Your Dentist in Oak Park, IL
with gentle care.
Dental Stress Relief
A Healthy Smile is a Stress-Free Smile!
Our Caring Staff Welcomes You to Our Relaxing Office Environment
For your comfort, we offer: Movies, Music, Massagers, Nitrous Oxide, Premedication & More
What is Dental Stress?
Twenty million Americans are dental phobics, while 20-25% of the population have fears severe enough to keep them from seeking needed dental treatment (Sources: Maureen Toal, DMD & Joseph Samra, DMD).
Dental phobia is one of the most common fears experienced by individuals. Despite the fact that dentistry has sensitively and diligently worked to make procedures virtually pain free, a great percentage of the population still reacts with emotional stress related to their dental care.
This stress can lead to neglect of check-ups, as well as avoidance of dealing with potentially serious problems. The individual’s stress can be so great that he or she chooses pain over solving the difficulty.
Though some dental stressors are related to early unpleasant or traumatic experiences at a dental office or an encounter with an insensitive dentist, a great number of individuals have dental stress despite the fact that they have had no such history.
Release Dental Stress @ Town & Country Dental Care:
We have taken the time to understand and empathize with your apprehensions about going to the dentist. We utilize this knowledge and experience to help our patients release their dental stress so they can feel relaxed and comfortable in our office. With our adult patients, we have incorporated many special techniques into our care. By using our techniques with our child patients we see the added benefit of a creating a lifelong positive attitude about dental care that is free of apprehension for many of these patients.
See our testimonials to read about our successful techniques.
What is Stress?
Stress can significantly affect many of the body’s immune systems. An individual’s perceptions of, and reactions to, stress can thus have long and short term health consequences. Increased stress results in increased productivity – up to a point, after which things go rapidly downhill.
Causes of stress fall into two categories:
External stress can be caused by everyday pressures not getting enough sleep and major life events.
Internal stress comes from inside. People are often less aware of internal stress, although it can play an even greater role in the stress of daily life.
The autonomic nervous system provides the rapid response to stress commonly known as the fight-or-flight response, engaging the sympathetic nervous system and withdrawing the parasympathetic nervous system, thereby enacting a cascade of cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, and endocrine changes which when not needed may be harmful.
Apprehension about dental or medical care causes stress and avoidance which creates a diminished level of health. Clenching and grinding your teeth increases with stress. Desensitizing your reactions to stress will be beneficial in all of the above situations.
Dr. Tom Wegner:
“I’ve spent 25 years trying to create the most relaxing and comfortable environment and techniques for patients of all ages to reduce apprehension about dental care. My practice philosophy revolves around empathy for my patients’ comfort.
I’ve always had an interest in how stress impacts our health and the positive as well as preventive effects of enhancing the way we react to our stress. Recently a patient of mine, Dr. Taki Matsuda, has taught me to use techniques that have significantly reduced the daily stress in my life. The impact on me personally and on my family is so significant that I’ve asked Dr. Matsuda to teach his techniques to my patients that want to release their dental or daily stress.”