How do dentists typically use hypnosis?

How do dentists typically use hypnosis?

John McGrail, C.Ht. (Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist) gives expert video advice on: How can hypnosis help me if I am afraid to go to the dentist? and more...

Hypnosis in dentistry is very much like hypnosis in medicine. If you think about it, dentistry is really a medical procedure. It's just limited to the area of the mouth. Not a lot of dentists are trained in hypnosis but the ones that are use it to help their patients relax, use it as an analgesic or an anesthetic to help reduce pain, swelling, tissue damage, blood loss and it is very, very powerful. I work with a lot of dentists who's patients are either dentalphobes, afraid to go to the dentist and for whom just the thought of going to the dentist produces anxiety, so we can help desensitize them from that, and then we can help them before, during and after the procedure. Before - to calm down, to desensitize their physical sensations to pain, during - we can help them reduce blood loss. In fact some people are so good under hypnosis that you can do an extraction or a root canal and there would be literally little or no blood loss, much less tissue damage and quicker healing. So many dentists use hypnosis themselves or work in conjunction with a hynotherapist with patients for whom it can be of great benefit.