The first known scientific study on dental fear occurred in 1954.

Direct experience is the most common way people develop dental fears.

Since then, studies and several books report successful treatment of patients with dental fear using behavioral methods.

Dental fear has been ranked fifth among the most common fears.

Certain aspects of the physical environment also play an important role in alleviating dental fear.

It is interesting to take into account the views of people who have been provided with behavioural treatments for dental fear.

Both relaxation and cognitive strategies have been shown to significantly reduce dental fear.

Support for anyone with an extreme phobia of dentists or specific dental fears.

Treatments for dental fear often include a combination of behavioral and pharmacological techniques.

Most people report that their dental fear began after a traumatic, difficult, and/or painful dental experience.

Many people who suffer from dental fear may be successfully treated with a combination of "look, see, do" and gentle dentistry.

Stimulus Generalization: Dental fear may develop as a result of a previous traumatic experience in a non-dental context.

Such findings suggest that an interpersonal model of anxiety and anxiety-reduction is useful when trying to understand and treat dental fears.

Dental fear refers to the fear of dentistry and of receiving dental care.

It is estimated that as many as 75% of US adults experience some degree of dental fear, from mild to severe.

Dental fear in children varies from 3%-21% depending on age and method used to measure dental fear.

Mass media: The negative portrayal of dentistry in mass media and cartoons may also contribute to the development of dental fear.

Women tend to report more dental fear than men, and younger people tend to report being more dentally fearful than older individuals.

Vicarious learning: Dental fear may develop as people hear about others' traumatic experiences or negative views of dentistry (vicarious learning).

Specialized dental fear clinics use both psychologists and dentists to help people learn to manage and decrease their fear of dental treatment.

Pharmacological techniques to manage dental fear range from mild sedation to general anesthesia, and are often used by dentists in conjunction with behavioral techniques.

All of the stories include a "paranoid" who has a common phobia, like dental fear, that has uncontrollably spiraled to the point of extreme fear.

Explanations of what is going on can help, also dentists speaking with patients with less embarrassing wording to encourage them to express and cope with their dental fear.

About 27% of children with DBMP present dental fear and 61% of children with dental phobia have DBMP.

Dental Fear in Children- a proposed model, H.R. Chapman and N.C. Kirby-Turner, British Dental Journal, Vol.