Webcast: Managing dental anxiety and the dentist’s anxiety from graduation and beyond

Date:  Thursday 27 February 2020
Time: 19.00 – 20.00 AWST
Suitable for: All Australian dental practitioners

Anxious dental patients are a common encounter for clinicians. Caring for these patients can create stressful, high-pressure situations and can often lead to clinicians feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. These difficult interactions can be particularly challenging for the reasonably new graduate who is already experiencing a steep learning curve. How can clinicians manage their wellbeing and continue to deliver the highest level of care to patients?

Practising dentist, Dr Louise Hanrahan, shares the communication and soothing techniques she has learnt along the way and uses to build patient–clinician confidence and trust, and reduce patient anxiety. She discusses practitioner wellbeing and the importance of being aware of your own responses to stressful situations, including feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.

Designed for all dental practitioners, and particularly for those in their first five years of practice, this one-hour recorded webcast will help you develop behaviours and actions to recognise and assess patient anxiety, build patient confidence and trust and safeguard your personal wellbeing.

This webcast is available to Dental Protection members.

By attending this webinar you will:

• recognise the anxious patient
• build communication techniques to help reduce anxiety and build confidence and trust
• reflect on, and recognise, how anxious patients can impact practitioner wellbeing
• understand how to manage pressure during and after appointments

Guest speaker

Dr Louise Hanrahan

Dr Louise Hanrahan graduated from James Cook University in 2014 and is a practising dentist with New South Wales Health. She is currently based in Newcastle with the Hunter New England Local Health District and is working in a senior dental officer role and managing a specialist Relative Analgesia clinic.

In March 2018, Dr Hanrahan’s final year group research project, titled “dental anxiety in patients attending a student dental clinic”, was published.

Dr Hanrahan has a passion for public health and has been intrigued by managing anxious patients since dental school. In 2015, she was the winner of Dental Protection’s The Young Dentist Award for Professional Excellence for her article on effective communication while working in Alice Springs.

Dr Louise Hanrahan is joined by Dr Annalene Weston, experienced Dentolegal Adviser for Dental Protection Australia.

How to register for this webinar on Prism