The Fearful Dental Patient: A Guide to Understanding and Managing helps dental professionals understand the basics of fear, anxiety and phobias and the role these emotions play in creating negative behavior within the dental environment. The text contains a variety of modalities that help identify dental fear and phobia, as well as chair-side techniques and practical advice aimed at improving patient cooperation and ensuring treatment compliance.

Chapter topics include the basic origins of patient fear and anxiety, how to indentify dental anxiety and varied approaches to managing fearful patients of any age.  Approaches discussed employ behavioral, pharmacological, sedation and even hypnotic techniques, specifying combinations where required. Chapters also include coverage of a wide range of patients, including those with psychiatric comorbidities and special healthcare needs. The entire dental team will greatly benefit from the proven methods and practical guidance presented to better understand and treat fearful dental patients.

Dr. Arthur Weiner has been on faculty at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine since 1968, where he has taught courses on pain control, anxiety management, panic disorders, and behavioral dentistry. He is currently director of the Behavior Science II course at Tufts and a national spokesperson for the Academy General Dentistry on fear and patient management. Dr. Weiner is a guest lecturer at several regional and national conferences. He has also spoken in the past in Australia and France and has published extensively on the subject of fear and anxiety management in numerous journals including Dental Clinics of North America and Acta Scandinavia Psychiatrica.