M.D. Hatice Ağan

As an 82-year-old with a lifelong fear of dentists, my visit to Dr. Hatice Ağan was nothing short of miraculous. I had neglected a broken molar for months due to anxiety. From the moment I entered Acibadem Fulya, her assistant noticed my trembling hands. Dr. Ağan didn't just examine my tooth—she spent twenty minutes discussing my gardening hobby first, completely disarming me. During the extraction, she narrated the procedure in calm, metaphorical language ('Now we're gently persuading the old root to retire'). The follow-up call two days later wasn't from a nurse—it was Dr. Ağan herself, asking if my tomatoes were thriving. She treated my fear, not just my tooth.

Our 7-year-old daughter needed two baby teeth extracted after a playground fall. We expected tears, but Dr. Ağan transformed the procedure into an adventure. She showed Elif 'tooth fairy detection tools' (her instruments) and let her wear superhero goggles. What stunned us was the biological explanation she gave a child—comparing enamel to knight's armor and nerves to messenger strings. Elif left clutching a 'bravery certificate' and instructions for the tooth fairy written in glitter pen. Three weeks later, a handwritten note arrived addressed to Elif, reminding her to 'guard her knight's armor with careful brushing.' This wasn't dentistry; it was psychological artistry with children.

I arrived at Acibadem Fulya at midnight with a dental abscess so severe my cheek resembled a tennis ball. The emergency team paged Dr. Ağan, who appeared within forty minutes in casual clothes—clearly woken from sleep. Instead of immediate intervention, she first applied a topical analgesic so gentle I barely felt the injection. Her emergency procedure was methodical yet swift, explaining each step despite my distress: 'The pressure you feel is the infection leaving a dinner party it wasn't invited to.' She scheduled a 7 AM follow-up herself, refusing to delegate. What could have been traumatic became a masterclass in emergency compassion. She saved my tooth and my week.

My case was considered 'uninteresting' by previous dentists—routine implant consultation for a first molar. Dr. Ağan spent our consultation not on the implant, but on my jaw alignment during sleep. Using a miniature dental mirror, she showed me how my tongue position was affecting my gum health—something no dentist had mentioned in fifty years of checkups. Her proposal was revolutionary: six months of myofunctional exercises before any surgery. She taught me three exercises in-office using a lemon wedge and a spoon. At my six-month re-evaluation, my oral environment had transformed so completely the implant procedure was halved in complexity. She doesn't fix teeth; she engineers oral ecosystems.