Dentalfear.com President Dr. Jack Bynes brought his national campaign about dental fear and phobia to the Harvard University campus. Addressing a packed room of Harvard University Dental School students, post-grad students and professors, Dr. Bynes challenged the group to learn more about dental anxiety and phobias and to help millions of frightened patients to seek the dental care they desperately deserve. Dr. Bynes updated the Harvard University dental group about the extent of the problem, the differences between anxiety and phobia, actual causes of dental phobia, phobic stressors, methods to acclimate the phobic patient to periodontal therapy, how to make the first visit for the patient go smoothly and also new modalities in patient management.
"I'm calling upon the media, the dental community and you, our future dentists, to help address the many issues about dental fear and phobia. It's a major health care problem that has been not talked about for too long now, and our profession, dental schools and media in general, need to start productive discussions about addressing the genuine dental-related fears of so many people," said Dentalfear President Dr. Jack Bynes.
This past Spring 2003, dentalfear.com was launched to help the millions of patients with dental fear get needed dental care. Dr. Jack Bynes, a practicing Connecticut dentist, created dentalfear.com as a worldwide resource that will provide free information about finding dentists who understand and treat patients with dental fears. The Web site presently receives thousands of unique visits each month by people from all over the world in search of information about dental phobia and dentists that are dental fear "friendly"."We're on the way to help millions of troubled Americans to conquer their fears and lessen their anxiety about dental work," said dentalfear.com President Dr. Jack Bynes. "There are some simple, as well as many in-depth, methods that dentists can adopt to make their patients' visit to the office manageable and anxiety-free. Our Internet service helps dentists learn more about techniques to calm patients and use painless procedures. At the same time, we also help people learn more about their dental fears and how to find a dentist who's been trained to overcome these anxieties," explained Bynes.
"Dentalfear.com has been extremely helpful. It has allowed me to see that I am not alone. Others also know what I am going through. My fears prevented me from the health care I really needed for many years now," explained J.M., a Utica, N.Y. resident and fan of dentalfear.com, "Now, I feel that I'm not alone. I'm part of a growing online community that can look to caring professionals who will address my concerns and lessen my apprehension about visiting the dentist," said J.M.
In general, the dentalfear.com concept has received a warm welcome by the dental community. Dr. Michael Egan, president of the Connecticut State Dental Association, commented, "dentalfear.com is a great service for both dentists and fearful patients. It addresses an often overlooked segment of dentistry."
Ohio dentist Dr. Jan Stollings, a dentalfear.com member, noted, "dental anxiety and phobia has been a neglected area of dentistry for far too long. Dentalfear.com is the perfect vehicle for bringing fearful patients together with caring and informed dentists."
A practicing Connecticut dentist, Dr. Jack Bynes received his B.A. degree in bacteriology and zoology from the University of Connecticut. He earned his D.M.D. (Doctor of Dental Medicine) degree from Tufts University. Bynes served in the United States Air Force as a Captain in the Dental Corps in Karamursel, Turkey. He is a member of the American Dental Association, Connecticut State Dental Association, Hartford, CT and Tolland County, CT, Dental Societies, The Academy of Laser Dentistry and DOCS (Dentists Organization for Conscious Sedation). Dr. Bynes and the dentalfear.com staff recently participated in the Yankee Dental Congress, the Academy of Laser Dentistry's 10th Anniversary Conference, and the Connecticut State Dental Conference. For more information, visit www.dentalfear.com. Dr. Jack Bynes can be contacted at (860) 742-5206 or at jbynes@dentalfear.com.