Top Tips for Relaxing at the Dentist's

A couple of weeks ago I broke the side off one of my molars, and last night the tooth's filling fell out. First thing this morning I called my dentist and was grateful to be given an appointment a few hours later.

I'm not particularly afraid of going to the dentist, but as I lay back in his chair with my mouth wide open, I couldn't help feeling tense. Not knowing quite what's going to happen, or whether it will hurt can make even the most chilled of us feel uneasy. 

While I was lying there and the dentist was examining my tooth, I ran through my checklist of Top Tips for Relaxation, and thought I'd share them with you here: 


1. As you breathe out, scan your body from the top of your head down to your toes and notice any tension. Relax it. On each out breath, let your body feel heavier as you sink down into the chair

2. Focus on your shoulders. Lower them, relax them. Keep coming back to check that they are still relaxed

3. Focus on your jaw. Make sure it is relaxed. Make sure your tongue and throat are relaxed. The more relaxed your jaw is, the slower your thoughts will become until you almost stop thinking. This will calm your mind and help you feel even more relaxed

4. Focus on either a toe or a finger. Move it so that it touches something - either the inside of your shoe or another finger. Notice how it feels and focus on that for as long as you can

5. Focus on your ears and make a mental note of what you can hear in the room, and outside of the room. 

If the dentist is using the drill or doing anything else that you find particularly stressful, you might find it helpful to focus on just one of points 1 - 4 until the drilling finishes, then you can cycle your way through the rest of the points.

Doing this helped me today -- hopefully it will help you too!

Learn more about how Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy can help you at:










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