Today I had a wonderful telephone call. What could be better to start to the week, than a call to say someone I have seen has found their lives changed because of it. Sharon was so excited as she spoke on the phone. "I just wanted to say that I have been to the dentist" she began. I was so pleased.

I met Sharon at the door a few weeks ago. She had booked the appointment because she had been so afraid to go to the dentist that she had not been, even for a check-up, since she was just a little girl. She had often tried, as she had been worried that her teeth needed urgent attention. However, the very thought of going to the dentist was enough to make her begin to shake.

As Sharon stood at my the door, simply knowing that she had come to see me about her fear of dentistry, was already making her shake and quiver. I guided her into the lounge, and sat her down. She was jumpy and nervous, and told me in a shaking voice abut her problem. Every muscle in her body was violently shaking, and only by summoning up all of her strength could she continue with her story.

I decided that Sharon would need two sessions, the first of which was to calm her completely, and prepare her for the second appointment! At the end of the first appointment, Sharon was surprised how she had completely stopped shaking, even as we were speaking about her fear.

The second session began very well, and Sharon settled into a peaceful trance, trusting that I would be helping her, and that I would not do anything nasty to her!!

On other occasions when I had been dealing with fear of dentistry, I had come accross some horrific cases where people had been subject to terrific pain and frightening experiences, and I had used all of my skills to induce pain relief and override tortuous memories of dental appointments from hell, so I was pleasantly surprised, if not amazed, that Sharon's fears had grown from much less horrific incidents.

There were a couple of elements to the foundation of Sharon's fears, and they all began when she was about five years old.

The first problem related to the rubber face mask which dentists used to placed over childrens' mouths in order for them to have gas. I remember this experience well, myself. That horrible smell! Well, in order to make this experience comfortable in Sharon's subconscious, while Sharon was in trance, I changed the mask into a magic chocolate mask, which smelled of chocolate, and when the mask came over the face, all the chocolate fairies appeared, and entertained Sharon by reading stories, and playing games, until the chocolate face mask was removed.

This worked very well in removing that fear from Sharon's subconscious. I then had to tackle the problem of the fear of the pain, as a result of the injection, as there were no memories of pain from anything else in her subconscious.

I created some anaesthesia techniques which would be used in her subconscious memory of the injection, and also would be available for Sharon to use later, in full consciousness, using her subconscious mind to do the work. There are a number of techniques which can be used, but I chose two which seem to be good companions.

The first technique involves growing an analgesic glove around one hand, and then wherever this glove touches, the analgesia can flow into that area, like a mist of numbness. The glove can be created by the client sitting quietly for a while, just imagining the glove growing around their hand. Can you imagine the pleasant surprise when it actually works, and an area becomes numb after being touched by this glove!

The second technique involves switching off nerves. The client imagines a bank of switches and keeps on switching them off until the pain has completely gone out.

Sharon found that after her extensive dental work, she needed no other pain killers than these two techniques. She was delighted. She was so amazed at her experience with hypnotherapy, she just had to phone me, and then she sent me this e-mail.

Dear Olivia,

Since I was the age of 8 or 9 I have been terrified of dentists and needles, and I have to say sceptical of Hypnotherapy, I couldn't quite grasp how someone could get into my mind and tell me everything was going to be o.k. but here I am at 52 years of age saying to you after 2 visits, thank you for getting into my mind and allowing me to go to the Dentist and booking a consultant all in 1 week and having all my teeth out. I was under anesthetic at 10am out at 12.30 an over night stay and back home the day after. I used no pain killers! I am a different woman, my whole outlook on life has changed and boy just wait till I get my new teeth I am going to show the world what a real smile is all about. Without you Olivia I could never have done it, and I am indebted to you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Sharon Noble.