Do you know that you need to have work done on your teeth but you're not quite sure what needs to be done? Have you been afraid to get your teeth checked out because you're worried about what might happen when you do so? It's normal to have anxiety about visiting the dentist. Nobody likes having other people look into their mouth and poke around. Fortunately, there are things you can do to help ease this anxiety in order to help make the process easier and less stressful for you. Some things that you need to know or to remember include:

Listen to music: Listening to music while you're having your exam and any work done can help to distract you from what's going on. Dental pain during an exam is often imaginary and is a result of focusing too hard on what's going on. Listening to music can help with that and may also be able to help with real pain as well. In most instances, a general dentist can save any questions, treatment options and other conversation for after the exam has been completed. Before he or she begins, you may want to clarify signals for such things as requests to open your mouth wider and other similar things. 

"Fire" your dentist: If, at any time, you are seriously uncomfortable with what your general dentist is doing, don't be afraid to tell him or her that you no longer wish to continue. For instance, some less experienced dentists may think that pain you're experiencing during dental work is all phantom pain, but this isn't necessarily the case. Different anesthetics work differently on different people, some better and some worse than what otherwise might be expected. An experienced dentist should be willing to try a different anesthetic if it turns out that the standard one isn't working well for you.

Treat yourself: In order to help halt anxiety in its tracks, you may need to trick your brain into associating a general dentist visit with good things. While you may not feel like going out to dinner after getting a filling done, try to set aside the rest of the day for something fun. Perhaps you'll want to watch a movie, maybe you'll feel like playing a favorite video game. Whatever it is, try to only do that thing after you visit the dentist. By doing this, your brain will start to subconsciously associate visits to the dentist with good things and you should feel much less anxiety and stress as a result.

Visit a site like http://www.brooksidedentalgroup.com for more help.