Abstract

Visiting a dentist is regarded as an essential practice to ensure that from the moment children acquire their first set of teeth to the stage where they are fully developed, their dental and oral health are in excellent condition. The national government and local government of Pampanga are doing their part to ensure that people will have access to good dental healthcare. Despite the efforts of the government, there are still plenty of dental-related issues in the country. One reason that caused the steady rate of dental-related issues in the country is a patient having dental anxiety or phobia. Because of that, this qualitative descriptive study aims to determine the different factors that contribute to the dental anxiety or phobia of patients and to find out the different strategies that dentists do to help patients lessen or overcome their dental anxiety or phobia. To achieve this, the researchers purposively chose five dentists from Angeles City and the City of San Fernando, Pampanga as the respondents of this study. Each of the respondents had a 10 to 15-minute interview with the researchers, comprising the questions adapted from the study of Corah, Mendiola, and O'Shea (1991). From this interview, it was found out that the factors causing dental anxiety or phobia among patients are the injection needles, pain caused by dental instruments, negative experiences in the dental clinic, and the lack of information or misinformation about the procedure. However, different strategies/methods could be used to reduce or eliminate the patient's anxiety or phobia which include the dentist conversing with the patient, ensuring that the patient is informed and aware of the dental procedures that will be done, having calming strategies, distracting and diverting the attention of the patient, desensitizing and giving anti-anxiety drugs, ensuring that the patient is ready to undergo the dental procedure, building trust, and being friendly to the patient. However, giving the patient control over the procedure is not effective. The dentist needs to be the one in control in order to have a smooth dental procedure. Lastly, to have successful dental procedure, the cooperation of both the dentist and the patient is needed.