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About Us
Facts about Dental Fear Central
- online since March 2004
- online as dentalfearcentral.org since 2005/2006, incorporating an online support forum
- switched to "professional" forum software (vBulletin) end of November 2007
- non-commercial, non-profit
- target groups: anyone suffering with dental phobia or specific dental fears; dental professionals; dental students
- listed by the British Dental Health Foundation, the British Dental Association (BDA), the British Society for Disability and Oral Health (BSDH), the Eastman Dental Institute, the Faculty of General Dental Practitioners (FGDP), the Internet Public Library (IPL), DMOZ, Yahoo! Directory, and other major hubs
- 1000 unique visitors/day
Background
Dental Fear Central was started in 2004 in response to a lack of in-depth information on the topic of dental phobia and anxiety from the perspective of people who actually suffer with these fears.
A lot of research on the topic of dental phobia has been very top-down and the implicit assumption was that dental phobia is an irrational fear. However, there is much evidence that suggests that dental phobia, a lot of the time, is actually a type of post-traumatic stress disorder (resulting from one or more traumatic experiences) rather than a "phobia" in the sense of an irrational fear. I feel that this group of people has not received enough consideration in the past. Fortunately, since the website was started, there has been an increased recognition of these sentiments. It is my hope that they will be incorporated into DSM-V (the next revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).
I also felt the need to put up a site which focuses more on the dentist-patient relationship, rather than the responsibility of the individual. My own interests lie in the areas of cognitive-behavioural, phenomenological and neuropsychological perspectives. However, over time, many other topics such as dental sedation and hypnosis were also covered. The site is still partially under construction, and new content is added regularly.
The dental phobia support forum has been a big success and its effects on participants have been studied by Neil Coulson of the University of Nottingham and Heather Buchanan, whose published articles include Accessing dental anxiety online support groups: An exploratory qualitative study of motives and experiences.
I am extremely grateful for the help of everyone who has made this website happen, including the many people who have contributed articles, exchanged e-mails, and all those who have donated their time, effort and kindness moderating and contributing to our forum. Your help is invaluable. A very special thank you goes to Gordon Laurie - without your encouragement and friendship this site would not exist.