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Dental Anxiety Solutions
We Specialise in Relieving Stress

Don't let fear or worry about dental care prevent you from receiving the oral health care you deserve.

Dental Anxiety Solutions | Dentist
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Dental Anxiety Solutions

Did you know that anxiety is Australia's most common mental health condition? On average, one-third of all women and one-fifth of all men are impacted by anxiety in one form or another. So if you suffer from worry about your next visit to the dentist, you are in good company. Fifteen per cent of all Australians report significant stress about dental treatments, and at the Dentists @ Belmore, we don’t want anxiety to be an obstacle to your health.

First, our dental practice is judgement-free. We’ll understand if you’ve avoided dental care, and our job isn’t to make you feel worse about it but rather to work together so that you can feel better. Our dental team will always welcome you like family, offering strategies and services to help lessen, if not eliminate, what gets in the way of your dental treatments.

Our Gentle Approach to Dental Anxiety in Belmore

Our team is specially trained and equipped to help you address the particulars of your dental anxiety. We recognise that several things tend to intensify a person’s worry. The first is feeling isolated, as though you have to suffer alone. We can assure you that we know how you feel. Even though Dr Ibrahim grew up in a household of dentists, he has felt severe anxiety while in the chair. His and other first-hand experiences can be valuable tools guiding us to solutions that will work best for you.

We Empower You to Make Treatment Decisions

Another aspect that studies show can exacerbate anxiety is when you feel what’s happening to you is outside your control. This is why our approach to treatment is heavily geared towards education and treatment options that you can understand. We aim to avoid dictating your treatment plan. Instead, we wish to act as a partner in your oral health care, but in the end, how we proceed is your choice. We are committed to answering every question you have so that you are comfortable with your decision.

Nitrous Oxide Sedation

After we’ve devised your treatment plan, you may still feel some worry which we can address with the mild sedation we offer through nitrous oxide, also known as happy gas. Unlike other forms of anaesthesia, you remain conscious but pleasantly detached while under its effects.

We offer nitrous oxide because of its many advantages, which include:

  • Safety – This gas has been approved for use in adults and children because it has few lasting effects. It only works while being constantly administered. Once the gas is off, the impacts diminish quite rapidly.
  • Easy to administer – Our team dispenses nitrous oxide gas through a soft rubber mask covering only your nose. Throughout your procedure, you’ll breathe normally, and we will ensure the gas is appropriately balanced.
  • No Hangover – When you no longer need it, our trained professionals will replace the happy gas with pure oxygen, which you will inhale through the same mask. Your dentist will insist you remain seated while the effects of the gas wear off – we don’t want you standing up too quickly. After a few minutes, you’ll feel mostly normal, and your dental procedure will be complete!

Without any long-term effects, you’ll be able to drive yourself home and even return to work or school if you choose.

We Invite You to Learn More about Our Dental Anxiety Solutions

If you have put off dental care for months or years, we understand how you feel and want you to know that your teeth won’t care for themselves. You can rest assured that our team will treat you without judgment, working hard to ensure your experience is as comfortable and stress-free as we can.

Frequently Asked Questions

Dental anxiety is often triggered by an unfortunate bad past experience, which remains imprinted on our emotional memory. This is very common. In fact some of our dentists had this in the past before they became dentists themselves!

The first line option for helping with dental procedure anxiety is nitrous oxide or "happy gas". Happy gas is not meant to put you to sleep but instead will relax you during treatment. It is easy, quick and has a long history of safety. The amount of gas delivered (with oxygen) is tailored for your own personal needs. Our dentists will check-in with you regularly during the procedure as well to ensure you are as comfortable as possible. 

The next-best thing about happy gas is that you can resume your normal activities once the treatment is complete as the gas leaves your system fairly quickly after the procedure.

Whilst not everyone may be suitable for happy gas, our dentists will discuss other options with you.

Other recommendations to help with dental anxiety:

- breathing relaxation exercises

- avoiding caffeine on the day of the procedure

- getting a good night's rest

- speaking to your dentist about this before the start of any treatment

Here at The Dentists @ Belmore, we try our best to respect your time and we expect our patients to do the same. Arriving late (more than 15 minutes), short notice cancellations and failure to attend leads to disruptions to our patients and staff.

As a small privately-owned dental practice, we are financially strained when patients miss appointments. We are not a large corporation and we do not treat our patients as numbers.

We like to give our patients the full scope of our knowledge and care, and we like each patient experience to be personalised, as dental care should be. We aim to provide you with an exceptional service at an affordable cost. Chair time lost to no shows or short notice cancellations impacts our ability to run our small business.

It is in ours and our patients’ best interest that we keep lost chair time to a minimum.

We ask our patients to give at least 24 hour notice before cancellation or rescheduling. It is very difficult to fill in these appointments, so please let us know well ahead of time if you need to reschedule.

Holding your appointment time means turning away other patients in urgent need of dental care. Therefore, any missed or short notice cancellations will attract a cancellation fee of $50.  

Our cancellation policy is as follows:

  • Our patients are required to pay a $50 holding fee to secure their appointment.
  • The holding fee will be taken off the final cost of your appointment.
  • Cancelling an appointment with more than 24 hour notice is absolutely fine. We can accommodate for this.
  • Failing to attend, rescheduling, or cancelling an appointment with less than 24 hours notice leads to a $50 cancellation fee, which means forfeiting the $50 holding deposit.
  • If you wish to re-book after cancelling within 24 hours, you will be required to pay another $50 holding fee.
  • We always send out an SMS reminder or we call our patients well in advance to confirm the appointment.
  • We reserve the right to ask for the cost of treatment upfront before making another appointment. This is a last resort option only if there is a recurring cancellation pattern.
  • New patients who fail to attend or cancel with less than 24 hours notice on two consecutive occasions will not be rebooked.

For long appointments such as whitening or root canals, we will require a deposit at the time of booking.

Meet Our Doctor:

Dr Ibrahim Al-Salti Principal Dentist & Owner
BDent (Hons) | BPharm (Hons)

Dr Ibrahim is the principal dentist at The Dentists @ Belmore. He is a graduate of The University of Sydney Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy.

Since graduation, Dr Ibrahim held different positions across NSW in both metropolitan and rural settings. During that time, he also undertook extensive further training both locally and abroad in locations spanning the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Dr Ibrahim still keeps up with the latest in research and treatments to offer his patients leading care.

When it comes to patient care Dr Ibrahim believes in ...

Dental Anxiety Solutions Technology

Nitrous Oxide (Happy Gas)

Dental anxiety can have many sources, but regardless of which one, they all can be a severe impediment to dental care for those who may need it most. Our goal is to help you understand, face and ultimately resolve your stress about treatments, and one effective tool we use is a mild sedative called nitrous oxide.

Often called happy gas or laughing gas, we administer it through a soft rubber mask that only covers your nose. A qualified professional on our dental team blends the nitrous oxide with oxygen at a concentration that will take effect quickly. As a result, you may feel slightly tingly, relaxed, and even a little drowsy as you inhale. You will remain conscious but less aware of your surroundings. We monitor you throughout your appointment to ensure comfort and safety.

The great thing about nitrous oxide is that once we complete your procedure, we administer pure oxygen through your mask for several minutes. This effectively nullifies the gas, which makes the effects wear off. Within a very short time, you may continue with your day.

These qualities make nitrous oxide an ideal option for treating dental anxiety.

You and Your Family Are Always Warmly Welcomed
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