The use of hypnosis in the management of 'gagging' and intolerance to dentures.

Hypnosis is not a therapy, but can provide the clinician with a set of techniques which may be used to augment or facilitate a particular course of treatment. The importance of the patient's history and clinical findings in the diagnosis of intolerance to dentures and the selection of patients for hypnosis is discussed. Principles of treatment using relaxation, anxiety control, conditioning/desensitisation and confidence boosting techniques are described. Some examples of typical case histories are used to illustrate the application of a variety of techniques that have been found to be successful.