Dental product splatter is a common occurrence at the dentist, so what are the dos and don'ts for how you should dress when going to the dentist. Our long island city dentist will lay out a dress code for you when you go in for your dental appointment.
Table of Contents:
Mishaps that may occur
Clothing accidents and mishaps are common occurrences at the dentist because there are many dental products that are prone to splatter or spillage. These dental materials may accidentally splash onto your clothes, which would require you to go back home for an outfit change. This would certainly hamper your plans if you had an engagement shortly after your dental visit.
Your dentist and dental hygienist is not purposely trying to dirty your clothes, otherwise they wouldn't have put the dental bib on you in the first place! The purpose of the dental bib is to help protect your clothes from any potential splatter or spillage.
Even with the bib on, it can still get messy at the dentist because certain dental materials can splash, spill, drip, spray, and ooze. We will go through some of the potential causes that may dirty your outfit of the day.
Water spray
Quite a few dental equipment have the ability to spray water and sometimes it just sprays out of control and onto your clothes.
Air/water syringe
Dental drill
Ultrasonic scaler - this is the piece of equipment which your dentist uses to remove plaque and tartar.
Prophy jet - polishing machine that sprays water
Splash and splatter
The polishing paste at the end of your cleaning is highly prone to splatter and may splash onto you quite easily. This is because your dentist will put the polish onto a spinning rubber cup that rotates at thousands of rpm. It is inevitable that some of it will splash onto your clothes and your hair but most of it will stay on your teeth.
If you check out the video above, you can see how the material just flies everywhere. The material will stay on your teeth but it'll also go elsewhere. It is not uncommon for our dental cleaning staff to find the polishing paste on our office walls and floors! That is how potent the splatter can be.
Drip
There are too many dental products to count, which come in liquid form. Liquid dental products when being transported from the bottle and onto your tooth has the potential to drip before it reaches your tooth. It may drip onto your shirt quite easily. Here are a few common products, which drip.
Dental bonding
Tooth conditioner
Hemostatic agents
Fluoride treatment
Spill
Once again, a lot of dental materials come in liquid form so it isn't unusal for there to be spills from time to time. Staff can accidentally knock over things or drop them resulting in a spill. Thankfully the materials aren't toxic or hazardous to us!
Ooze
The most common oozing culprit would be dental impression material, which are used to capture a mold of your teeth. This material will ooze out but its viscosity isn't quite as thick as honey. After a couple of minutes it will turn hard and set. Before then, it can ooze onto your clothes quite easily. Just a word of caution because if it gets onto your clothes, it is nearly impossible to get off!
The Dos - What to wear
What you should wear are very comfortable clothing that is easy to move in and also disposable if possible. What we mean by disposable clothing is if your shirt does get dirty, you wouldn't be upset about it. Your dentist will try their best to keep you dry and clean but sometimes it is just impossible.
Another reason to wear something comfortable is because if the dental appointment takes longer than an hour, you don't want to be laying in the dental chair in uncomfortable clothing.
Good outfits
Tops - old t-shirts, shirts you don't care for, anything comfortable
Bottoms - jeans, pants with elastic
The Don'ts - What not to wear
What you shouldn't wear are uncomfortable clothes or clothes that you would make you upset if they get dirty. Typically you shouldn't wear very expensive clothing to the dentist due to the possibility of them getting dirty.
Bad outfits
Suits
Formal dresses
Formal wear
Going out outfit
Clubbing outfits
Tips for prevention
The best tip that we can give you is to bring a change of clothing. It'll help a lot if you bring an extra t-shirt to wear for your appointment which you can change into before you sit in the chair. This way if it gets dirty, you wouldn't care!
Also if you anticipate having an event to go to, you may want to schedule your dental check up earlier so that you have time to change afterwards. You can always go back home and switch to a new outfit and then go out.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact one of our dentists in long island city! We'll give you advice on what to wear and what not to wear. However, we don't get asked this too frequently so you may be one of the few.
