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J S Smyth

Publications and source records attributed to J S Smyth.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

A programme for the treatment of severe dental fear. Report of three cases.

This paper describes the use of a sequence of recollection and discussion, training in muscle tone control, dental imagery, audio simulation and graded re-exposure to dental procedures to eliminate a severe fear of dental treatment in three adult female patients. All three patients had abstained from regular dental visits throughout their lives and all were in need of urgent dental treatment when the therapy began. One of the patients also identified in herself other maladaptive behaviour and reported a history of mood disorder as well. The recollections of these patients reveal that the aetiology of dental fear is more complex than dental questionnaires would indicate and, in particular, they supply further evidence of the capacity for adverse medical events to initiate this fear. Although the programme specified in this paper yielded good results, it nonetheless has a number of shortcomings. It is time consuming, dental damage is likely to be well advanced when it commences and it attracts very few patients. Thus those afflicted with severe dental fear are effectively destined for only emergency dental visits and eventually are likely to be edentulous. For this reason every possible precaution against the initiation of dental fear should be taken.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Some problems of dental treatment. Part 2. Treatment avoidance: some differences between regular and irregular patients.

Analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 54 irregular patients and 56 regular patients attending the Dental Department of the Lower Hutt Hospital and private practices in Lower Hutt and Wellington, New Zealand indicates that irregular patients are more anxious about dental treatment, value natural teeth less and find dental treatment more unpleasant than do regular patients. These and other survey findings on dental service utilization and dental anxiety suggest that the dental profession has a good deal of control over the way the public utilizes dental services. Most international surveys have found that less than 60 per cent of the population visits the dentist regularly, so there appears to be the potential for a substantial increase in regular use of dental services by the public. But, it is also likely that the longer an individual is remiss in regular dental care and the more teeth are lost, the more difficult conversion to regular visits will be.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Some problems of dental treatment. Part 1. Patient anxiety: some correlates and sex differences.

An analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 110 adult patients attending the Dental Department of the Lower Hutt Hospital and four private dental practices in Lower Hutt and Wellington, New Zealand indicates that patient treatment anxiety is more severe in women than men and that it is correlated with patients' descriptions of dental treatment. Altogether, survey findings indicate that treatment anxiety has adverse effects and that, with few exceptions, it results directly or indirectly from unpleasant experiences during dental treatment. Two of the most common of such experiences are evidently pain arising from the stimulation of sensitive tissue and oral injections. The eradication of treatment anxiety is therefore heavily dependent on the unobtrusive induction of profound analgesia prior to painful procedures.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The new era.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Child↗