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May 9, 2008

By Catherine Johns

You think of dental tools and your handpiece comes to mind. Or your laser. Or maybe your Cavitron.

It's time to consider adding hypnosis to that list. Hypnosis is an invaluable tool for dealing with your patients' pain, fear, and other issues that arise in your office.

Pain

Hypnosis has long been used to reduce or eliminate pain. In fact, before there was anesthesia, there was hypnosis. Today, MRIs demonstrate that areas of the brain involved in pain perception respond to painful stimuli significantly less when patients are in a hypnotic state than when they're in their normal waking state.

A British hypnotist recently made international news by anesthetizing himself through hypnosis for surgery on his thumb. The operation involved a special chisel, a small saw, and snippers ... what it did not involve was pain.

One of the classic American books on hypnosis, Dave Elman's "Hypnotherapy" (Glenwood, Calif.: Westwood Publishing Co.: 1964), was written in large part to help physicians and dentists learn to hypnotize their patients. Elman said he had been teaching hypnosis to "medical men" (well, it was the 1960s) for many years. And that was partly so they could induce anesthesia or analgesia without chemicals.

Anxiety

There's much more to hypnosis than pain relief. It's an excellent way to help patients overcome their fear of dental procedures. Dental anxiety keeps some people away from your office altogether; it makes things difficult for others who do come in, however reluctantly, for dental work. And of course that makes things difficult for you and your staff too.

A patient's dental anxiety may result from some traumatic experience with dental treatment or from fear of pain; it may be connected to a more generalized anxiety problem. In any event, hypnosis can help your anxious patients relax, let go of their fear, and comfortably experience procedures they may have been avoiding for years.

And even for patients who aren't especially anxious, but who suffer from garden variety apprehension about dental work, hypnotic language patterns can produce a level of relaxation and comfort that makes any dental procedure easier for them and for you. Just imagine how much more pleasant it is for you and your staff to deal with someone who's not tense and tight and clenching their jaw.

Elman proposed that dentists might teach patients to relax without actually calling it hypnosis, just giving them the benefit of a relaxed state and the reduction in discomfort that accompanies relaxation.

Bruxism

You've seen patients whose teeth have been damaged by bruxism; some of them have ground their teeth down quite severely.

Hypnotists use a variety of suggestions to address this issue. Stress reduction is part of the process, certainly; bruxism is strongly connected to stress and tension. Patient may also be instructed to sleep with some space between their teeth, enough space to put their tongue between their teeth. Or they may be told to wake up at the sensation of teeth-grinding ... and then to go right back to sleep without losing any sleep at all.

At Positive Changes Hypnosis Center Chicago, we've seen clients make so much improvement in terms of teeth grinding that they got the OK from their dentists to put away their bruxism appliance for good.

TMJ

Because any condition that is made worse by stress will be made better by hypnosis, you'll find hypnosis to be a very effective approach to temporomandibular joint syndrome. Progressive relaxation may be used to induce a stress-free state of well-being that permeates the entire body. Specific suggestions may be to keep the mouth slightly open and allow the muscles around the mouth to become loose, which will stop the muscles from cramping.

Dental hygiene

Hypnotists often work with clients to eliminate unwanted habits like smoking or nail biting; or to develop new habits such as eating only when hungry or studying effectively before an exam. So it's probably not surprising that enterprising dentists are using hypnosis to inculcate healthy habits in their patients.

Dr. Maureen Kelly of Lincoln, Neb., found that "eight months following suggestions to promote dental flossing, 67% of patients, as compared with 15% of a control group, were found to have improved gingival health." (Hammond DC. Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors: New York: WW Norton & Company. 1990:185)

Next steps

One way to help your patients with these issues and others is to refer them to a certified hypnotist. Get to know a hypnotist in your area, get comfortable with him or her, and establish a mutual referral relationship. You can recommend hypnosis to your patients to address their fear of the dentist, their TMD or bruxism, or for that matter, to persuade them to floss more often.

And your hypnotist friend may be able to send patients your way too. People who are improving one aspect of their lives are often interested in going further. New nonsmokers, for instance, may well be candidates for teeth whitening.

Or, you may choose to learn some hypnotic techniques yourself — some "tricks of the trade" that will help you put your patients at ease. Sound daunting? Well, it is true that some hypnotherapy may take multiple sessions, and each session may be longer than you care to spend on something that's outside your main mission.

But there are many techniques you can use to quickly relax your patients, eliminate their tension, and reduce their pain. And spending a few minutes doing that can actually save you time in an appointment with someone who would otherwise have been a very difficult patient.

Find a hypnotist who is also a trainer, and take a class or two. At Positive Changes Hypnosis Center Chicago, certified hypnosis instructor Karen Hand conducts workshops for dentists who want to learn a few hypnosis procedures to help their patients and improve their practices.

What about you?

You manage your dental practice; you market your dental practice; and in between all that, you actually do your dental practice. Sounds like you could use some stress reduction of your own. Your local hypnotist can help with a destressing session. And many hypnotists teach their clients self-hypnosis; you can learn to lower your own stress levels so you can be more relaxed — and more productive.

You'll find hypnosis is not only a valuable dental practice tool; it's a wonderful personal resource as well.

Catherine Johns is co-owner of Positive Changes Hypnosis Center Chicago, where clients lose weight, stop smoking, increase their confidence, and, yes, overcome bruxism, among many other things. In addition to her work as a certified hypnotist, Catherine coaches professionals to help them develop a more powerful, polished presence. She's helped hundreds of women come across more confidently and strongly in business situations. Catherine had a long, successful career in Chicago radio before turning her talents to the business of personal change. Readers in the Chicago area will remember her from WLS and WJMK. Catherine and Karen Hand launched Positive Changes Chicago in 2005. (www.positivechanges.com) They are thrilled with the transformations their clients have achieved. You may contact Ms. Johns at Catherine.johns@positivechanges.com.

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