Twenty Minutes in the Chair

Your first dentist appointment is tomorrow morning, and you're already thinking about it. Okay. Here's what actually happens.

Will it hurt? Almost certainly not. A first visit is a check-up. The dentist looks in your mouth, counts your teeth, and says numbers out loud to the person writing them down. That's most of the appointment.

Do you have to talk? A little, at the start. Someone asks you a few questions. Any pain? Any problems? Any medicine you take every day? Yes or no is enough. Nobody wants a speech.

So what's the loud noise? That's the cleaning tool. It's mostly water and air, and it sounds much worse than it feels. If you want it to stop, put your hand up. The dentist stops. Every dentist knows that hand. You don't have to explain it, and you don't have to be polite about it. It's a break, and you're allowed to take one.

How long does all of this take? About twenty minutes. Less, if nothing is wrong.

And if something is wrong? Then you make a second appointment. That's the part nobody tells you: the second time, none of it is new. The room, the chair, the noise, the hand — you'll know all of it before you sit down. That's really what tomorrow is for.