World Mental Health Day is observed on 10th October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health. Mental health problems can affect anyone, any day of the year, but 10th October is a great day for us all to help support better mental health and start looking after your own wellbeing.
Over the past year, in partnership with Anxiety UK, CFD have been campaigning for No More Dental Fear. Patients with dental anxiety face a challenge when it comes to booking, attending, and even registering for their dental appointments, so Centre for Dentistry are facing their own challenge to raise money for Anxiety UK and support their anxious patients and the nation’s oral health.
Team Activity this WMHD
Teams across our practices in the last 12 months have been raising awareness of dental anxiety and fundraising for Anxiety UK. We’ve seen a sponsored ‘Walk a Marathon in a Day’, raffles and competitions. Now our North teams are taking on Yorkshire’s highest Peak for the charity. By completing their own #ClimbforDentalFear challenge they’re not only inspiring patients to hopefully challenge their own dental fear, but it’s also a great way of bringing our colleagues together.
Jessica Hulme, Regional Marketing Coordinator, said: ‘It’s fantastic that we’re all getting together to raise awareness of dental anxiety and fundraising for Anxiety UK. We’re passionate about helping nervous patients and this challenge is testimony to that. As a company Centre for Dentistry are so supportive of charity work and nurturing effective teams through activities.’
Centre for Dentistry specialises in supporting anxious patients and is ideally positioned inside the familiar environment of Sainsbury’s supermarkets. Welcoming and friendly teams are passionate about helping patients feel at ease.
About Dental Anxiety and Phobia
“Dental anxiety is one of the more common specific phobias and anxiety conditions for which Anxiety UK receives numerous requests for support every year” says Nicky Lidbetter, Chief Executive at Anxiety UK.
Mild fear and anxiety before a visit to a dentist or doctor is common. It becomes a concern, however, when the fear or anxiety stops people getting the treatment they need and leaves them struggling with toothache, discomfort or dissatisfaction with the way their teeth look. This most extreme type of dental anxiety is classed as a dental phobia (also known as ‘odontophobia’).
According to statistics from the Oral Health Foundation, almost half of UK adults have a fear of the dentist, with 12% of these suffering from an extreme dental anxiety or phobia. In addition, visiting the dentist is ranked number one for making people nervous – even more popular than a fear of heights. However, as many people do not feel comfortable talking about their phobias, it is thought that these figures could be a lot higher.
#NoMoreDentalFear
Here at Centre for Dentistry, we’re determined to make a difference and our team share our passion for helping anxious patients get back into routine dentistry.
New patients often say to us that they have put off going for so long as they are afraid it might be painful or because they have had a bad experience many years ago. It’s a pleasure seeing the transformation of these same patients as they work with our dentists to successfully overcome their dental fears and get back into routine dentistry. With the support of Anxiety UK, we want to raise the profile of dental anxiety in the UK and encourage people who may have been avoiding going to the dentist due to fear to seek help and take those first steps. We have a dental anxiety guide available with information, tips and case studies of people who have successfully overcome their fear of the dentist.