A cognitive behavioural intervention for dental anxiety for people with learning disabilities: a case study

Abstract

Accessible summary • A lot of people worry about going to the dentist. • Sometimes people aren’t given a choice about the treatment they have at the dentist. • We worked with somebody to help them feel better about going to the dentist. • People can copy our work to help other people feel better going to the dentist. Summary Dental anxiety is a common form of anxiety problem, and research suggests that more people with learning disabilities experience dental anxiety than in the general population. Very little work has been done to investigate effective non-medical approaches for supporting people with a learning disability and dental anxiety to access dental care. This has created a significant barrier to accessing treatment, and meant that individual’s are not offered a meaningful choice between treatment options. Using a case study, this paper demonstrates that a simple cognitive behavioural intervention can be effective in reducing dental anxiety, and offer a more meaningful choice of treatment options. This paper is limited in that no formal assessment measures were used, and was evaluated through client feedback. It is possible that this intervention could be applied by other practitioners to increase the accessibility of dental health services.