Hypnosis in Dentistry

 

There are several applications for using hypnotherapy and dentistry, although the most common that you will likely work on is dealing with people’s dental anxiety.

 

Uses of hypnosis for dental patients:

• elimination of the patient’s, tension, anxiety or fear of pain, needles  and/or the dentist

• helping the client to become accustomed to prosthetic or orthodontic appliances (example: helping a client to become accustomed to the feeling of false teeth or braces)

• helping the client to remain comfortable during long and arduous periods of dental work

• eliminating unwanted dental habits such as bruxism (the unconscious grinding of teeth) as well as habits that cause problems to the teeth

• reduction of anesthesia during dental procedures

• prevention of gagging and nausea during dental procedures

• control of salivary flow and bleeding during dental procedures.

 

Typically, when a client comes to see a hypnotherapist to help with their dental procedure, it is to work on the anxiety related to going to the dentist. You will often hear clients complain about the dental dam, receiving needles, difficulty with keeping their mouths open for long periods of time, gag reflex being overactive etc.

 

Therefore, it’s usually not the pain management that I am working on as much as it is anxiety. However, I can certainly help a client with pain management if that is their goal.

 

Occasionally, a client will come to hypnosis because they have a habit that is affecting their teeth, such as thumb sucking or bruxism. So, an issue manifests with their teeth, but we are really not working on “dentistry” much as we are working on eliminating habit.

 

Another issue that affects the teeth is TMJ or temporomandibular joint syndrome, which is when a client clenches their teeth together. This creates pain in the jaw and can also create headaches and neck and shoulder tension. This unconscious clenching can occur when the client is asleep, as well as when they are awake.