Dental phobia also referred to as dental anxiety or dental fear is the serious and overpowering fear to see the dentist to seek dental care.

There is no definitive test to diagnose dental phobia except for evaluation and assessment of the level of fear with dental environment through symptoms manifested by the subject.

Systematic desensitization is often carried out by dentists to break down fear of any level associated with the dental environment. This includes implementation of relaxation techniques through deep breathing and distraction including the use of virtual reality-like set of eyewear to make the patient forget that he/she is within a dental environment. Explanation and clarification of procedures would be helpful in alleviating the fear of the unknown.

Individuals suffering from dental phobia will avoid visiting the dentist even in the face of consequences such as dental and mouth pain, tooth decay or even tooth loss. The fear may be so intense that even seeing a sign or commercial advertisement regarding dental services can cause panic attacks or presentation of symptoms of anxiety.

Dental phobia is most often caused by unpleasant and in more severe cases unbearable dental experiences including painful dental visits or psychological behavior like being humiliated by the dentist or the uncaring attitude of the dentist, and other bad dental experiences. Dental phobia may also be caused by other phobia related conditions like fear of sharp objects like needles.