Management of Patient with Dental Anxiety

During second semester, I saw my first patient who had a medical condition and heavy case type. He had just completed his chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer one month prior to his dental hygiene appointment. He was in good health aside from his cancer diagnosis. However, I assessed that he had dental anxiety during patient interview. Throughout his treatment, I focused on minimizing the patient’s discomfort by constantly checking on his status. He was tolerant of hand scaling and ultrasonic debridement under pain management with topical anesthetic, Oraqix. The patient was receptive to home care instructions and made his best effort to maintain compliance of learned oral hygiene techniques. I was glad to see an improvement in the patient’s confidence level after completion of his dental prophylaxis treatment.

Case Presentation Journal