01/18/2026
You can probably smell this picture!
It’s not your imagination.
It’s called a phantom smell. Your brain can fill in scents based on memories and past experiences!
Smell has a direct line to the limbic system, the part of the brain responsible for memory and emotion. For many people, the brain links this particular combination of scents to stressful dental experiences, triggering anxious feelings and increasing heart rate and blood pressure (even when they’re just *thinking* about the smell).
The good news? Positive dental experiences can help rewire those associations over time!
If you’re highly sensitive to the “dental office smell,” a dental hygiene clinic may be a gentler option for your cleanings. We get great feedback on our general lack of scent. One of the strongest contributors to the classic dental office smell is from products that we don’t use that contain clove oil (commonly used during dental procedures).
