Alice: Hello, I'm Alice…
Stephen: And I'm Stephen.…
Alice: And this is 6 Minute English! This week we’re talking about a very common
phobia – a fear of the dentist – and a possible new treatment. But first of all,
Stephen, how does this sound make you feel?
Insert 1: Sound of a dentist’s drill
Stephen: Ouch! Oh, that sounds very painful.
Alice: Oh, are you scared of going to the dentist?
Stephen: Yeah, absolutely terrified.
Alice: Oh - you poor thing. Well, as usual I’m going to ask you a question related to
today’s topic. Which of these is NOT a real phobia – a word that describes a
persistent and sometimes irrational fear? Are you ready?
Stephen: Yes.
Alice: OK…
a) agoraphobia, b) arachnophobia, c) televiphobia
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 2 of 6
Stephen: I’m going to take a guess on c, televiphobia.
Alice: Well, I won’t tell you the answer now - but we’ll find out at the end of the
programme. Now let’s find out about this new gadget which might help people
who are scared of visiting the dentist – that’s dentaphobia by the way.
Stephen: A fear of going to the dentist.
Alice: Here’s Dentist Dr Andrew Parkman, describing how some patients feel when
they come to sit in his consulting chair:
Insert 2: Dr Andrew Parkman
We kind of notice people as soon as the drill starts up. They can tense up, they might
tense their shoulders, they might tense their fingers. Certainly, you can see a tension
come over them with that sound - that high-pitched noise.
Alice: Dr Parkman says his patients tense up – the dentist can see a tension come
over them with that high-pitched sound of the drill. It puts them off going to
the dentist.
Stephen: It puts them off – it discourages them from doing something.
Alice: So let’s look at this new gadget which blocks out the sound of the drill. It’s
just a prototype at the moment.
Stephen: A prototype is the first form of something which may go on to be manufactured.
In this case, it’s a gadget the size of a mobile phone which can block out the
sound of the dentist’s drill.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 3 of 6
Alice: Here’s Professor Brian Millar from King’s College London’s Dental Institute,
telling us how the prototype works:
Insert 2: Dr Andrew Parkman
It listens to the sound - as it’s happening - of the dentist’s drill inside the patient’s
mouth, which as everybody knows is a horrible sound. So bad, in fact, that it actually
puts some patients even off going to the dentist to seek important dental health care. So,
we listen to the sound of the drill, we produce a cancelling signal which is really
effectively an opposite sound – and then we just knock it out with the filtering system.
Alice: The gadget produces a cancelling signal, an opposite sound to knock out the
sound of the drill. This means the patient can listen to music and can still hear
the voice of the dentist or dental nurse, but they won’t hear the high-pitched
sound of the drill.
Stephen: It uses a sound filtering system. So are we hoping that these gadgets will be in
all dentist’s surgeries soon?
Alice: Well, the team that developed them are still looking for a manufacturer
to mass-produce the prototypes. So in the meantime, perhaps we need
some advice from the experts about how to deal with a phobia of
the dentist. Here’s Dr Kathy Sykes with some advice about how to
keep calm when you’re feeling anxious:
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 4 of 6
Insert 4: Dr Kathy Sykes
It’s worth trying to work out what your own response is. So for instance, remember the
last time you had an anxiety problem – and think about what your body did. You know,
did you feel hot? Did you find your hands beginning to clench? And then the next time
you find your hands clenching – or find, you know, whatever symptom it was you
spotted, try to do something to calm down. Taking a few moments outside for some fresh
air to clear your head - or maybe just listening to a bit of music. Whatever you think
calms you down. Try to do that.
Alice: Dr Kathy Sykes says that if you can spot the symptoms when you feel anxious
– worried – you can help yourself to try to calm down.
Stephen: The symptoms are how your body shows the anxiety. Do you feel hot? Do you
clench up your hands into little balls?
Alice: She suggests you listen to music or go outside for some fresh air when you feel
these symptoms. Now, before we go let’s answer our question. We heard a
couple of terms used to describe phobias. But I made one of them up, Stephen.
Did you guess which?
Stephen: Let me see. You said 'agoraphobia' – I think that’s a real phobia – it’s a fear of
going outside
Alice: Correct. And 'arachnophobia'?
Stephen: Oh, that’s a very common phobia. A fear of spiders, I believe?
Alice: Well done!
Stephen: So I’m guessing 'televiphobia' was the odd one out.
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2011
Page 5 of 6
Alice: You’re right. And your prize, Stephen, is to read some of the words and
phrases that we’ve used in today’s programme!
Stephen: phobia
persistent
irrational
patients
tense up
it puts them off
prototype
gadget
cancelling signal
drill
anxious
symptoms
Alice: Well, we hope you’ve had fun with us today on 6 Minute English - and that
you’ll join us again next time.
Both: Bye.
