Dental visits can often induce stress and anxiety. However, your comfort is your dentist’s top priority! To help make the experience more pleasant, dentists often use a few tricks to help patients feel at ease in the dentist chair.
1. Talking when they have tools in your mouth
Ever wondered why dentists will make conversation while your mouth is stuffed full of cotton or other instruments? Perhaps you’ve had a local anesthetic and part of your mouth is too numb to form words clearly?
Well, this is an age old trick designed to distract the patient from all the poking and prodding otherwise going on during a dental procedure. This helps the patient take their mind off the tiny details of a dental exam.
2. Covering the tools
The sight of a needle can certainly induce anxiety in any patient. Therefore, dentists and dental assistants will generally keep tools and anesthetics out of sight of patients, especially children.
3. Having a fish tank or other relaxing things in the office
Plenty of things found in a dental office are designed to keep patients at ease. If you’ve seen Finding Nemo, you may remember the fish tank in the dentist’s office. Fish tanks are a prime example of dentists having relaxing things that contributes to a comfortable environment. The flowing water is generally calming, which helps to relax patients before they even sit down in the chair.
Other common threads amongst many practices also include playing relaxing music and having soft office decor, both of which can have a soothing effect on patients.