Fear of going to the dentist? Blame your parents!

Have you ever had that feeling of anxiety before going to the dentist? What do you think is the source of that feeling? A new study by scientists at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid confirms that there is an emotional transmission of this fear of going to the dentist among family member, and especially the parents.

The study conducted by the scientists of this university has come to the conclusion that the higher the level of anxiety of one member of the family, the higher the level of fear of the rest of the family. Furthermore, the scientists were able to identify specific roles the family members play in the transmission of this fear. In fact, they discovered that even though the mother and the father play an important role in this matter, it is the father who influences the most in the transmission of the dentist fear. Children tend to pay attention on their parents’ response, but they focus mainly on the father and how he reacts to different situations that may happen at the dentist and how stressful they can be.

A possible solution for children to overcome this fear, according to the scientists, would be to make the parents—and especially the father—go under dentist fear prevention campaigns so that a positive emotional contagion is reinforced. This would help parents to avoid showing any signs of fear or anxiety in front of their children when going to the dentist.

Imagine you have children, what would you do to prevent the transmission of this fear of going to the dentist? Do you think it’s important for parents to show no signs of fear at all? Let me know what you think, I’m really interested in your thoughts.

More info here Fear of the dentist