JACKSON, MI – A Jackson dental clinic has added a new sensory room as part of an effort to make the office more accessible to everyone.

Center for Family Health’s Dental Clinic, 500 N. Jackson St., has recently added s sensory-modulated waiting room, funded by the Delta Dental Foundation.

The room was crafted by a Dallas-based company Sensory Health, whose mission is to improve health equity for patients with sensory processing challenges associated with autism, ADHD, PTSD and anxiety, officials said.

The company’s designer, Erin Beal, is a Michigan native diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who has created the Autism Wellness Center of Southwest Michigan, she said.

The room provides patients a space to relax and re-center before their appointment.

“We want to address that everyone has sensory needs, and everyone can benefit from equipment, spaces, tools and resources like this,” Beal said. “Oral care is very important. It’s also very important because it can be indicative of other health ( concerns). So, it’s really important that people have access.”

The room features soundproofing materials on the walls, ceilings and floor, six unique LED light displays, along with two custom installations, including LED firefly curtains and a butterfly wall. Earmuffs, fidget toys, sunglasses and white noise are also available for the patients room.

A moss rug, 3D pillows of logs and rocks, an LED tree and disco ball mushrooms are also in the room to give it an “enchanted forest” look, Beal said.

In addition, two treatment rooms have been dressed in soundproofing materials, projection lights, armuffs and fidget toys. These help the patients during appointments, Center for Family Health’s Dental Supervisor Ami Ward said.

“It’s nice to be able to limit the light that they’re getting in,” Ward said. “With the headphones, it just eliminates a lot of the problems right there by just making them more comfortable, not having to listen to loud noises right by their head and their ears.”

Some people have no problem visiting the dentist every six months. For others, however, it can be anxiety-inducing and overstimulating. The rooms are designed to make treatment and the waiting room experience more welcoming, quieter and calmer, Ward said.

“Dentistry for most people isn’t the most pleasant experience. There’s a lot of patients that come in with high anxiety and just fear from dentists,” Ward said. “They (patients) can get overstimulated in a waiting room, so we can recognize it to bring them back into the sensory room, and that way they’re calmer when they get back here.”

While the rooms are geared toward those with sensory processing challenges associated with autism or ADHD, it has sometimes been used by staff and others who need time to re-focus through the day, Ward and Beal said.

“You are not going to have as many patients with special adaptive needs, as you will with mainstream patients that don’t have additional needs,” Beal said. “So, in the day to day, this also functions as a space for people to relax. For staff, for patients who maybe don’t need adaptive dentistry, but maybe they have just sensory needs. Making people more comfortable, gives them more access to care. Really, it makes them show up for appointments and just allows them to get the care that they need.”

So far, patients, staff members and patients have responded favorably to the room, Ward said. Patients and staff have been more relaxed through the dental process, she said.

“We’ve been able to get a bit more work done while they’re here,” Ward said.

More information about Sensory Health can be found on its website. Those interested in creating their own custom sensory space for business or home should email [email protected].

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