Haven’t Been to the Dentist in Years? Start Here

Medically reviewed by Dr. Ali Fatemi, DDS, FAGD, MAGD, FICOI, MaCSD — Fatemi Family Dentistry, Gaithersburg & Lexington Park, MD.

If it’s been five, ten, or twenty years, you are not the worst case we’ve seen — you’re a patient. The single biggest myth keeping people in avoidance is that the dentist will be shocked or disapproving. We aren’t, because this is genuinely common. Here’s how to come back without dreading it.

Why the gap grows on its own

Dental avoidance is usually a loop: one bad experience or a scary cost leads to skipping a visit, small problems quietly grow, and the fear of what you’ll be told makes the next visit harder to book than the last. The loop feeds itself. The only thing that breaks it is a first appointment that’s smaller and calmer than the one you’re imagining.

Start small: one visit, no full overhaul

You do not have to fix everything at once, and we won’t pressure you to. A sensible re-entry is a low-stakes look at what’s actually going on. Our $29 new-patient visit is built exactly for this: it’s one targeted X-ray and a limited exam of the area you’re most worried about — not a two-hour deep-dive. It gives you honest information and a plan you control the pace of.

“But my teeth are really bad”

Two things are true. First, we have seen it before — advanced decay, missing teeth, years of avoidance — and it’s treatable more often than people expect. Second, no lectures: our job is to tell you what’s happening and lay out options, not to make you feel worse than you already do about it. Judgment-free isn’t a slogan here; it’s the only approach that actually gets avoidant patients back into a chair.

If it’s genuine fear, not just procrastination

For some people the barrier isn’t scheduling — it’s real, physical anxiety. If that’s you, sedation changes the equation entirely. With IV sedation, you can have years of needed work done while you rest, remembering little to none of it, with Dr. Fatemi administering the sedation and doing the treatment himself. Patients who couldn’t sit through a cleaning have caught up on everything in one or two comfortable visits. Fear is a reason to come in, not a reason to keep waiting.

What about the cost of catching up?

Cost fear is as real as needle fear. Nothing gets done to you or charged without you seeing the plan first, in writing. If cost is the wall, our payment options — insurance, the $29 new-patient visit, and financing through Cherry and CareCredit — exist to break big treatment into manageable steps rather than one intimidating number.

A realistic first step

You don’t need to be ready to fix everything. You need to be ready for one short, honest appointment. That’s the entire task. Everything after that moves at a pace you set.

Book your $29 new-patient visit in Gaithersburg or Lexington Park →

Want to see what we handle first? Browse our services, or read how IV sedation makes catching up comfortable.

General information, not a diagnosis or treatment plan. Your options depend on an individual evaluation. Please confirm all clinical and offer content (including current $29 terms) against your practice’s regulatory and compliance requirements before publication.