A story you can read with your child before the visit.

A short note for the grown-up reading this

A social story is not a pep talk. It is a plain description of something new, told in order, in the child's own point of view, so the strangeness gets used up at home instead of in the lobby. Nothing here is a promise about how a day will go. It only makes the day less unfamiliar.

A few things help when you use one:

• Read it early, and more than once. Days ahead, in a calm moment, not in the parking lot on the way in.
• Let your child set the pace. Some children want it once. Some want it every night that week. Some want to stop on one part and stay there, and that part is usually the one worth talking about.
• Swap in your child's own words. If your house says tooth doctor, say tooth doctor. If a word lands badly, cut it. This is a script you are allowed to edit.
• Keep only the lines for the office you are visiting. Our Fort Myers and Naples lobbies look nothing alike, so each gets its own line below.
• Tell us what you changed. If your child needs a break signal, a fixed order of events, or a phrase repeated back, say so when you book and the team will use it.

This version describes a routine checkup. If something else is planned, call us and ask what to leave in and what to leave out: (239) 482-2722.

Part one: You are going to the dentist

Today you go to the dentist. A dentist is a person who counts teeth and helps teeth stay strong.

You ride there in the car. When the car stops, you hold a grown-up's hand and walk to the door.

Inside, a person at the front desk says hello and says your name. Your grown-up talks with them for a minute. You can stand close.

Then you wait for a little while. Waiting is part of going to the dentist. While you wait, there are things to look at.

• If you go to the Fort Myers office: a friendly gator statue is waiting near the front, and there are video games built into surfboards. There is a shipwreck too.
• If you go to the Naples office: a whale shark hangs above you. It is sixteen feet long. A pirate boat called the S.S. Flossy sits in its own corner, and there is a deep-sea diver you can take a picture with.

Then someone says your name out loud. That means it is your turn.

Part two: The chair that goes up and down

You walk back with your grown-up.

There is a big chair. You sit in it. The chair goes up, and later the chair goes down. Above the chair there is a bright light. The light helps the helper see inside your mouth.

A helper puts a paper bib on your shirt so your shirt stays dry. The helper tells you what each tool does before it is used. You can look at a tool first. You can ask what it is called.

One tool is a little toothbrush with a soft rubber cup on the end. It spins and it hums. It polishes your teeth. It tickles.

Another tool is a small straw that sits in your mouth and slurps up the water. It is noisy. The noise means it is doing its job.

Some of it feels tickly. Some of it feels wet. If you need to stop for a minute, you can tell your grown-up, and everybody waits with you. Nobody here is in a hurry.

Part three: Somebody counts your teeth

Next the dentist comes in and says hello to you.

The dentist holds a tiny mirror to see the backs of your teeth. The mirror is small and smooth and a little cold. The dentist counts your teeth out loud. You can count along if you want to.

The dentist looks at your gums, and your tongue, and the roof of your mouth. Then the dentist tells your grown-up how your teeth are doing.

Sometimes there is one more thing after that. Sometimes a helper paints something onto your teeth that helps them stay strong. Sometimes a picture gets taken of your teeth. Your grown-up will know if either one happens today, and somebody will tell you before it starts. Nothing is a surprise.

Part four: All done, and out the door

The chair goes down. You sit up. Your teeth feel smooth and slippery when you run your tongue over them.

You are all done. You went to the dentist.

You walk back out past the front desk. On your way, you say goodbye to the gator, or you say goodbye to the whale shark, depending on which office you go to. Then you go back to the car and you go home.

Next time you come here, you will already know the door, and the chair, and the bright light, and the toothbrush that tickles, and the straw that slurps. Next time, you will already know what happens.

A companion book, and the call that sets the visit up

Some children want a story with pictures on top of the plain one. The Bravest Little Diver was written for nerves about new places, and it is free, along with four other original picture books and printables in our Storybook Reef. The story above tells your child what happens. The Diver gives them somebody to be while it happens. Read one, read both, read neither, whatever your week has room for.

Whatever you add or change, tell us. Booking here is by phone on purpose, and for a visit like this one the call is where the plan gets built: what your child needs said out loud, what to skip entirely, and which words you have been using at home so we can use the same ones back. One number reaches both offices, Monday to Friday, 8 to 5, and a real human answers: (239) 482-2722.

More on how visits get shaped around one particular child is on our special needs dentistry page.