Gagging can also be triggered by other sensory stimuli like smells, sounds, tastes, and sight. Also known as the pharyngeal reflex, gagging is a reflexive response to something contacting the roof of your mouth, back of your throat or tongue or tonsil area causing your throat to contract. For some people, the gagging reflex is mild while for others it can be debilitating. Sensitivity to gagging is very individual. What causes gagging and why do I suffer with it? Excessive sweating in the clinical setting 1.Shortness of breath or hyperventilation.Feeling panicky at the thought of treatment.Avoiding dental check-ups and treatment.Anxiety can cause reactions like gagging, an autonomic response, something that happens automatically without your control, to having a foreign device in your mouth. Related to feelings of loss of control is how you might react physiologically. Understandably, a change from your natural teeth to wearing a prosthetic device like a denture can be challenging, not only to how you see yourself but also how you navigate relearning to eat speak and smile again. Loss of control over a situation can also trigger your anxiety as you embark on the denture journey. Perhaps early dental experiences have initiated this fear along with horror stories people like to relate when talking about dental procedures and getting dentures. Have you ever asked yourself what triggers your dental anxiety? While a patient’s anxiety may be exacerbated by underlying mental conditions like PTSD, depression or by previous traumatic experience with dental treatments, 1 among more common reasons for feeling anxious is fear of pain. Firstly, when having impressions done, and secondly, in the adjustment period while becoming accustomed to having a denture in one’s mouth. There are two different stages in the process of getting dentures where the gag reflex may be a problem. Related to dental anxiety and sometimes occurring as a consequence of undergoing dental treatment, is the unpleasant reflex of gagging (also known as pharyngeal contraction). Dental anxiety differs from its related condition, dental phobia, by degrees of magnitude and increased severity of reactions. What is dental anxiety?ĭental anxiety is a common and well-documented condition presenting as anxiety, stress or fear related to having dental procedures 1,2 like the acquisition of dentures. In this article, we attempt to shine a light on some of the triggers of dental anxiety and gagging, and how you might develop strategies to overcome them. In forums on social media about dentures, people specifically ask for advice regarding the gag reflex when getting dentures. Many of these stories relate a seemingly irrational fear of dentists, dental surgeries, and dental treatments, but also the related areas of dental prosthetics, like getting dentures. When talk turns to dental procedures, everyone has a story.

Get rid of gag reflex