The Effect of Hypnotism in Reducing Patients’ Stress and Facilitating Dental Treatment

Faculty Member of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that dental procedures bring about abundant anxiety and fear for patients, because the tools and the dental procedure is present before the patient’s eyes. This anxiety and fear can be minimized using specific tools.

Dr. Mehdi Fathi added that regarding the relationship between the physician and the patient, a medical relationship cannot be separated from psychological aspects and the medical atmosphere. In this regard, the focus of science is on techniques such as hypnotism that can turn the medical atmosphere into an atmosphere free of pain and stress.

According to him, research and clinical studies have been performed on hypnotism, and one of the applications of hypnotism is to have painless treatment. Dr. Mehdi Fathi stated that in the next step, pain must be handled in a desirable way, because, for some reasons, the injection of local anesthesia may bring restriction and prohibition for the patient. Therefore, other available tools such as hypnotism must be used in order to contribute significantly to the dental treatment.

Pointing to the other applications of this science in the area of dentistry, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Associate Professor of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that one of the other applications of hypnotism in dentistry is the absence of chronic pain disorders from which some patients suffer. These disorders include the temporomandibular syndrome as well as some pains such as nervous irritability in the head, face and the skull, and also temporomandibular joint pains. Considering these disorders, hypnotism can contribute significantly to the painless treatment of the patient.

Stating that lack of the patient’s cooperation with the dentist is one of the difficulties dentists encounter in the treatment process, he said that inserting hands or instruments into the patient’s mouth may make the patient fear or gag. In this regard, hypnotism can be helpful such that the patient’s mouth is kept open for a specific time and they do not feel uncomfortable with instruments in their mouth.

This Faculty Member of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences added that hypnotism can also control teeth grinding and dental prostheses, because the presence of an external object in the mouth may be stimulating and make the patient feel uncomfortable. In this regard hypnotism can be helpful to the acceptance of prosthesis by the patient.

He added that hypnotism can be really effective in the area of pediatric dentistry in such a way that children can sit calmly on the dental chair and establish desirable medical relationship with the dentist.

Considering that hypnotism is in itself harmless, Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Associate Professor of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences stated that controlling pain during surgery and the absence of pain after treatment are among the desirable features of hypnotism that can replace injection as a fear factor for patients.

Pointing to the limitations of hypnotism, Dr. Fathi stated that in contrast to advantages, one of the disadvantages of hypnotism is that it will not work equally on patients. However, if the therapist is adequately proficient in this area and is able to raise the patient’s plausibility, positive effects can be observed in this area.