Dental anxiety is far more common than most patients realise — and far more common than most dentists are properly trained to handle. At Atrium Dental in Camberley, the principal dentist, Matt Golightly, has built his approach to nervous and neurodivergent patients on something more durable than a course module. It comes from his own lived experience, both as a former anxious patient and as a parent of children on the spectrum.

Where the empathy comes from

Matt is quite open about it. He didn’t develop his calm chair-side manner by accident or by force of will. He developed it because he knew what it felt like to be the patient on the other side.

“My dentist as a child was horrible. So I can totally empathise with the fear that people have with sitting in the chair.” — Matt Golightly

That sentence is, in a way, the whole article. Patients walk into a dental practice carrying years of small or not-so-small bad memories: a rough extraction at fourteen, an injection that didn’t quite take, a dentist who wouldn’t slow down, the smell of the room, the sound of the suction. None of that disappears just because the patient is now an adult and the new dentist looks nicer. The fear is real, and it deserves to be met by someone who recognises it.

That recognition shapes how Matt approaches the first few minutes of an appointment with a nervous patient: low and slow, plain language, no surprises, no pressure to commit to anything in particular on day one.

Neurodivergence: a personal connection

The other half of Matt’s perspective comes from his family.

“I’ve got three kids. Two of them are on the spectrum. My youngest, she’s eight, and she’s more heavily on the spectrum. I’m in charge of brushing her teeth and doing her check-ups, so I’m good with the neurodivergent patients as well. I’m a bit on there myself.” — Matt Golightly

That kind of lived experience is hard to fake. Brushing your own neurodivergent child’s teeth night after night for years teaches a parent — and especially a dentist-parent — a great deal about sensory triggers, predictability, language, what calms a difficult moment and what makes it worse. Matt brings that to the chair with autistic and ADHD patients, with patients who have sensory processing difficulties, and with patients who are simply wired to find the dental environment overwhelming.

That means appointments that don’t rely on the patient masking their way through the experience. It means dimmer lights when the patient asks, fewer surprises, more pausing, clearer explanations of what is about to happen and why. None of that is a treatment in itself, but it is the difference between a patient who keeps coming back and a patient who quietly stops booking.

What anxious patients actually need

Different patients are nervous about different things. Some are afraid of pain. Some are afraid of needles. Some are afraid of judgement — they know their teeth aren’t in great shape and they don’t want a lecture. Some are afraid of the loss of control: sitting back, mouth open, not being able to talk, not knowing what’s happening.

A dentist who understands anxiety addresses each of these differently. Pain fear is addressed with topical numbing gel before any injection, slow and careful injection technique, and double-checking that the area is properly numb before any work starts. Needle fear is addressed by hiding the syringe out of sight and giving the patient a clear, calm warning before each step. Judgement fear is addressed by saying, plainly and at the start, that nobody at Atrium is here to tell you off. Control fear is addressed by walking through what’s about to happen, explaining it as it goes, and stopping the moment the patient raises a hand.

What does not work, in any case, is rushing. A nervous patient who is rushed is a nervous patient who will not be back.

Practical things you can do before your first appointment

If you are an anxious patient considering coming to Atrium, there are a handful of things that genuinely help.

Tell the team when you book. Saying “I’m a nervous patient” on the phone is not embarrassing — it is useful. It means the team can allow extra time, brief the dentist before you walk in, and prepare the room.

Book a chat, not a procedure, for the first appointment. The first appointment does not have to involve any treatment. It can be a conversation, a look around the practice, a brief examination if you’re comfortable, and a plan for the next visit. Many of Matt’s most loyal patients started this way.

Bring someone if it helps. A trusted partner, friend or parent is welcome to come into the room with you. For some patients that single change makes the difference between sitting in the chair and not.

Tell the dentist what makes it harder. If you find suction noise difficult, if the bright light triggers you, if you need breaks every few minutes, if a particular word from a previous dentist still sits with you — say so. The team adjusts to the patient, not the other way around.

Why a long-standing local practice matters

One of the under-acknowledged things about treating anxious and neurodivergent patients well is that it benefits massively from continuity. The same dentist seeing the same patient over years builds a rhythm. The dentist knows what the patient prefers. The patient knows what the dentist will do. Trust accumulates appointment by appointment.

That is part of why Matt has stayed in the same Camberley and Surrey Heath area his entire practising life. Atrium today has a clinical team — Matt, Ahmed Al-Baiyaa and Matt Cottam — that is built around long-term relationships rather than quick turnover. For a patient who finds it hard enough to walk into a dental practice in the first place, knowing it will be the same familiar face next year matters a great deal.

If you have been putting off the dentist because of anxiety, or you are looking for a practice that is genuinely set up for neurodivergent patients, you are welcome to read more about Atrium’s approach to nervous patients, or simply get in touch for an informal chat first.

MEET

Matt Golightly

Principal Dentist · BDS Lond 1993 · GDC 69698

Matt qualified from King's College London in 1993 and spent his first two years in the dental departments at King's College Hospital and St George's, gaining the surgical grounding that still underpins his clinical work today. He has since practised as a general dentist in and around Surrey, eventually founding Atrium Dental in Camberley.

Matt has a particular interest in dental implants and orthodontics alongside general dentistry. He trained in implants at the Royal College of Surgeons and has been placing them for over twenty years. More recently he completed the IAS Academy Advanced Year course in orthodontics and is working toward the full diploma. He was also an early adopter of digital dentistry, including the CEREC same-day crown system that Atrium still uses today.

His calm, down-to-earth manner makes him a natural with anxious patients and children. Outside of clinical hours, Matt donates his time and the practice facilities to The Hope Hub, providing emergency dental care for people experiencing homelessness in Surrey Heath and surrounding areas. That community work, combined with his commitment to accessible, high-quality dentistry for the whole community, earned him the Camberley Hero Award in 2022.