Written for people who have not been to a dentist in years, and who would like to know before they arrive.
Most of the people who write anxious in the notes on our booking form tell us the same thing afterwards: the worst part was not knowing what was going to happen. So here is the whole twenty minutes, in order.
You arrive, give your name, and pay nothing yet. Reception checks your identity card and asks whether you take any medicine, which matters more than people expect. You sit down for a few minutes. If you asked for chair three, you are taken to the room at the back rather than waiting in the corridor.
In the room the dentist asks two questions before touching anything: what has brought you in, and whether anything in particular worries you. Then the chair goes back, a light comes on, and the dentist looks at each tooth and at your gums with a mirror and a small probe. That is the whole examination. It takes about six minutes and nothing is drilled, injected or removed.
They may ask for a small image of one or two teeth. If so, it is a separate short appointment, usually the same week, and you will be asked whether you are or might be pregnant before anything is taken.
Then the chair comes up and the dentist tells you what they found, in words rather than in numbers, and writes it on a sheet with a price beside each item and a line about what happens if you leave it for now. You take the sheet away. Nothing is booked at the desk unless you ask.
You pay the appointment fee at reception and leave. That is it. If there is something to be done, it happens on a different day, with you having had time to read what you agreed to.