Chair position

[Kajikit]

I HATE being laid right back in the chair... it feels like I can't breathe and makes me really paranoid and panicky. I'm much more comfortable and feel more in control in reclining position rather than lying flat. It also helps keep the drool from running down my throat and choking me!

 

[Imnotbetty]

I'm fine with the chair being back, but in the process of moving backwards I got very panicky. I was still freaked out when I was all the way back, but I think that was more based on the fact that I had some dude sticking his hands in my mouth.

 

[nervous_wreck]

I can't lie down as I am asthmatic so I prefer sitting up. It works though because My dentist doesn't mind.

 

[rabidstoat]

This latest dentist I went to had a super-soft pillow (with a disposable cover for each patient) at the head of his chair. I don't remember that from my last dentist (admittedly a while ago!). The pillow actually made the whole experience more comfortable, and I felt fine lying back -- though, admittedly, I think the nitrous oxide had a lot to do with that!

 

[puppypusher]

I've also found that the new chairs are really quite comfy.I must admit that I agree wholeheartly about the nitrous contributing to the comfort level.

 

[trinitrotoluene]

yeah laying all the way back is nearly impossible for me i remember one time when i was younger i wanted to like "jump up" or something and he wouldn't let me and i freaked out and dissociated bigg time and i think i ended up hitting him ;-; dentist visits do not go v well for me probably because of that simple aspect itself i really cannot stand lying in front of other ppl

 

[DrMike]

Here's something many of my patients find useful and you may too:

Ask if you can stay sitting up while the chair is reclined into the position the dentist wants it. When the chair is in its final position you can then take all the time you need to lie back and get comfortable.
This avoids that horrible loss of control feeling and the feeling that you are going to fall off the chair!

This reminds me of a good Glaswegian (Scottish) joke:

A woman sits in the dentists chair.
The dentist says "comfy?"
The woman replies "Govan"!

Quick explanation - 'comfy' in a Glaswegian accent is the same as 'come fae' or 'come from'!

Mike

 

[mikey]

Nitrous really helps the chair become 'comfy' for me and I hate when they lay it back father than 180°, It makes me feel like im going to fall out.

 

[kitkat]

I hate when they lay it back farther than 180°, It makes me feel like im going to fall out.

For a long time, my dentist used to keep the chair only reclined moderately, but lately it seems to be her preference to recline it at least 180 degrees or further (even for an exam). I've been going to her office for almost 8 years and I trust her enough that it's not a huge issue but I definitely feel more out of control/trapped with the chair that far back. Sometimes she fakes me out; she will only recline it back moderately and begin the procedure and then tells me she's going to recline me back further after about 3-5 minutes of working. If she wants the chair all the way back, I almost prefer she does it that way because it's at least a gradual recline and I have a few minutes to adjust to everything before laying all the way back. And at least it doesn't seem like I'm tipping back as far then. I'm okay til I feel a shift in gravity and the weight starts pulling down towards my head instead of my feet. If I weren't comfortable with her already, I'm not sure I'd be able to deal with it as well but she always assures me that I'm in control and can stop the procedure at any time which relieves a lot of my anxiety.

 

[tess456plum]

I hate it when the chair is all the way back, too! I feel like I'm trapped. However, I do take xanax and that really helps.

 

[K-Bird]

I would rather not be in the chair at all!

 

[Clem]

Oh boy, I'll second that one! If I'm going in for "work" (something besides cleaning) I won't actually sit in the torture chair until the doc is in there and ready to go. I hate being leaned back like an upside down turtle, helpless. And some people actually think that's relaxing, go figure. Get me out of there.

 

[letsconnect]

I don't think anyone thinks an "upside down" position is relaxing. Though it appears that it's not normally used in the U.K. anyway (apparently, some ergonomics experts argue that it's a bad working position for the dentist - never mind the patient...).
I've been told that the chairs nowadays can be adjusted in virtually endless positions, and if you really need a head back without legs up position, this can be quite easily achieved by just tipping back the headrest.

 

[Clem]

You know, if they actually GOT the whole situational thing (being the issue with many of us), they might actually be able to develop some kind of more comforting, less threatening, arena for the patient to have to deal with.

 

[brit]

You know, if they actually GOT the whole situational thing (being the issue with many of us), they might actually be able to develop some kind of more comforting, less threatening, arena for the patient to have to deal with.

Clem
I suppose you could argue that the whole 'Dental Spa' thing (really only on your side of the pond) kind of takes that approach. Alas though it tends to also sit alongside a very cosmetic treatment approach.

 

[RP]

ha- I thought the whole dental spa thing was a UK driven approach- I googled "dental spa UK" and lots came up-I tried to find one near me -large metropolis and I came up with one whose idea of a spa was a massage chair and TV.

Doing facial aesthetics, botox fillers, etc typically associated with spas here is not a practice model that has been widely adopted in the US.

I get a little nervous when a medical or dental professional tries to mask what they are doing behind glitz- take care of my issues with quality of care as a focus- I'll treat myself to the "spa" and relax after.

rp

Clem
I suppose you could argue that the whole 'Dental Spa' thing (really only on your side of the pond) kind of takes that approach. Alas though it tends to also sit alongside a very cosmetic treatment approach.

 

[letsconnect]

I don't think the dental spa thing is as huge as it looks, either in the UK or in the US - it just has a huge web presence. In the UK, it appears to be nearly all driven by one team of brothers (one of whom is a dentist, the other is a website design/SEO guy). In reality, they're a very small number of practices, but they're all over the internet (even their dental phobia site, which is a bit of a rip-off of Dental Fear Central, ranks higher than this site for the search term "dental phobia" despite the lack of content).

 

[Ebony]

I would rather not be in the chair at all!

I second that!

I hate the waiting I have to do in the chair before my dentist arrive... I always consider jumping out of it, but never done so. Tend to look out of the window at the people bellow, wishing that I was one of them right there and then .

My dentist always asks if I’m compatible and easily sees when I’m not. Once one of his assistants had not made the headrest fit my height and since I’m too shy to say anything I did not mentioned it. It was not much, but enough to make me uncomfortable. My dentist corrected it straight away when he arrived, he did not need to ask me to see it.

 

[Clem]

I don't sit in the chair until the dentist arrives. They can put the slobber bib on me without me being in the chair. I don't care if it takes another 20 seconds for me to move when he comes in, it's worth it for lessening the length of the stressful period. And I have jumped out of the chair. I was in to have a tooth checked (corner had broken off), and the 'assistant" dentist was chatting with me and mentioned that they could "numb it up" if I was uncomfortable--and I jumped out of the chair and ran over to the corner. She apologized and didn't mention the horrid shot again. I think we need them to take us seriously--I had told her earlier than under no conditions was I going to get a shot that day. Guess she didn't think I meant it.

To me, that's the biggest issue--they don't take our concerns seriously. Or they think that joking about it will somehow "relax us" enough that we forget what's coming. Amazing.

 

[Camisa]

Saw a general dentist on Monday. bad experience number 5,000.

I had to ask him if I was upside down cuz myheart was racing blood into my head and my feet were up in the air (or so it seemed). I was like "blah blah blah here's my history blah blah um am I upside-down?"
He said no but yes.

So... no? yes?

Anyway I asked him to put me into at least a lying position. jeez