Call me a wimp, but I really hate going to the dentist. Yet I seem to spend a lot of time there, in the past I even went to bad dentists so I had to make a claim for dental negligence. Probably as a result of growing up with non-fluoridated water combined with a fondness for cherry kool-aid.

I have (or had) a mouth full of fillings, so each year for the last five years I’ve required a root canal or two. Today while getting root canal number nine, I started thinking about just how little the actual experience at the dentist had changed. Sure, there have been major technology advancements. The office is paperless, I schedule appointments online and get email reminders, there is a computer in each exam room, the x-rays are digital and some of the equipment has come a long way (although I swear it still looks like torture devices). But the experience from the chair hasn’t changed much.

Now, my dentist is a pretty cool guy. As a person. He’s funny. He has good taste in the music he pipes into the exam rooms. Plus he explains what he is going to do and gives me status reports. Yet sitting in that chair I felt the same today as I did when I was a kid. There is nothing to keep my mind occupied or to distract me, so I look at the light above me. Or the ceiling. Or anything I can see while being tilted back in that chair. Or I close my eyes, which makes my mind ramp up with fear about what is to come. I’m white knuckled, my hands are sweating and I dread the horrible sounds of drilling in my mouth. Not to mention the needles filled with Novocain and the awful tastes of the various stuff they use with a root canal. And then there are those mini screw-driver-looking files they have on the tray. The ones they poke down into your roots. OMG. Just looking at those things ratchets up my anxiety level.

From the Chair

I’m not alone. I’ve never spoken to anyone that doesn’t have some fear when it comes to visiting the dentist. I know my dentist has to do his thing to solve my problem. He needs his scary tools and the bright lights. But I’d like to see some changes to make the actual patient experience better. First, don’t put your tools of torture on a tray in front of me. I don’t want to look at them because they fill me with dread. Please re-orient the chairs so the tray is behind my head. Then give me something to take my mind off of what you are doing in my mouth. How about a really cool detailed mural on the ceiling? Maybe one with various optical illusions or with hidden images that I could stare at and discover. Or how about a TV monitor mounted on the ceiling and a set of headphones. Let me pick what I want to watch. Today I could have watched almost two full-length feature films. That might have distracted me. And made me a better patient. Giving the patient something to take their mind off of your job would significantly reduce the stress and anxiety level and change the experience for the patient.

That’s probably not something most dentists think about, because they don’t experience the visit from the chair. It’s not as easy as it sounds to change your perspective to truly experience your office/room/store from the customer’s point of view, yet it could make a world of difference.

People may never anticipate a dental visit with glee, but they might not dread it as much.

I’m going to go medicate myself with Ibuprofen, because the Novocain is wearing off and my mouth is starting to hurt like an SOB.