Do you have a dental phobia or just hate going to the dentist in NYC? Are you worried about dental surgery or orthodontic work? Holistic dentistry is becoming increasingly popular and hypnosis can help.
My personal experience
In 2012 I underwent maxilla facial surgery. My surgeon and I discussed at length my studies on dental hypnosis. Heartland’s Medical & Dental Hypnosis is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the subject. We talked about people who had surgery, using only hypnosis and no anesthesia. He concurred hypnosis is incredibly powerful. With a very worried look on his face he turned to me and said “please tell me you are going to have anesthetic”. “Of course I am, I replied. But I will be needing a lot less pain medication, and you can expect me to be very relaxed and happy about the whole thing”. Sure enough it was a wonderful experience. Yes it hurt but I felt surprisingly good and everyone was amazed at how fast I recovered.
Since then I have helped a number of patients enjoy a more holistic, comfortable dental experience.
Hypnosis to enjoy your dental visits
Yes it is possible! Hypnosis is extremely relaxing for the mind and body. Taking time out to visit the dentist is a necessity, why not use it as a self care opportunity? Relax, then return to your day feeling refreshed and restored. Clients can book hypnosis appointments immediately prior or following their dental visits, or can be taught self hypnosis to make the most of their time at the office. It can be an excellent place to practice mindfulness or meditation with some gentle guidance from us here at JQ Hypnosis. Custom recordings are also available and this can be especially helpful for anyone agitated by cleaning or drilling noises. We can make sure put in a suggestion that should your dentist need your attention during your visit, you can give this. This is usually a touch on the back of the hand. We love to work with dentists too to customize something that benefits everyone and the good news is holistic dentistry and open minded dental practices are becoming more common.
Resolving dental phobias
Often patients are fearful about visiting the dentist because of past experiences. Procedures that perhaps were complicated, messy or not dealt with well (by the dentist or patient) can understandably cause worry about future visits. In this instance hypnosis is used to change the way patients feel about that past experience and future expectations. There are a number of approaches that can be used depending on what suits the needs of the patient. Sometimes work is done in trance to heal that trauma without re-living it. Other times hypnosis is used to desensitize the patient to the memory, so that it can be viewed without emotion, in much the same was as if one recalled what they are for dinner the previous evening. Hypnosis can also be used to remove the physical reactions in the body to the memory.
It is also common for other medical or personal experiences to trigger dental fears. If patients have experienced a loss of control or fear it can create a generalized anxiety. Hypnosis can work to heal from those experiences, or to simply gain a sense of calm and control over those memories. For a faster resolution hypnosis can be used to just to view dental work as being unconnected.
Early childhood experiences can also trigger dental phobias. They may not even have been that bad – the strong taste of the mouthwash or concerns of a parent – but can have a surprising impact on developing minds and lead to phobias. Hypnosis can help patients to retrieve these memories and give their inner child the reassurance needed to
Hypnosis for advanced healing
There is a lot of evidence to support the idea that a positive attitude towards any treatment, aids recovery and can also reduce the amount of medication needed. Many of my clients in New York City especially are concerned about the toxic load on their bodies from pollution and pharmaceutical exposure and favor natural lifestyle choices where possible. By ensuring the right frame of mind prior to dental visits and listening to custom hypnosis recordings during recovery, patients are far less likely to experience adverse effects from dental procedures and require fewer antibiotics, anti sickness medications, or pain medication. They can also naturally speed up their wound healing, restore their energy and expel residual anesthesia, mercury or fluoride from their bodies following dental procedures. This hypnotic treatment originally developed for drug and alcohol recovery, is effective for smaller scale detoxification.
Anesthetic free dentistry
Even though hypnosis is very effective at reducing any adverse affects to anesthesia and for treating needle phobias, some patients may be unable to receive anesthetic or may choose not to. The most common hypnosis technique used for this is called Glove Analgesia – a process where hypnotic suggestion is used to make an area of the body numb, typically the hand (hence the name glove analgesia) and then this is transferred to the area where dental work will be performed. This can also be used for patients that find cleaning uncomfortable.
Hypnosis to treat gag reflex or to tolerate dental guards or retainers
Dental grind guards, retainers, new dentures or bridges can all cause discomfort or oversensitivity. They can be difficult to tolerate. Patients can find themselves obsessively running their tongue over them, having trouble eating or breathing, feeling self conscious or even sick or unable to sleep. Hypnosis is extremely effective at desensitizing and normalizing the feeling of foreign objects in the mouth for patients while awake, and because it works on the subconscious level, helps patients who may remove devices while asleep.
For any questions and a free email or phone consultation, get in touch via our contact page.