A PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY FOR DENTAL PHOBIA

Dentists recognise various degrees of denial anxiety in their patients . There are those who are relaxed, those who are anxious and chose who are dentally phobic. The question remains why should disagreeable den tal experiences result in dental anxiety in one patient, have little e ffect upon another and cause dental phobia in a third? The aim of this paper is to propose a psychodynamic theory for dental phobia based up on the ideas of false connections and displacement.