fear.

Common myths about dental anxiety and sedation

Viral content around this topic leans on a handful of claims that collapse under scrutiny. Here are the ones most worth correcting.

“Sleep dentistry means you are asleep.” Usually not. Most sedation dentistry is conscious sedation: you are deeply relaxed and may remember little, but you are breathing on your own and can respond to instructions. True unconsciousness is general anesthesia, which requires an anesthesia professional and specific facilities. The marketing phrase blurs the two.

“If you are anxious, you need sedation.” Only a minority of anxious patients need medicine at all. Communication adjustments and graded exposure manage most mild and moderate anxiety, and CBT addresses severe fear more durably than any sedative.

“Local anesthetic does not work on me.” Anesthetic failure happens, especially in inflamed or infected teeth and in certain lower molars where the nerve is hard to reach, but it is a technical problem with technical solutions: different injection sites, supplementary techniques or treating the infection first. Anxiety also lowers pain thresholds, which can make normal sensations of pressure feel like pain.

“Dentists judge you for staying away.” Addressed above, but worth repeating: neglected mouths are the daily work of dentistry, not a scandal.

“Nitrous oxide is dangerous or addictive in the dental setting.” Properly administered with oxygen and monitoring, nitrous oxide has an excellent safety record over more than a century of use. Harm from recreational misuse of the gas, which has made headlines, is a separate issue from supervised clinical use.

“Dental anxiety is just a lack of willpower.” It is a conditioned fear response, often with a measurable physiological signature. Willpower does not reset conditioning; graded exposure does.

“You cannot get help unless you have a diagnosis.” Dental teams adjust for anxiety on request, and in many places talking therapy accepts self-referral without a formal label.

When to see a doctor about dental anxiety

Dental anxiety usually sits with the dental team, but there are clear moments when a physician or mental health professional should be involved, and a few that need urgent care regardless of fear.

Seek same-day or emergency care, however anxious you feel, if you have:

• facial swelling that is spreading, especially toward the eye or down the neck;
• difficulty swallowing, breathing or opening the mouth;
• fever with toothache;
• uncontrolled bleeding from the mouth;
• a fainting episode, chest pain or a very fast or irregular heartbeat during or after a dental visit.

Dental infections can spread to the airway and bloodstream; they do not wait for the fear to subside.

See your primary care clinician if blood pressure readings at the dental office are high on more than one occasion, so hypertension can be properly assessed with home or ambulatory monitoring rather than assumed or dismissed. Tell them about any medicines you take for anxiety, sleep or pain, because these interact with dental sedatives and anesthetics; never stop or adjust a prescribed medicine before an appointment without the prescriber’s advice.

Ask for a referral to a mental health professional, or self-refer where that route exists, if the fear meets the phobia pattern described earlier: long avoidance despite symptoms, physical panic at the thought of an appointment, or distress spilling into sleep, work or relationships. The same applies if dental fear is one part of broader anxiety, needle phobia or a trauma history. CBT works best when it addresses the whole picture.

Finally, if sedation has been suggested, the decision about whether it is appropriate, which level, and how it is managed alongside your medical conditions belongs to the treating dentist and, where involved, an anesthesia professional. Bring your full medicine list, including supplements, and be honest about alcohol and other substances; safe sedation depends on it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calm my dental anxiety on the day of the appointment?

Tell the dental team you are anxious, agree on a hand signal to pause treatment, and breathe out for roughly twice as long as you breathe in. Book a morning slot, skip caffeine, and bring headphones if sound bothers you. These steps cost nothing and have consistent support in small trials and clinical guidance.

What can I do if I'm too embarrassed to see the dentist?

Say so when you book, in one sentence, by phone, form or paper. Dental teams see neglected teeth daily and treat them as clinical findings, not character judgments. You can request a talk-only first visit, decline to decide on treatment that day, and change practices if the tone feels judgmental. Naming the embarrassment usually dissolves most of it.

I'm scared to go to the dentist after 10 years. What should I expect?

Expect a conversation, a visual and gum examination, X-rays and a staged plan, with nothing irreversible done without consent. Urgent pain and infection are addressed first, gum health next, fillings after that. Most long-absent patients find their teeth more restorable than feared and the number of appointments smaller than imagined.

Can dental anxiety cause high blood pressure?

Temporarily, yes: anxiety can push readings up by 10 to 30 mmHg during an appointment, a white-coat effect. That does not mean you have hypertension, which requires repeated readings, ideally at home. There is no good evidence that occasional dental anxiety raises baseline blood pressure, though persistently high office readings should be checked by your primary care clinician.

What are the main sedation dentistry options?

Four levels exist: nitrous oxide inhaled through a mask, oral sedation with a prescribed tablet, intravenous conscious sedation, and general anesthesia. The first three keep you awake or rousable; only general anesthesia makes you unconscious. Which fits depends on the procedure and your health, and the choice belongs to your dentist and any anesthesia professional involved.

What are the symptoms of dental phobia versus ordinary nervousness?

Phobia shows up as long avoidance despite pain or symptoms, physical reactions such as nausea, sweating or faintness at the mere thought of an appointment, and a fear you recognize as out of proportion yet cannot reason away. Ordinary nervousness is unpleasant but does not stop you attending. The phobia pattern usually needs structured therapy rather than tips alone.

Does sedation stop the fear of the dentist for good?

No. Sedation reliably lets treatment happen while you are anxious, but trials show little effect on future fear, and repeated sedation can maintain avoidance by removing the chance to learn the procedure is tolerable. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the approach with evidence of lasting change. Many clinicians combine the two when fear is severe.

How long does CBT for dental anxiety take?

Courses for anxiety typically run 6 to 20 sessions, and dental-focused programs are often shorter, sometimes a handful of sessions, with online and self-help versions available. The core ingredient is graded exposure: repeating each step of a dental visit until the anxiety falls. Most people who complete a course can attend routine care with little or no sedation.

Why do I feel faint with dental injections rather than panicky?

That is a vasovagal response, a reflex in which heart rate and blood pressure drop, common in needle-related fear. Because it is a drop rather than a surge, relaxation breathing can worsen it slightly. Applied tension, briefly tensing the large muscles of the arms, legs and torso, raises blood pressure and counters the faint. A therapist can teach it in one session.

Can children inherit dental anxiety from parents?

Not genetically in any simple sense, but children learn it quickly. Watching a parent dread appointments, hearing the dentist used as a threat, or having a painful early experience without enough numbing all set the pattern. Calm language, early routine visits and a parent who manages their own fear out of sight give children the best start.

References

• Cleveland Clinic: Dentophobia (Fear of Dentists)
• Cleveland Clinic: Sedation Dentistry
• NHS: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) overview
• MedlinePlus: Phobias

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.