Juices are the main cause of cavities

ONE of the few dentists who offers nitrous oxide or inhalation sedation — popularly known as laughing gas — is finding phobic patients are beating a track to her clinic.

Carrigaline-based Dr Anne Twomey, president of the Irish Dentistry Association, points to a Behaviour and Attitudes survey that found 30% of adults don’t attend the dentist because of severe dread and phobia. “The fear is usually due to a negative experience as a child.”

Dr Twomey uses nitrous oxide on 10-15% of her patients and sees a role for it in her paediatric client base too.