If it is the drill and the needle you dread, read this first
Plenty of people are not frightened of the dentist in general. They are frightened of two specific things. Here is what can actually be done about each of them, including the options most people never think to ask for.
A lot of people say they are scared of the dentist when what they actually mean is much narrower than that.
They are fine with the waiting room. They are fine with the check-up. There are two specific things they dread, and those two things are the needle and the drill.
That is a much easier problem to work with than a general fear, because both have real answers.
Say it before you arrive
The single most useful thing you can do costs you one sentence at the time of booking.
Tell us you are anxious, and tell us what specifically bothers you. The needle. The sound. The vibration. Gagging. Not being able to see what is happening. Something that went badly somewhere else years ago.
That sentence changes the appointment before it starts. We book more time so nothing is rushed. We plan a first visit that may not involve any treatment at all. And whoever is treating you knows before you sit down, so you do not have to explain yourself while lying flat with your mouth open, which is the worst possible moment to try.
About the needle
Most of what people hate about the injection is avoidable, and most of it comes down to time.
Numbing gel goes on first. It is left on the gum long enough to actually work, which is longer than people expect. Done properly, the initial pinch largely goes.
The delivery is slow. A lot of the discomfort in a dental injection is not the needle at all. It is the pressure of the anaesthetic going in too fast. Slowing it down makes a large difference and costs nothing but patience.
We wait. Rushing back in before the anaesthetic has fully taken effect is what produces the experience that convinces someone dentists hurt. If you are not properly numb, say so and we will give it more time or top it up.
You will not see the syringe unless you want to, and you can look away throughout.
About the drill
The honest position first: for a lot of treatment there is no substitute, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. But most of what makes it distressing is sensory, not painful, and sensory things can be managed.
The noise. Headphones and your own music or a podcast. This helps far more than it sounds like it will, because for many people the sound is the actual trigger and the sensation is secondary.
The not-knowing. Some people want every step narrated before it happens. Others want no commentary at all. Both are fine, and it is worth telling us which one you are.
The loss of control. This is the big one, and it is why the next section exists.
Agree a stop signal
Before anything starts, we agree a signal. Usually you raise your hand.
When you use it, we stop. Not at a convenient moment, not in a second. That is the whole point of it.
It is worth understanding why this matters so much. A great deal of dental anxiety is not really about pain. It is about being flat on your back, unable to speak, while somebody else decides when it ends. Handing that control back changes the experience even for people who never end up using the signal. Most do not. Knowing they can is enough.
Sedation, and what the options actually mean
Sedation is not one thing, and people often imagine only the deepest version of it.
Light relaxation leaves you awake and able to respond, but calm. The edge comes off, and the appointment passes more easily than you expected.
Deeper sedation means you are much less aware of what is happening and most people remember very little about it afterwards.
Which one suits depends on you and on the treatment. Some people use sedation once to get a long-delayed piece of work done, find the experience nothing like they feared, and never need it again. That is a genuinely common pattern.
There is more detail on our sedation page, and it is a conversation rather than a menu.
The reason not to keep putting it off
This part is not a scare tactic, it is arithmetic.
Dental problems only move in one direction. A spot of early decay becomes a filling. A filling that is left becomes a crown or a root canal. A root canal left long enough becomes an extraction.
So the appointment you are avoiding gets bigger every year you avoid it. The people who have the hardest time in a dental chair are almost always the ones who waited longest, which is a cruel loop: the fear causes the delay, and the delay causes exactly the kind of long, complicated visit the fear was about.
Breaking it earlier means breaking it on easier terms.
What a first visit can look like
It does not have to involve treatment.
It can be a conversation in a normal room with you sitting up. It can be a look and nothing else. It can be an appointment where the only aim is that you leave having had a completely uneventful time.
We would much rather do that than get one big session done and never see you again.
Read more: Scared of the dentist? It is not the pain you are afraid of
If you want to start, call 1800 833 844 and say you are nervous. That is genuinely all you need to say.
Dental anxiety FAQ
What should I say when I book?
Just that you are anxious, and what specifically bothers you. The needle, the drill, gagging, the noise, not being in control, or a bad experience somewhere else. That one sentence lets us book more time, plan the first visit differently and skip treatment altogether on day one if that is what suits.
Can I have treatment without an injection?
Sometimes. Very shallow work can occasionally be done without numbing, and that is a judgement made tooth by tooth rather than a promise made in advance. What we can always do is make the injection itself far more comfortable, with numbing gel first, a slow delivery and enough time for it to take effect properly.
What sedation options are there?
It runs on a scale. Light relaxation leaves you awake but calm and takes the edge off. Deeper sedation means you are far less aware of the appointment and tend to remember little of it. Which suits depends on you and on the treatment, and we will talk it through rather than push one option.
Will I be judged for how long it has been?
No, and this is worth saying plainly because it keeps people away for years. We see people who have not been to a dentist in a decade regularly. Our interest is entirely in what happens from here.
What if I need to stop halfway through?
Then we stop. We agree a signal before we start, usually raising your hand, and it works every time it is used. Knowing you can stop is often the single thing that makes the appointment possible.
