Senior dental officer, Kirsten Criggie, 30, developed it to help ease the fears of a child with complex needs who is set to have an operation, as well as the parents, by explaining the process in easy to understand terms.
Kirsten, who is part of the Buckinghamshire Priority Dental Service, said: "We identified the need for this resource when the patient's mother was concerned about her daughter going through the process. They used story boards at school so we thought we could develop one so the process wouldn't be such a big surprise."
Thought to be the first of its type in dentistry, though not in hospitals, the story board has interested some of her colleagues so she has now adapted it to make it more general to help paediatric patients going for a dental general anaesthetic . It is also currently under development for the special care adult dentistry general anaesthetic pathway. Colleagues in other specialities have also expressed interest.
"We've had a fantastic response. We've shown it to a few children with autistic spectrum conditions and asked them if they would find it helpful and help them to prepare for a procedure and they said yes.
"It's also helpful for parents because a lot of them are anxious. So if they know what's going to happen that should make them less anxious and mean the child is less anxious as well," she said.
Buckinghamshire Priority Dental Service offers special care dentistry for people in Milton Keynes who are unable to access a general dental practitioner and need dental treatment.
The service is for adults and children living in the Hertfordshire and South Midlands and Thames Valley catchment areas who have learning disabilities, complex medical needs, or severe mental health problems. It is also for children with severe behavioural management problems and adults with very severe anxiety and dental phobias.