(Coventry, CT) - In a revealing press conference today, dentalfear.com President Dr. Jack Bynes, asked the medical community and public to take steps to address the rising incidence of dental fears and phobias with patience due to histories of childhood sexual abuse.

Citing a study by Dr. Carmen Santos, the assistant director of the Counseling Center at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Bynes explained that of the 80% of the adult population in the United States that have some level of anxiety of dental treatment, females report much higher levels than males. Studies reveal that sexual abuse, although believed to be under-reported, is quite prevalent with one in four females reporting a history of sexual abuse and one in seven males. The study revealed that among those reporting dental fear and a history of sexual abuse, the fear was not always related to fear of pain or a previously traumatic dental experience. Following the study, Bynes also backs up his position by pointing out that there are long term consequences to sexual abuse that may affect the way in which these women and men cope with anxiety provoking situations and how they may approach or avoid various types of medical treatment.

"The dental and medical community in general, need to start adopting new techniques to deal with these patients or the overall health of millions of Americans will deteriorate dramatically. Dentists and health care practitioners need to recognize the cause of their patients' phobias. These are patients that possibly do not know why they are afraid and have these anxieties," said Bynes.

Losing control over the situation is a fear commonly expressed by victims of childhood sexual abuse. According to Bynes, "There are several signs of childhood sexual abuse that dental patients exhibit. Although it's not really appropriate for a dentist to raise the possibility of sexual abuse with a patient, some of the common signs of past sexual abuse include resistance to being placed in a horizontal position, fear of having objects placed over the face, sudden outbursts of crying without apparent reason, difficulty in opening wide, severe gagging and an involuntary turning of the head away from the dentist as he approaches the mouth. Traditionally, dentists have unintentionally made the situation worse by not understanding the mechanisms underlying the patient's behavior. Patients who have been sexually abused during childhood will sometimes have flash backs in a confining situation such as being in the dental chair," Bynes explained.

"Given the high numbers of women affected by sexual abuse in the population, it seems that many of these women are receiving treatment for various unrelated medical and dental issues. Their prior traumatization may have a significant impact on these treatments and yet may go unrecognized or misunderstood by all those involved in the health care delivery system. Many survivors are unaware of the long-term consequences of abuse or may fail to associate difficulties in receiving needed treatment as related to their abuse histories. As a result, dental treatment is often avoided without a clear understanding of why, and even if the patient is aware, they may not disclose the information. Dentalfear.com is the only service I know of that is addressing this problem. It is a wonderful resource for phobic dental patients as well as dental practitioners," explained Santos.

"The worst thing for the patient is the frustrated dentist who tries to deal with the situation authoritatively. It mentally puts the patient back into a parent-child or adult-child relationship. Considering that a close relative is usually the abuser one can only imagine the damage a dentist can inflict by being ignorant of the causation. 'Stop being a baby!' 'You can't possibly feel this.' 'Stop crying, there's no reason to cry,' are all statements commonly made by dentists. Acting like a parent or adult authority figure will actually worsen the flashback and frustrate the dentist even more. Unfortunately, the dentist will usually lose a potentially good patient. More unfortunately, the patient will avoid dentists for many more years and worsen their dental condition," Bynes added.

A practicing Connecticut dentist, Dr. Jack Bynes received his B.A. degree in bacteriology and zoology from the University of Connecticut. He earned his D.M.D. (Doctor of Dental Medicine) degree from Tufts University. Bynes served in the United States Air Force as a Captain in the Dental Corps in Karamursel, Turkey. He is a member of the American Dental Association, Connecticut State Dental Association, Hartford, CT and Tolland County Dental Societies, The Academy of Laser Dentistry and DOCS (Dentists Organization for Conscious Sedation). For more information, visit www.dentalfear.com. Dr. Jack Bynes can be contacted at (860) 742-5206 or at jbynes@dentalfear.com.

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