Welcome to Beyond Fear Dental Phobia Support

I spent many years suffering from dental phobia, and my life was affected in many ways. Not only did my dental and general health suffer, I also lost my self-confidence and self-esteem.

• Very rarely did I smile, it showed my teeth and I was so ashamed of them.
• When talking face to face with others my hand was held in front of my mouth to hide my rotten teeth.
• Eating was often a problem but I persevered. After all it was better than going to the dentist, so my fears told me.
• I felt dirty and ashamed of the way my teeth had deteriorated.
• Frequently I would dream about teeth and often woke up with broken bits of tooth in my mouth.
• Abscesses were regular occurrences and often lasted for several days swelling the side of my face. The constant pain was almost unbearable but still my fears prevented me from seeking help.

I have heard it said that "when it hurts enough people will go to the dentist." ..... which certainly was not true in my case.

Eventually I came to the "crossroads" in my life, I could not continue to suffer in this way. About a year previous to this I found a self-help group in my home town so I decided to contact them and see if they could help. It was a difficult decision to make but, eventually, it turned out to be one of the best things I could have done.

Emmet Fox once wrote. "It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson." I certainly suffered but I also learnt many very valuable lessons through the process of dealing with my own fears.

The lessons I learnt (the hard way) were:

1. The fear is ultimately worse than that which is feared
2. It is not the event that is the problem the problem is how we remember and think about that event
3. You alone can beat the fear (it is your fear after all) but it isn't always possible to do it alone
4. You do not have to live life controlled by fear
5. Talking to someone who understands how you feel can be extremly helpful
6. Beating the fear changes your life in more way than you could imagine
7. If you can see beyond the fear you can go beyond fear

None of those things are startling revelations, none of those things are new but, had I truly known and believed them a great part of my life would not have been controlled by the fear. In reality, I had probably read such things but my "fear reaction" would never have let me believe it. My fear response would always respond with something like "yes, but they don't understand how I feel and how bad my fears are" and it was a long time before I realised that was "the fear" part of me talking and not me.

When, with the help of a support group and a brilliant dentist I was able to see beyond the fear I was eventually able to go beyond fear.

Now, I can do the same for you either with the help, information and advice on Beyond Fear or through my services as a professional therapist. Like me YOU can live your life free from dental anxiety, fear or phobia.