Dental anxiety is usually specific rather than general. People are not afraid of dentistry in the abstract. They are afraid of the needle, or of gagging, or of being told something expensive while they cannot speak, or of a dentist who did not stop last time.
That is good news, because specific problems have specific solutions. Here are seven you can ask for. None of them are unusual requests and none of them require explaining yourself.
1. A longer appointment
Say you are anxious when you book. The single biggest thing that makes an appointment feel rushed is that it is rushed. Knowing in advance means we schedule more time, and often a quieter part of the day.
2. A first visit with no treatment
There is no rule that says the first appointment has to involve a drill. For a lot of people it is a conversation and an examination and nothing else, so that the next visit is somewhere they have already been, with someone they have already met. If a decade has passed since your last visit, this is usually the right way in.
3. A stop signal
Agree one before we start — usually raising your hand — and we stop. Knowing you can stop is often what makes it possible not to need to, because a large part of dental anxiety is about having no control once you are in the chair.
4. To be told before, not during
Ask us to explain each step before we do it rather than narrating as we go. Some people want the detail; others want the headline and nothing more. Tell us which you are. Both are easy to accommodate and we would rather know than guess.
5. Numbing gel before the injection
If needles are the specific problem, say the word "needle" out loud when you book. Topical numbing gel goes on first so the injection is far less noticeable, we can go slowly, and you never have to see it. Needle phobia is extremely common.
6. A digital scan instead of putty impressions
If a tray of setting putty is what you dread, this one is already solved. We are a digital impression practice and use an iTero Element scanner: a small wand builds a 3D model of your teeth on a screen. Nothing sets in your mouth, and you can breathe, swallow and pause whenever you need to.
7. Anything on the comfort menu
We offer this to every patient, at no charge:
- Massaging dental chairs
- Netflix movies or shows
- Heated aroma therapy neck pillows
- Scented towels to refresh after your appointment
- Cool eye masks
- Bottled water
- Wi-Fi
Bring your own headphones and music if that helps more. Bring someone with you if that helps more. We have no objection at all.
One honest note
We do not offer sedation dentistry: no nitrous oxide and no oral conscious sedation. If you need sedation to get treatment done, tell us and we will discuss referral options rather than leaving you without an answer. What we offer instead is time, explanation, and the ability to stop.
Why it is worth doing
Avoidance compounds. A cavity that would have been a twenty-minute filling becomes a root canal and a crown after two years, so the treatment people are most afraid of is precisely the treatment that avoiding the dentist leads to. Breaking that loop is usually far less dramatic than expected.
Call (630) 427-1800 and tell whoever answers that you are nervous. It is the most useful sentence you can open with.
