Hypnosis with a 31-year-old female with dental phobia requiring an emergency extraction

Presenting problem: Female, 31, attended emergency appointment at dental surgery with pain, dental phobia prevented extraction.

Aim: Manage dental phobia using hypnosis integrated into anxiety management treatment plan to facilitate extraction.

Methods: Pre-treatment questionnaire assessed dental anxiety, reasons for anxiety, and ascertained management options. Post-treatment questionnaire assessed changes in dental anxiety and attitudes. Anxiety management techniques: needle desensitization and hypnosis.

Results: Pre-treatment questionnaire revealed high level anxiety (16/20 Corah score, and 25/30 modified Corah score) and anticipation of pain during future dental treatment (5/10 on a Visual Analogue Scale). Following the successful extraction of the tooth, a post-treatment questionnaire revealed low level anxiety (7/20 Corah and 11/30 modified Corah) and low anticipation of future pain (1/10).

Conclusion: Patient attended second emergency appointment and hypnotic intervention facilitated the removal of the troublesome tooth. Successful outcome of this treatment and new learned self-hypnosis techniques allowed patient to feel more confident about accepting future dental treatment without need for pharmacological intervention. Copyright © 2006 British Society of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.