Dwight the Dental Dog

For many people going to the dentist can be a scary experience, but an employee of one local dentist’s office goes the extra step to make sure patients are comfortable.

Dwight is a one-and-a-half-year-old Labradoodle who works as an emotional support animal at Sulens Dental Studio in Zanesville.

Dental hygienist Lisa Tice came up with the concept one day while working with a patient and approached Dr. Mike Sulens with the idea.

“Dental anxiety is such a real thing and we try to do everything to lower the stress level of patients and when she approached me with the therapy dog idea, I was like that sounds great, so I was all in right away,” said Sulens.

They carefully selected the breed of
dog to incorporate into the office and Dwight has gone through
extensive training in order to safely comfort patients.

“He’s been through level one and two training. He’s done a canine good citizenship training and then an advanced canine good citizenship training. He goes twice a week. He was supposed to be certified for therapy already, but with Covid that’s been a little delayed,” said Tice, dental hygienist and Dwight’s owner.

Dwight, of course, was name after
Dwight Schrute one of the main characters in the television series
The Office.