Optimism and Humour Can Combat Dental Fear

Dental fear is unfortunately one of the most common fears and it is said that about 50% of the adult population suffers from it at some level. There are many studies about dental fear and how to cope with it — two of the most recent conducted in Sweden showed that optimism and humour are two factors that can help to overcome dental fear.

In the first study, researchers evaluated five strategies patients use to overcome dental fear. These are: 1) self-efficacy; 2) self-distraction; 3) distancing; 4) prayer and 5) optimism.

“The study has shown that patients who adopt an optimistic mindset cope with dental treatment significantly better and they visit the dentist more regularly than patients who spend their time in prayer, despair or catastrophising”, says the report.

Meanwhile, in a second study, it was found out that using humour when interacting with the dental staff is one of the most important helpful strategies for dealing with dental fear.

Read more about the two studies here: http://bit.ly/11c4UHc