i had this suggested to me by a locum dentist, and i agree. This is totally off topic and going further so but if you didn't already, you should change your dentist.

Thanks but I won’t. My dentist is fine otherwise, I can say “no”, they’re ok with me saying “no”.

We get along great and I find that’s both hard to find and super important - no better way of putting off dentist visits than having a dentist you dread seeing every 6 months.