Nervous about the dentist? How we help anxious patients in Stevenage

About one in four adults in the UK has significant dental anxiety. In my experience, thirty years of practice in Johannesburg and now in Stevenage, that number is probably higher among people who haven't been to a dentist in a long time, because anxiety is often precisely what's kept them away. This article is for anyone who has been putting it off because of fear, embarrassment, or a bad experience somewhere in the past.

Why dental anxiety is so common

Dental anxiety almost always has a root cause, and it's usually a specific memory. A painful extraction in childhood. A dentist who didn't explain what they were doing before they did it. A procedure that felt out of control. Sometimes there's no single incident. Just a generalised dread that has grown quietly over years of avoidance.

Whatever the origin, it's not a character flaw. Over the years I've treated patients in every profession imaginable: surgeons, barristers, teachers, people whose daily work involves making high-pressure decisions. All of them frightened of the dental chair. Dental anxiety says nothing about you except that you had an experience, real or anticipated, that left a mark.

What I'd ask is that you don't let it stop you from coming in. The longer you leave it, the harder it gets. Not because anything becomes more frightening, but because small problems quietly become larger ones.

What happens when you call us

The hardest part, for most anxious patients, is picking up the phone. Once you've done that, everything else is manageable.

When you call the practice and tell us you're nervous, please do tell us, because it changes how we handle your appointment. Sandra or Glennis will make a note of it. Your first appointment will be booked with adequate time. We will not rush you from the waiting room into the chair before you're ready. If it helps to bring someone with you, please do. If you want to ask questions before you even come in, that's fine too.

At your first visit, we'll talk. I'll ask you what your concerns are, what specifically worries you, and whether you've had any bad experiences in the past that I should understand. Nothing will happen until you're ready, and the pace is entirely yours to set.

What we actually do differently

Tell, show, do.Before I do anything, I explain what I'm going to do and how it will feel. Not a clinical monologue. A clear, simple statement of what you're about to experience. No surprises. If something unexpected comes up mid-treatment, I stop and explain it before continuing.

Numbing cream before any injection.The injection is the thing most people dread. I apply topical anaesthetic cream to the gum before any needle comes near it, which takes the edge off that first sensation. I also give the local anaesthetic slowly: the discomfort of an injection is largely about speed and technique, not the needle itself. Most of my patients say it was "nothing like as bad as I expected." That's not wishful thinking. It's about how it's done.

A stop signal. Raise your hand and I stop immediately. No questions asked, no visible impatience. This is a genuine agreement, not a reassurance I offer and then ignore. Knowing you can stop makes it easier to start.

Unhurried appointments.Because we're a private practice, I don't have a waiting room of NHS patients to work through. If we get through half of what I planned and you need a break, or you need to stop for the day, we book another appointment. The treatment gets done at whatever pace works for you. That's not a concession. It's just how I work.

An honest note on sedation

We don't offer sedation at Bowling Green, and I want to be upfront about that rather than leave you to discover it later. Sedation requires specific training, monitoring equipment and clinical protocols. It's a significant undertaking, and there are practices that do it well. If your anxiety is severe enough that you cannot function in a dental chair without sedation, the right thing for me to do is refer you to a practice that handles it properly, rather than attempt something in a setting not equipped for it.

What I can tell you, honestly, is that the vast majority of anxious patients who come to see me, including patients who have avoided dentistry for a decade or more, find that the experience is very different from what they had anticipated. Fear is often about the time between making the appointment and sitting in the chair. Once treatment is underway, most people find it manageable. I won't pretend that's true for everyone, but it's true for most.

Children and patients with additional needs

Dental anxiety often begins in childhood, which is why we work hard at making young patients' first visits positive ones. We use tell-show-do throughout, we never rush, and we offer acclimatisation visits. That's an appointment where a child comes in simply to meet us and sit in the chair, with nothing clinical happening at all. Getting comfortable with the environment before any treatment is a small investment that pays off enormously.

We're also experienced with patients who have special educational needs: autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences, learning disabilities. We support the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme and are happy to discuss adjustments before you arrive: longer appointments, quieter sessions, specific communication preferences. I've been told by parents that their child's appointment at Bowling Green was the first positive dental visit they'd ever had. That means a great deal to me.

The cost of not coming

I want to mention this not to alarm you, but because I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't. Avoidance has a cost in dental terms that compounds over time.

A small cavity that would be a straightforward filling today, at Bowling Green from £150, left another two or three years may reach the nerve and require a root canal, which starts from £450. Ignored further, the tooth may become unrestorable. An extraction and implant to replace it starts at £2,300. These aren't imaginary scenarios: I see them regularly, and they are almost always the result of anxiety-driven avoidance rather than negligence.

Gum disease follows the same pattern: almost entirely painless and invisible until it isn't, and much easier to treat when caught early. A hygiene appointment (£61) that becomes necessary periodontitis treatment is a much harder conversation.

The kindest thing I can say to someone who hasn't been for five or ten years: come in for an examination. Let me tell you what's there. You might be pleasantly surprised. Plenty of people are. Or I might find something that needs attention before it becomes a larger problem. Either way, knowing is better than not knowing, and knowing is what the examination is for.