Dental fear affects many people even those who are highly educated and perhaps should know better.

However in the case of one lady who has a microbiology degree and works as a civil servant, this fear has finally caught her out – after 20 years.

Victoria White who suffers from dental phobia was recently forced to attend the dentist for a check up after she was told she couldn’t have chemotherapy unless she does so.

This inevitably came as a shock for the woman who for the past 20 years has avoided visiting her dentist. However it also affected her social life as she refused all invitations to eat out, and even prevented herself from smiling. All because she was ashamed of her teeth.
Victoria became dental phobic in her teens. The thought of seeing one just caused her to panic. As such she refused to make appointments relying instead on simply cleaning her teeth and hoping everything would be alright.
Moreover, prior to developing the phobia Victoria said that each visit always seemed to involve some treatment.

“Whenever I had to go to the dentist I’d get a rising sense of panic,” she told reporters.
However Victoria was forced to confront her fears when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Treatment involved chemotherapy but her cancer specialist advised her that it was necessary to get a dental check up before the procedure was carried out.
But it was another 4 months before she plucked up the courage. Victoria said: “They wanted a letter from a dentist to say I was dentally fit. My mind was in turmoil and I couldn’t sleep. I contemplated doing without the chemotherapy and risking my life rather than visit a dentist.”
Dental phobia is far more common than many people suppose. It’s the third most popular phobia (around 10%) with arachnophobia topping the list.

There have been many studies carried out over the years that have linked oral health with general health, specifically in relation to heart problems, diabetes and pregnancy.

Now a new study carried out in Sweden has found what appears to be the first established link between poor oral health and breast cancer.

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden say their research has shown that women are eleven times more prone to suffering from breast cancer if they have poor oral health; specifically if they have absent teeth or gum disease.

Over 3,000 women were involved in the study, which took detailed medical histories on their general and oral health, as well as monitoring which had already suffered from breast cancer and which went on to develop the disease during the research. Forty one of the subjects had breast cancer and many also had oral health problems, leading to researchers coming up with their interesting conclusion.

The chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Dr Nigel Carter has welcomed the research, but says more investigation is needed as this is the first study that has come up with such a link.

Dr Carter said: ‘If future studies can also testify to the link between missing teeth and breast cancer, more has to be done to raise public awareness on the issue. The British Dental Health Foundation has a history of campaigning for better oral health, and the findings presented in the study indicate another clear link between your general and oral health.’