Students at Britain's newest dental school are being taught some simple techniques to help relieve children’s fears of a visit to the dentist .
The move comes just a month after an inquest into a young girl’s death found that she starved herself to death after being severely traumatised by a trip to the dentist .
Eight-year-old Sophie Waller, who died in 2005, developed an extreme dental phobia known as pervasive refusal syndrome following a series of traumatic dental check-ups .
Now the Peninsula Dental School, based in Plymouth, is looking to teach its students how to help young patients feel more comfortable and alleviate their dental anxieties .
As well as being taught all the necessary technical skills, the students also develop a range of communication, psychology and sociological skills.
Professor Liz Kay, the school's dean who has written advice for students about how to allay children's fears, said: "We try to understand what the root causes of that person's anxieties are, in a ‘we are in this together’ role.
"You have to remember what it's like to be five and speak in a language the children understand," she added.
"Words like "dental chair" could be replaced by more child-friendly words like "rocket man's chair. Instead of saying ‘open your mouth’ you say ‘let's count your teeth ’."
Prof Kay said dentists could also tackle the perception that a visit to a dental clinic means a painful experience by creating a friendlier environment within their surgeries.
