Hypnosis for Fear of the Dentist (Dental Anxiety)
The reminder from the dental office arrived months ago, and it is still waiting. You think about it now and then, and put it off again. It is not the right time, there are more urgent things, it can wait.
Yet just thinking about it is enough for your body to react: the smell of the surgery, the sound of the drill, the light in your eyes, lying back with your mouth open and no way to speak. Some people put up with a raging toothache for days rather than make the call.
And the longer it goes on, the more a second fear joins the first: what the dentist will say on seeing the state of your teeth.
You are neither soft nor careless, and you are far from alone: fear of the dentist is one of the most common fears there is, and it is something you can work on.
Dental pain should not wait until a course of support is over.
If you have pain that persists, a broken tooth or an abscess, call a dentist without delay and tell them you are afraid: they will take it into account.
If your face or neck swells, if you have a fever, or if you have trouble swallowing or breathing, go to the emergency department: these are not matters for hypnosis.
Any decision about a treatment, sedation or a medicine belongs exclusively to the dentist or doctor caring for you.
What is Fear of the Dentist?
Fear of the dentist ranges from mild apprehension to phobia. Plenty of people dislike the chair without it stopping them from going. We speak of dental anxiety when the fear becomes strong and shapes part of your life, and of dental phobia, sometimes called odontophobia, when it leads you to avoid care, even when you are in pain.
It is very common. A meta-analysis of 31 studies and 72,577 adults estimates that about 15% of adults worldwide are afraid of the dentist, 12% have high dental fear and about 3% severe dental fear, with higher figures among women and younger adults. In Canada, a national survey of 1,101 people found that 5.5% had high fear of dental treatment, and that almost half of them had missed, cancelled or avoided an appointment because of it.
What people actually dread
The same word covers different fears, and untangling them is often the first step. Pain, or the memory of past pain. The anaesthetic needle. The sound of the drill, the smell, the light. Lying back with your mouth open, unable to speak, which brings a feeling of losing control. The judgement you expect about the state of your teeth. Or gagging during treatment.
Very often, it all started with an experience, often in childhood: a painful procedure, a rushed dentist, a humiliating remark. The body learned, and it still reacts years later.
Some of these fears have their own article. If it is mostly your throat tightening when instruments touch it, see Hypnosis for the Gag Reflex (Gagging at the Dentist). If it is the needle, Hypnosis and the Fear of Blood Draws and Needles covers that. The broader subject is on Hypnosis for Fears and Phobias.
The impact of Fear of the Dentist on daily life
Fear of the dentist feeds itself, which is what makes it so stubborn. You avoid the appointment, small problems settle in, and when you finally go, often as an emergency, the treatment is longer and heavier. It then confirms what you feared. The next appointment becomes even harder to book, and the loop closes a little tighter each time, until you only go when the pain becomes unbearable.
Oral health pays the price. The authors of the meta-analysis cited above point out that fear of the dentist has negative effects on how regularly people receive care and on the state of their mouth, whether assessed by the dentist or felt by the person.
Shame adds itself to fear. The more years go by, the more you dread the dentist's view of your teeth, and the harder it becomes to call. Some people avoid smiling, laughing openly or eating certain foods.
And anticipation takes up a lot of room. The nights before an appointment, the waiting room, your heart speeding up at the sound of a drill in the next room. For many, the waiting is worse than the treatment itself.
Recognised approaches outside Hypnosis
The starting point is a dentist who knows. Tell them as soon as you call that you are afraid: many practices are used to anxious patients, and some specialise in them.
- Adjustments in the chair: explaining each step before doing it, agreeing on a hand signal to stop, planning breaks, starting with short, simple procedures.
- Cognitive behavioural therapy with a psychologist, including in a single session: it is the best-documented approach for reducing fear of the dentist.
- Conscious sedation, for example with nitrous oxide, or a medicine prescribed before the appointment, when the dentist or doctor considers it appropriate.
- General anaesthesia, for some procedures and situations, decided on and supervised by health professionals.
Hypnosis sits alongside these approaches.
Hypnosis for Fear of the Dentist: aims and benefits
Let us start with what hypnosis does not do.
It does not replace local anaesthesia, nor sedation when that is indicated. It does not treat teeth and does not replace any examination. It does not stop pain from being an emergency. And no one can promise you will never again feel apprehensive walking into a dental office.
What support aims for
- Calming anticipation. The days before the appointment, the waiting room, the moment you sit down: that is often where the fear weighs most.
- Regaining a sense of control. Knowing you can raise your hand, breathe, and return to a state of calm you have learned changes how lying back feels.
- Revisiting the original experience, when the fear set in after a difficult procedure, so that your body stops replaying an old scene at every appointment.
- Rehearsing the appointment in your imagination, from the phone call to walking out, in a relaxed state, so that the real situation already feels familiar.
- Moving forward in steps: booking, then a simple visit, then a check-up, then a procedure, each one prepared in advance.
Self-hypnosis is part of the work. A short self-visualisation exercise to practise at home, then in the waiting room and in the chair.
What the research says
The results are encouraging but uneven, and that should be said. A systematic review published in 2022 examined 19 clinical trials in adults conducted between 1979 and 2021. It concludes that cognitive behavioural therapy, in several formats, is the best-supported approach for reducing fear of the dentist. On hypnosis, only five studies were comparable enough to be pooled, and their results were mixed: some showed a clear drop in anxiety, others a small or even slightly negative effect.
Above all, the authors point to the wide variety of methods, which makes it hard to judge hypnosis as a whole, and they call for more rigorous research. They nonetheless consider the results promising.
What we take from this for our practice. Hypnosis is not the reference approach for dental phobia, and we do not present it as such. It can help reduce anticipation and find your way back to the dentist in steps, alongside what your dentist puts in place, and in addition to psychological support when the fear is very strong.
What our clients say
What people remember most is often not the session itself, but what they can take with them to the dentist. A calming gesture, a way of breathing, a self-visualisation exercise to practise in the waiting room and then in the chair: simple tools, learned in session and repeated at home, that make it possible to approach the appointment differently. Greta left this note after her first session, the day after an appointment with her dentist.
« David was very professional, respectful and gentle at our first hypnotherapy meeting. He gave me clear exercises that are easy to do at home. Thank you David, I already used the self-visualisation exercise yesterday at the dentist. »
Greta, client of David Veilleux
Every situation is different, and this testimonial says nothing about what you will experience.
How a Hypnosis session on this subject unfolds
The conversation. What exactly frightens you, since when, what you have avoided, and where you stand with your dental care. If there is pain or an infection, we will refer you to a dentist before anything else.
The aim, framed together and deliberately modest. For example: booking a check-up, or staying in the chair through a scale and polish.
The induction. A natural state of focused attention you already know without naming it. You stay conscious, you hear everything, you can speak and you can stop whenever you wish.
The work. On this subject it bears on anticipation, on a calming gesture you can use in the chair, on the original experience when there is one, and on rehearsing the appointment in your imagination.
The return and the exercise. A conversation about what you experienced, a self-visualisation exercise to take away, and a step to take before next time.
The number of sessions is settled at the first conversation.
Book an appointment
Hypnosis comes alongside your dentist's care, never in its place. The first conversation also serves to check what cannot wait: if you are in pain, have a damaged tooth or swelling, it is a dentist you need to see first, and we will tell you so. If you have an appointment booked, give us the date: it helps plan the work, and it is better to leave yourself time to practise the exercise before the day.
By video, wherever you are in the world: this work rests mostly on anticipation and self-hypnosis, which are learned just as well at a distance. Here is how it works. In person, our practitioners see English-speaking clients in Quebec, in Montreal, Sherbrooke and Gatineau, and in France in Paris and Lille.
A question before you decide? Write to us describing your situation.
Where would you like to consult?
All areas
Annie Mayrand
Gatineau - Cumberland (ON)
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Christian Rocher
Beloeil
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David Veilleux
Montréal - Anjou
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Florence Aton
Sutton
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Jessica Reid
Sherbrooke
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Julie Rocque
Montréal - Jean-Talon
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Nuria Pérez de León
Montréal - Rosemont - Saint-Lambert
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Romain Rastoin
Bromont
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Réjeanne LeBlanc
La Prairie
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Frequently asked questions about Hypnosis for Fear of the Dentist (Dental Anxiety)
No. The support we offer deals with fear, anticipation and how you experience the appointment, not with the pain of the procedure. Local anaesthesia, sedation or any other measure is still decided by your dentist, and hypnosis is added to it, never a replacement.
With a modest first step: an introductory appointment or a simple check-up, telling the office straight away that you are afraid and that it has been a long time. Dentists know this situation well. Shame is part of what can be worked on in sessions, and it should never stop you from seeing a dentist about pain.
Yes, it is probably the single most useful step. A dentist who knows can explain each step before doing it, agree on a hand signal to stop and plan breaks. These adjustments and hypnosis work well together.
Ideally a few weeks before, so you have time to practise the self-hypnosis exercise at home. But never wait until you have had sessions before seeing a dentist about pain, swelling or fever: those come first. The number of sessions is settled at the first conversation.
No. The hypnotic state is a state of focused attention, not sleep and not being under someone's influence. You stay conscious, you hear everything, and you keep the ability to refuse a suggestion, to speak or to stop the session. That is often exactly what reassures people who fear losing control in the chair.
Yes. Hypnosis support does not replace any treatment, change any treatment or interrupt any treatment. The decision to use sedation or general anaesthesia belongs to your dentist and the health professionals caring for you. Any decision about a medicine belongs exclusively to the doctor or dentist who prescribed it.
Psychotherapy is a regulated framework, practised by professionals whose title is protected. For a marked dental phobia, cognitive behavioural therapy, including single-session formats, is the best-documented approach. Hypnosis is a more limited form of support, focused on a specific goal, which can be added to it.
Talk to the dentist, ideally one used to working with children, and try not to pass on your own worries before the appointment. Our page Hypnosis for Children describes what we can offer younger clients, always alongside dental care.
Sources and references
Figures
- Estimated prevalence of dental fear in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Silveira, E. R., Cademartori, M. G., Schuch, H. S., Armfield, J. A., & Demarco, F. F. (2021). Journal of Dentistry, 108, 103632. 31 studies, 72,577 adults.
- Need and demand for sedation or general anesthesia in dentistry: a national survey of the Canadian population. Chanpong, B., Haas, D. A., & Locker, D. (2005). Anesthesia Progress, 52(1), 3-11. The Canadian survey: 1,101 participants.
Management and hypnosis
- Efficacy of Hypnosis on Dental Anxiety and Phobia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Wolf, T. G., Schläppi, S., Benz, C. I., & Campus, G. (2022). Brain Sciences, 12(5), 521. 19 clinical trials in adults.
And related articles
- Hypnosis for the Gag Reflex (Gagging at the Dentist), if gagging is mainly what holds you back.
- Hypnosis for Bruxism (Teeth Grinding), the other subject that plays out at the dentist's.
- Hypnosis and the Fear of Blood Draws and Needles, for fear of needles.
Hypnosis as practised by the members of Solutions Hypnose is a complementary support approach. It is neither a medical act, nor a diagnosis, nor psychotherapy in the regulatory sense, and it in no way replaces a consultation, follow-up or treatment prescribed by a health professional.
Our practitioners do not assess and do not treat mental disorders or illnesses. They never ask for an ongoing treatment to be stopped or changed: that decision rests exclusively with your doctor.
No result can be guaranteed. The testimonials and examples presented on this page describe individual experiences and do not predict what you will experience.
In case of significant distress, unexplained physical symptoms or suicidal thoughts, contact a doctor, emergency services or a helpline without delay.
Page written by David Veilleux
hypnotherapist and NLP coach
partner at Solutions Hypnose.
Published .