For many visiting the practice is a fairly mundane task, but there are people out there that find dentist appointments to be the most nerve racking thing in the world. We always want our patients to feel relaxed in our practice, so with that in mind, we’ve picked out a few tips for staying calm on your next appointment.
Talk to your dental team
It really can’t be stressed enough how important it is that you communicate with your dentist in Harley Street. Talk to our team members and work up some sort of signalling system to let them know that you need a break. We can’t read your mind, so even lifting your hand or making a noise will do.
Talk to our dental team on your next appointment and see what method will work for you. After all, at Harley Street Dental Clinic our team strives to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We want you to feel at home whilst we give your smile a makeover.
Bring a teddy bear if it helps
It may seem weird to walk into the practice with a bear, but for some people it can help quite a lot to have something familiar from home to clutch onto when the nerves get too overworked. As long as it’s nothing too big your dentist in Harley Street should be fine with you hanging onto a plush during procedures.
Practice breathing exercises
One of the biggest symptoms of anxiety is nervous shaking, this is because your body is burning through too much adrenaline in your system from the fight or flight response. To counter this, you have to use breathing techniques of slow inhalation through the nose and out through your mouth, that will over oxygenate your blood. Breathing like this for extended periods of time helps your body breakdown the adrenaline surge brought on by anxiety and eventually this helps you calm back down again.
So, if you feel yourself starting to get rather nervous or panicky in the practice, just let your dentist know, then take a few deep breaths for a few minutes and you should start to feel better.
Listen to music
Sometimes it can be hard to zone out when you’re in for a lengthy procedure and your mind then starts to race and head to those thoughts that make you anxious. A good way to counter this is to listen to some music to distract your mind and calm you down.
Although, if you’re going to crank up your favourite tunes for a while, we recommend you pick something soothing or try classical music. Songs with thumping bass lines, buzzing electronics or heavy metal will just get your heart rate up again and make you feel nervous.
So, if you’re feeling nervous about your next appointment, try a few of these helpful tips to keep that anxiety in check. Just remember you need to communicate with our team to let us know when it’s getting too much.