Your triumph

Quite a few people have to conquer a lot of fear before visiting our clinic in Bulgaria. They do not think of holidays but of pain, a small table with dental instruments, the sound of drilling and a metal or porcelain spitting bowl.

I think they all deserve a monument! There already are quite a few of these 'arcs' in the world, so a few more would not cause anyone harm.

A distinction has been made between dental anxiety, dental fear, and dental phobia.

Dental anxiety is a reaction to an unknown danger. Anxiety is extremely common, and most people experience some degree of dental anxiety especially if they're about to have something done which they've never experienced before. Basically, it's a fear of the unknown.

Dental fear is a reaction to a known danger ("I know what the dentist is going to do, been there, done that - I'm scared!!"), which involves a fight-or-flight response when confronted with the threatening stimulus.

Dental phobia is basically the same as fear, only much stronger ("I know what happens when I go to the dentist - there's no way I'm going back if I can help it. I'm so terrified I feel sick"). Also, the fight-or-flight response occurs when just thinking about or being reminded of the threatening situation. Someone with a dental phobia will avoid dental care at all costs until either a physical problem or the psychological burden of the phobia becomes overwhelming.

Some of this information comes from

You can visit this website for extensive information on dental anxiety, fear and phobia.



In the meantime, I will start building your arc.

The lion sleeps tonight

When we experience excessive stress, the "fight or flight" response -discovered by physiologist Walter Cannon- gets activated.


For now, these lions are harmless, but when they wake up, even on a safe distance, the very famous adrenaline flows into our bloodstream. Our breathing and heart pumping changes (gets faster), our sight sharpens (dilated pupils) and our impulses quicken. Prepared for fight (or flight), we start looking for the enemy....

That enemy could be everyone and everywhere, because we see things through an extreme kind of fear.

Dental treatment can be such an enemy and lead to this 'prehistoric' and 'animal like' response. However, every time your body triggers it for situations that are not truly life-threatening, you are having a false alarm. Too many false alarms can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and other stress disorders.

We can help you to fight (and conquer) instead of flee.

Fearless Frank

My brother Frank (Down) is terrified of dogs. He always walks an extra mile or two when one is nearby, no matter whether it is a Jack Russell or a Dane.



Yet he loves our poodle and always volunteers to watch over him when we go to the store to get his (my brother's, not the poodle's) Coca Cola, tiramisu, light beer, heavy bag of candy etc. etc. and etc.

Our anxious and phobic patients respond to our dentists as my brother to my dog. They depart from Gatwick taking pills and they arrive at Gatwick with a big smile. Very often they have requested full anaesthesia but never used it.

I do not think my brother thinks a lot about disasters and consequences. He follows his 'gut feeling', which tells him that our dog is OK. Sometimes je even finds Remi fun to play with!

I do not think our dentists will run after a rubber ball, but I do think they will help you in the best and most relaxing way.

Fear

There is fear of rats (this was Bert, one of our pets) and there is fear of dentists....

This morning, I woke up from what I always call a 'nightMary'. My mouth was so dry that I had to get out of the bed and into the kitchen for water immediately.

Ever since I work at the Dentaprime service centre, I suffer from dental hypochondria.
This time, I immediately thought of Sjögren's (dry mouth) Syndrome instead of half the bottle of garlic sauce that I added to my French fries the night before.

While dressing, I relived my dream. An elderly lady was talking to my mother, telling her to make me behave, open my mouth again, keep it open this time and -most of all- stop wining. She then took a metal hook and a metal mirror from a table and started poking into my mouth. The harvest of this visit: some sticky candy, a new appointment for drilling and filling and a huge imflammation.

It was only after many years that I heard my childhood dentist had been banned by her professional association because she had an alcohol problem and never properly cleaned her tools ...

At the age of 18, I finally had enough courage to visit another dentist. I can still hear the breaking of the two front teeth.... It was about the only sound that was made in that musty room. No discussion possible. All teeth were extracted and temporary dentures were put in. They should be replaced after 6 months.

So, after 5-6 years, I accompanied my father to his dentist. The man sold me my first set of permanent dentures and was the third person in his profession that made me feel very small.


A dental treatment in our clinic in Bulgaria is very special. Every effort has been made to ensure that patients receive superior dental care while feeling relaxed and comfortable. Dr Regina Schindjalova is our leading dentist and implantologist.