I recently sat in a dentist’s chair for an hour and a half, feeling the ache of my jaw held wide open, listening to the hard metal scraping against the edges of my teeth, the shrill sound of the drill. Oh, the drill. There’s nothing quite so unnerving as that high pitched squeal and the gritty crumbling of your teeth echoing inside your skull. As I sat there trying not to think of the sharp metal object jamming deep into Material Used To Clean Teeth Nowadays my head, I came to a conclusion. Two conclusions really. One, I have too vivid an imagination and given all this free time with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling, listening to those dreadful sounds, I have the ability to come up with some pretty horrifying dental catastrophe scenarios. I won’t share them with you, you may need dental work soon. Secondly, and more importantly, I need a more high-tech dentist.
Prior to this visit of mine, my husband had a root canal done at a different office; a three hour root canal, in fact. He may have been nervous about the procedure itself, but that took a back seat as he thought about lying there for three hours, having his nerves drilled out with nothing else to do but count ceiling tiles. Dreading the mind numbing down time, he tried to convince the dentist to sedate him. They insisted it wasn’t necessary, and once Top Dental Schools In Us they got started, he was pretty impressed. It was like being at the movie theater, with the addition of a few minor distractions, and a numb face. This dental office had personal movie viewing glasses. He picked from a selection of movies, put on these star trek looking glasses, and watched an entire movie. Right about the time the movie ended, his procedure was done. He was completely distracted the entire time. Much more fun than my grueling visit.
So as I sat in the my humdrum dentist’s office, wishing I had gone to a more high-tech guy, I decided I’d be shopping around before my next visit. And near the top of my list of questions, I wanted to find out more about these fancy toys, and who has the goods. And not just for me, but for my kids. With three children, including two rough and tumble little boys, we’re likely to have a few teeth knocked out and maybe a few fillings. Even when going in for your basic cleaning, it can be such a struggle to keep small children still and waiting patiently, while preventing the older ones from groaning the well-known childhood mantra, “I’m bored”. In this high-tech day and age, why not have the top notch gear in our doctor’s and dentists office?
So I’m on a mission to find the coolest and best of entertainment in my health care providers. Why not go to an office that’s fun, offers the coolest gadgets, and the extra entertainment during an essential visit that so many people dread, and many avoid altogether? In fact, an article from the American Dental Association states that “fear and anxiety often inhibit patients from seeking dental care.
Audiovisual, or A/V, distraction techniques have been shown to reduce patient anxiety and pain during dental procedures.” And yet, there are only a few offices in my area offering these advancements. But the ones that do, tend to do it well. For example, one awesome dentist near us offers a flat-screen TV in the reception area, a built-in nintendo game system, “touch to play” computerized games offering quizzes, card games, strategy & trivia, plus once your settled in to begin your work, you can watch movies or satellite TV with blue tooth headsets. Now that’s the kind of dental appointment I can look forward to!
There are lots of great providers out there, but finding a provider who can take care of your health needs while offering those special perks, can make going to the dentist a completely different experience. I’m even thinking I may be able to convince the kids their semi-annual appointments are in fact a reward for their good behavior! Is it a necessity that your doctor or dentist keep up with latest tech channel discoveries? Maybe not, but for me and my family, we’ve got a few more expectations these days.