OOPS! Hope! I have just read your caption and all the comments and am well - gobsmacked...one of your "friends " is a dentist and I don't think you hate me. I have spent my career trying to help patients who find difficulty coping with their own fear of dental treatment. For me , the caption would work better if it said, "there is nothing to fear but fear itself - and my own fear of dental treatment".
@mzzhope It looks as though you have found a dentist who is looking after you holistically, a person first and his obligations to your dental health and well being next.
E.
and I agree with you those tools scare me.