一听到钻牙的声音就害怕？一看到针头就头皮发麻？你有可能真的有看牙恐惧症。

我们来看一段相关的英文报道

Dental fear is the fear of dentistry and of receiving dental care. It is estimated that as many as 75% of US adults experience some degree of dental fear, from mild to severe.

Many dentally fearful people will only seek dental care when they have a dental emergency, such as a toothache or dental abscess.

People who are very fearful of dental care often experience a "cycle of avoidance," in which they avoid dental care due to fear until they experience a dental emergency requiring invasive treatment, which can reinforce their fear of dentistry.

看牙恐惧症指的是对牙科及接受牙科治疗的恐惧。据估计，美国成年人中有75%有不同程度的看牙恐惧症，有的程度较轻，有的则很严重。

很多有看牙恐惧症的人只有在遇到牙科急症时才会去看牙，比如牙痛或者牙脓肿。

非常害怕看牙的人常会经历“逃避循环”，他们由于恐惧而逃避看牙，直到他们遇到牙科急症，而这又需要进行侵入性治疗，这种治疗又会加重他们的恐惧。



【讲解】

文中的dental fear就是“看牙恐惧症”的意思，其中dental用作形容词，意为“牙齿的；牙科的”，常见的词汇搭配如：dental surgeon（牙医）、dental plaster（牙科石膏）、dental hygiene（口腔卫生）。

第三段中的invasive用作形容词，意为“侵入的”，如：The test is invasive and can be uncomfortable.（该检查是侵入的，而且会使人感觉不适。）