How to Stay Calm in the Dentist’s Waiting Room

There is something disquieting about a waiting room, whichever or wherever it may be. I chose the dentist’s because I have been sitting in one much too frequently lately, but the following tips would apply to almost any waiting room situation. Whether waiting for an interview, a doctor’s report or even a late train.

The reason for our anxiety may be that in these situations we have no choice but to sit it out because someone else is in control and we are at their mercy. So questions flood our minds like ‘Will I be late for work?’ Will I get the job?’or ‘Is it bad news?’ Since we can’t supply the answers, questions keep chasing one another round like the protons in an Accelerator and a crash in the form of a nervous breakdown feels imminent.

Let’s return to the dentist. The trouble with his waiting room is the sound effects. You can hear the drill and imagine yourself lying helplessly in that chair. If he comes out of his surgery for a moment don’t look at him too closely, there might be blood on his white coat and you don’t want to see that! The questions on your mind there are ‘Will it hurt?’ (yes, it probably will), and ‘How much is it all going to cost’ (probably too much). The answers will come eventually, but time is standing still until they do and dwelling on things is not going to help.

So here’s the short term cure, diversions which will occupy your mind and get you through those short but very dark tunnels when the hands on your watch stand still. You will need to be armed with pen and paper.

• Pick a word randomly either out of your head or one of those year old much dog-eared magazines on the table. Choose one with about ten letters. Find as many words of 4 letters or more as you can. You need to concentrate for it to be effective, so make it hard by having a rule to use the same letter in each word.
• When you tire of this pick out a person in the room with you. Study him in detail for 30 seconds. This must be done unobtrusively so as not to alarm him. Then look away and write down as many details as you can remember – colour of his socks, shoes, even eyes if you are really good.
• If Autumn is approaching then it’s never too soon to compile your Christmas present list. If you are a woman that might be enough to keep you occupied for the duration. If you are a man you could add New Year Resolutions to use up a little more time.
• Having kept your head down for a while you might now look around the room again, this time to guess your companions’ jobs. That will lead you nicely into the final occupation of writing down all the reasons why you personally ought to change yours or encourage you to list all the reasons why you deserve a rise.