Whether it’s from a past bad experience or just simply a fear of dental offices, the fear of dental work is a common obstacle for many people to overcome. In fact, 60% of people are afraid of coming to the dentist, and about 9% have a true phobia. Like Bob, we often see this fear prevents people from coming to the dentist until they are in pain and have a dental emergency. Fortunately, dental phobia can be overcome, and you can enjoy better dental health without dreading your trips to the dentist.

Some tips to overcoming your dental fear include:

1) Make sure to express your concerns to your dentist and their team. Identify what it is that you’re afraid of. Are you scared of needles? Pain? Both!? We promise we won’t find your fears silly. In fact, we probably can relate! A good dental team will listen and help to put your fears at ease. If we know your fears ahead of time, we can support you and help to make you comfortable during your treatment, whether by scheduling extra time to allow for breaks or by providing you with a blanket and headphones if it’s the sound of the dental drill that bothers you.

2) Visit the dental office before your appointment. We’d love to meet you and take time to talk to you about any concerns you may have regarding your dental treatment. This way, we can be prepared on treatment day to help support you through your appointment.

3) Schedule appointments first thing in the morning. This way, you don’t have all day to think about it. Also, nerves may be frazzled by the end of a stressful work day, which may cause increased anxiety about an already stressful appointment looming in the future. We do our best to see patients at appointment time, but there is always the possibility of us running behind schedule.

Scheduling in the morning ensures less time waiting in the office as we won’t be running behind first thing in the morning. A big part of overcoming dental fear is by trusting your dentist and their team. Whether it’s been six months or six years, Dr. Stenvall and her team at Queen City Dental Arts can promise you a judge-free visit. We offer you a caring, compassionate and welcoming environment with treatment options and a listening ear. Give us a call at Queen City Dental Arts to discuss any questions you might have about reclaiming your oral health!

The post Lions and Tigers and… Going to the Dentist! Oh My! first appeared on Queen City Dental Arts.

Whitening your teeth is a very personal matter. If you are unhappy with the shade or color of your teeth, then yes!

There are certainly some things to be mindful of when you whiten your teeth. Whitening should not be done more than 3 to 4 times a year. Once you complete your initial treatment, whether in the dental office or at home, you can expect to want to “touch-up” the shade for a couple of days, a few times a year. If you choose to whiten more often, you may cause the enamel (the outer layer of teeth) to become more translucent and the substructure to show through giving you a more yellow color. It is also possible to cause erosion of the enamel by whitening too often, which will actually cause teeth to stain more easily and eventually need further dental treatment.

At QCDA, we offer 3 ways to whiten your teeth:

1-OpalGo is the quickest and easiest product. The package comes with 10 sets of upper and lower pre-filled trays. You wear one set of trays per day for 10 days, 15-60 minutes per day depending on the strength purchased.

2-Opalesence custom trays is a very effective home treatment product. You will have custom whitening trays made in our office and have 8 tubes of gel included. Most patients use these trays for 7-10 days, wearing them from 2-4 hours per day.

3-Zoom In-Office Whitening combines the powerful whitening gel with a violet light. This requires a quick consult visit and then will take about 2 hours of your time in our office for the procedure. You will leave our office with significantly whiter teeth and custom made trays for touch-ups at home.

For any further questions or if you are interested in any of the three whitening products we offer here at QCDA, contact the office! To schedule an appointment with Dr. Meghan Stenvall or learn more about teeth whitening in Charlotte, North Carolina, call 704-542-6533 today!

The post To Whiten or Not To Whiten? first appeared on Queen City Dental Arts.