Much to my surprise, the dental office seems to have anticipated this, since their hold message (paraphrased) is "Don't worry if you haven't been to a dentist in awhile, even years! We will not judge you and will do our best to make you feel comfortable!" Mind you, the first time I ever went to the dentist, I was 21, so four years is not a whole lot compared to that.
And yes, they actually said they would not judge. That's probably going to crack me up for the rest of the day, but we all know I'm easily amused.