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Below are several useful tips that may help ease your concerns about making an appointment to visit the dentist:

• Speak to people you know who have had dental treatment. Ask them about how comfortable their dentists made them feel, and how they felt about the treatment they received. Consult as many people as you feel necessarily, and select your dentist from the recommendation you either trust most or were most impressed by. If possible, ask the person who referred you to your new dentist to attend your appointment with you.
• Prior to making a firm booking with a dental practice, ask the practice you are thinking about visiting about coming to see them so that they can show you around their premises and introduce you to their team. Explain to them that the reason for this is that you are not feeling very confident about visiting the dentist, and this should prompt them to do everything in their power to make you feel at ease.
• Something to remember when you come to book your appointment is to try to book it as early in the day as possible. It sounds simple, but by booking an early morning appointment you will spend less of your day worrying and will be far less anxious by the time you see your dentist.
• Essentially, there is genuinely nothing to worry about in terms of your first appointment. Your first trip to the dentist will merely be a consultation, and if any further treatment is required, it will almost be certainly scheduled for a different day. It is highly unlikely that any of the dental treatments you dread will be performed during your initial consultation.
• If it is cosmetic dental surgery that you are ultimately interested in, then it would be a good idea to try a less intensive treatment first (such as polishing or teeth whitening) in order to allow you to become accustomed with receiving dental treatment. From here, you may feel more willing to approach the prospect of the treatments you are more interested in which require more work.
• If you do require a procedure or treatment that you feel worried or anxious about, then discuss this with your dentist before it commences. If possible, ask him if there will be opportunities for the dentist to allow you to stop him when you feel it is necessary. This is usually done by some form of physical signal (for example, raising of a hand).