The UW Dental Fears Center works to undo the power of patients' phobia, using various cognitive and behavioral therapy techniques

Lisa Heaton, a psychologist on staff at the clinic and an assistant professor at the School of Dentistry, said the clinic offers sedation and therapy and, often, a combination.

“Patients will call and say, ‘I want to be knocked out and done with it,’” she said. “But these people will wake up with the same fear they went to sleep with.”