People should not let worries over the dentist stop them from having their teeth regularly checked by a professional, it has been argued.
US-based local paper the Courier Journal reported that Dr Ted Raybould, a Lexington dentist and University of Kentucky professor, has said things like fear of drills, blood, suffocation or a procedure going badly can lead to many people waiting and waiting to see their dentist before finally needing emergency dentistry when a problem becomes too big to cope with.
Dr Raybould told the publication: "There’s a whole lot of reasons people are afraid to go to the dentist, not just [being] afraid of pain."
He noted, however, that modern dentistry can offer something for everyone and often people’s fears are unfounded.
Meanwhile, research carried out by the American Optometric Association recently showed that almost two-thirds of Americans (63 per cent) have cut back on the number of visits they make to their dentist in the last year because of recession.