People who gag while getting dental x-rays have a phobia about putting things in their mouth. The gag reflex is a panic attack. The tongue is like a bouncer at the bar door and will cause the gag reflex. If you have a skiddish bouncer he will puff his chest out, ask no questions and block any suspect from entering through the bar door!
Phobias are unreasonable fears coming from the primitive(or reptilian) part of our brain. That's the fight or flight response...no reasoning just knee jerk reflex.
I tell the patient they have a phobia or fear of things in their mouth...which comes from the primitive part of their brain ...and I touch the back of their head. Then I put my hand on their forehead and tell them that's their pre-frontal cortex or human reasoning part of the brain. The pre-frontal cortex can talk to the primitive part of the brain....tell it to relax and buy some time. I show them with my finger where I will put the x-ray sensor(no surprises)...tell them I will go around the corner...punch a button ..they will hear a buzz..then they can do what ever they need to do with the sensor.
I take full mouth x-rays every day and have no problems with my phobic patients.
IT is so hard to suppress the gag reflex especially for some people that is why dental marketing is so hard for some dentist.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! I had had the hardest time finding a Dental Office San Ramon that I am comfortable with.
ReplyDelete