What’s my secret to relaxation? I just love to lay back in a reclining chair with a bright light shining in my face. Add someone scraping my teeth below gum level with a sharp stainless steel instrument combined with the noise of a spit suction tube industriously vacuuming my mouth bone dry, and I just drift off to LaLa land.

Add a little injection or two to help me dribble down my chin and the noise of little drills cutting through my teeth just drops me right into deep somnambulism!

Yesireee. I just LOVE going to the dentist for an hour of intrusive relaxation. NOT!

Bear in mind, I first started to go to the dentist in the mid-50’s when it wasn't nearly as sophisticated or painless as is it today, and once I was old enough to make my own decisions, I stopped going and just made sure I brushed after every meal … sorta.

Over the last decade or so though, I’ve been going to my wife’s very gentle dentist who restored my faith in the profession.

MY DENTAL BEACH

A number of years ago my dentist suggested I visit a periodontist (a gum doctor) to have some mid-life work done. No problem I thought. After all, I didn't have any cavities and my jaw was in pretty good shape. No worries, I thought.

I visited the periodontist for a quick checkup and X-rays, then made four appointments for him to complete the work, a quarter of my mouth at a time.

Then I checked with Dr. Google for details of the procedure and thought, uh oh … freezing or not, I’m going to need some hypnosis for this. The specialist was apparently going to cut my gums away from my teeth, clean deeply, then stitch my gums back in place again.

I became a man on a mission and made a 15-minute hypnosis track for myself on my Mac using subliminals, binaural beats behind music, direct suggestions and just for good measure, threw in some confusion techniques, too.

On the day of my periodontal appointment, I blissed out listening to the suggestions in my car in the parking lot 20 minutes before my appointment, then coming back to full awareness, took the elevator up to the dental office and from the very moment I touched the office door, as I’d pre-programmed myself, I felt myself starting to slide slowly back onto the beach again.

Once reclined in the dental chair, I slipped deeper and deeper into my beach experience and waited for the moment the dentist would ask me to open my mouth, which would take me another level deeper.

Instead, I heard him instead say to his chairside assistant, “Um, just bring that O2 over here will you? I’m not sure what’s going on here.”

Struggling to bring myself back up enough to talk legibly, I told him I’d hypnotized myself and although I could hear everything he said and could respond to his instructions, I was “going away” for a while, and just to tell me when he was finished and I’d come back to full awareness.

He looked at me, then at his instrument tray and looking back at me, picked up a stainless steel something or another and tapped it gently against my teeth and my gums.

“Can you feel that?” he asked two or three times.

Again struggling to come back up enough to say yes I reflected, this guy was ruining my beach experience. “Just get on with it!” I thought to myself.

Finally, he said the magic words … “Ok, just open wide while I freeze the area. You’ll feel a little pinch …” and with that, wham, I was gone.

Coming to full awareness 45 minutes later when he’d finished, I felt great and literally wondered what I’d made such a fuss about. I mean, It didn't hurt at all. Nothing like the Dr. Google commentators said I’d feel.

Wandering out to the front desk, I paid the bill (which made me a little dizzy but thank the Lord for dental insurance), confirmed the next appointment for 6 weeks time, then walked out into the bright sunshine afternoon.

WHAT ABOUT NITROUS OXIDE?

Six weeks later, sitting in his chair again, he asked, “So how does this hypnosis thing work?” I gave him my 30 second elevator speech after which he just shrugged and said, “I usually just give people gas …” nodding to the nitrous oxide tanks in the corner, then picked up the needle from his tray.

Most dentists are very proud of their ability to calm patients and instead of referring patients out for anxiety therapy, prefer to use Nitrous Oxide for highly anxious patients.

Nitrous Oxide is still very much in use today and dentists regularly advertise it to attract patients who may not otherwise consider needed dental work – AND - it has also been demonstrated to increase suggestibility and imaginative ability.

Specifically, researchers in Britain tested 30 volunteers in a dental surgery during a suggestibility testing study on two occasions. During one visit, volunteers inhaled 25% nitrous oxide, the other time they inhaled normal air/oxygen.

When asked in which session they thought had received the drug, volunteers weren't very accurate at identifying the right session, and from the results of testing after administration of the two gasses, researchers drew the conclusions that the noted increase in suggestibility was a real drug effect and not just a boost caused by positive expectations.

And again, “laughing gas” has been found to increase the effectiveness of dental practitioner suggestions, part of the “white-coat” psychological effect on us mere mortals.

However, it doesn't last long and hypnosis lasts as long as you want it to.

DIFFERENT PAIN PRIORITIES

But does my dentist have the same anxiety about my pain as I do?

In Denmark, a recent study probing dentists’ perceived stress and its relation to anxious patients echoed similar studies conducted globally, and found dentist perceptions of their most intense stressors were ranked as:

1) Running behind schedule  2) Causing pain  3) Heavy workload  4) Late patients  5) Anxious patients

On the other hand, perceived causes of dental anxiety by patients in order of importance were ranked as:

1) Fear of pain  2) Trauma in dental treatment  3) General psychological problems  4) Shame about their dental status  5) Ability to pay for services

On the other hand, what are the psychological effects, if any, on the dentist when working with an anxious patient?

COMPROMISED TREATMENT FRUSTRATION

The top stressor for the dentist is referred to as “compromised treatment frustration.”

In Canada, a dentist spends four years in dental school alone learning the "ideal" treatment for their future patients, including regular preventative treatment whether anything is amiss or not.

In short, they spend four years having the “total health” concept emphasised to them.

Yet the realities of private practice are that many patients, due to financial restraints, poor insurance plans or low appreciation of quality dental care, will not accept "ideal" treatment plans.

Consequently, the dentist is often forced to operate a "fix-and-repair" business, providing compromised treatment for patients who refuse the full spectrum of dental care.

The dentist then ends up emotionally carrying the responsibility for less than ideal results while the patient continues to express unrealistic expectations.

HOW DOES HYPNOSIS HELP THE DENTIST?

Personality traits that characterize a good dentist are also traits that predispose to depression in mid-life, drug and alcohol abuse and the attendant risk of suicide.

Among such traits are: 1) Compulsive attention to details; - 2) Extreme conscientiousness; - 3) Careful control of emotions; - 4) Unrealistic expectations of themselves and others (i.e. employees and patients); and, - 5) A marked dependence on individual performance and prestige.

Similarly, a compendium of international studies have revealed that the psychological stress of working with apprehensive and fearful patients can be devastating to the dental practitioner.

There is considerable evidence that dentists experience patterns of physiological stress responses (increased heart rate, high blood pressure, sweating, etc.) which parallel the patient's responses when performing dental procedures which evoke patient fear and anxiety.

In other words, anxiety relief … and what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander.

HOW DOES HYPNOSIS HELP THE PATIENT?

1. Elimination of the patient's tension, anxiety or fear of pain and related discomfort - 2. Accustoming the patient to orthodontic or prosthetic appliances after the patient has agreed to them - 3. Maintenance of the patient's comfort during long and arduous periods of dental work - 4. Modification of unwanted dental habits, such as bruxism, the unconscious grinding of teeth - 5. Reduction of anesthesia or analgesia during dental procedures - 6. Substitution for, or in combination with pre-medication - 7. Prevention of gagging and nausea and control of salivary flow and bleeding - 9. Increased rapidity of post-procedure healing.

HYPNODONTICS

Dental associations indicate that close to 80% of all North Americans are anxious about visits the dentist and of those, close to 50% only make an appointment when their discomfort overcomes their personal perception of how much treatment will hurt.

Consider too that everyone you know, including your dentist, has to go the dentist sooner or later and offering Hypnodontics in your community will boost your professional reputation and make you the obvious expert in your area.

People might come to you for dental prep because they have to, but one they see, feel and sense how effective it is, they’ll readily come back for other life issues.

NGH’s mission statement is that “Consulting Hypnotists help ordinary, everyday people with ordinary, everyday problems using individual hypnotic techniques” and you can help realize both yours and NGH’s vision of “a time when a visit to the Consulting Hypnotist is as common as a visit to any health car provider” by expanding your offerings to envelop Hypnodontics.

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Article Researched/Written by Rev. Timothy Jones, OB,
and Published in NGH’s JOURNAL OF HYPNOTISM
In CSIG’s “DEEPENINGS” column

(Updated 2024)

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