The recliner dilemma: Comfort and fear

Not all recliners are comfortable, there are some we fear. Most people would want a recliner seat in their living room to relax and watch television.

This is one of the best ways to wind down. Even at the office when you want to recollect your thoughts, one tends to recline his or her seat.

The reclining position is a state of mind because if you think about it you would want to recline only in places where you are at ease.

It all depends on the level of comfort. This could be because you tend to go into a calm mode when you recline. Going into a calm mode could lead you to drift into the sleep zone, especially if you are a sleep-deprived one.

But there is one recliner that almost everyone must have dreaded at some point in their life and they are the recliners at the dentist’s. The phobia of visiting a dentist can be so overwhelming that we tend to avoid and postpone the visit until the situation is unbearable, just like many factors in life that would have been simpler if we had acted sooner.

And that reminds us of the proverb, ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ The epigram teaches us the difference between corrective measures and measures of repairs.

'Procrastination' is a problem on its own but the fear of dentists is a problem of its own.

Dentophobia can be experienced by people who do not even have an iota of social phobia. Also known as 'Odontophobia', the fear of dentists could be for many reasons, but the reality is that oral health is extremely important, because the various features are interconnected.

Speak to doctors and they will explain how oral health is connected with body health. We connect the body and mind and have been growing in awareness about mental health. Health experts however have been warning about oral health and heart health, including diabetes and now even the impact on memory and brain health.

It teaches us the importance of the element called balance.

Life on its own is a balancing act. Getting it right is a challenge. Getting it right is a challenge. For that matter, this is true even in nature, especially with weather.

Life would have been so predictable if there were no uncertainties in life.

For instance, when the arrival of monsoon shifts slightly, there are consequences and people are impacted starting from tourism to farmers. And this is the case at the changes one faces at a personal level.

Some overcome the changes and thrive while others breakdown. But when one faces the challenge of do or die, most will try to swim. Once we cross the current, there could be endless opportunities and we might even enjoy the process.

The same with dentists - we might detest thinking about having an appointment, but once we experience the benefit we might lose the fear.

However, most probably, we have not taken this fear seriously and worked at it.

A common belief is that the less we know and mess around, the better. Tell me the word dentist, and I will visualise the recliner and needles along with the tools. And the bigger challenge is that the work is to be done in the mouth, where we cannot see and a prick can seem to be very sensitive. On the other hand, the fear of the dentist also makes us bear the pain silently until - you know when.

So they say visit regularly. A couple of tricks that have been shared are deep breathing, meditation, and distraction such as listening to music. There are more techniques, but the best one is a friendly, confident, and comforting dentist, this makes all the difference in the world. After all, fear is a whole different game. It is not an intention, but a condition with which life is quite limiting.

Living life fearlessly ought to have its benefits such as regular checkups leading to solutions.

Living fearlessly could also open doors to unlimited opportunities. A simple reason is the level of confidence.

And the doctor said to the frightened patient who was going through an eye procedure, “A little bit of fear is good because it is this fear that makes us run when we see a lion.”