Guide
Who shares the room changes the music. Room-by-room notes for pediatric, orthodontic, oral surgery, endodontic and periodontal practices, with stations you can hear first.
Last reviewed October 13, 2026.
Specialty practices choose music the way any dental office does (instrumental, low enough to talk over, a station per room), but who shares the room changes the details. A pediatric practice plays to infants, teenagers, parents and a team that hears it all day, and an orthodontic open bay hears one station across every chair. eleMusic plays original instrumental music, not current hits. In oral surgery, endodontic and periodontal offices, appointments can run long (the American Association of Endodontists puts a root canal appointment at roughly 90 minutes) and consults are conversations, so the clinician decides when music plays and how low.
The American Dental Association's National Commission says "Currently there are 12 dental specialties recognized by the National Commission." This guide covers five of them: pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, endodontics and periodontics. For the basics every office shares, read what to play in a dental waiting room and music for the operatory and the hygiene chair. This page covers what is different.
Instrumental music that suits everyone in the room at once, because in a pediatric practice that room holds every age. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry describes the specialty this way:
Pediatric dentists are primary and specialty oral care providers for infants and children through adolescence, including those with special health needs.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, Parent FAQ, read October 10, 2026
The same page says "The first dental visit should be scheduled by your child's first birthday." So one waiting room can hold a parent with a baby, a six-year-old with a sibling, and a fifteen-year-old who would rather be anywhere else. A playlist chosen for one of them is heard by all of them, and by the front desk for the whole day.
Instrumental music takes the age question off the table. There are no lyrics to screen, nothing written for one age group, and no singer competing with a parent who is checking in or booking the next visit.
Two stations to start a pediatric practice with, one for the families out front and one for a treatment area they can see into. Each has a preview of about 30 seconds, made from the station's own recipe; nothing plays until you press play.
Waiting room and front desk
Steel pan, ukulele, marimba and island guitars over an easygoing groove. Its typical tempo, 98 beats per minute on October 11, 2026, was the highest of the eight stations, which suits a busy family waiting room.
Treatment rooms and waiting room
One acoustic piano playing light, flowing melodies, 62 to 84 beats per minute as of October 11, 2026. Suggested for treatment rooms and the waiting room, so it fits a treatment area that is open to the families nearby.
That choice is the practice's, and eleMusic only offers one side of it. No eleMusic station plays children's songs, nursery rhymes or songs from films and shows. No vocals, no ads, no commercial recordings.
Three things to weigh before you choose:
Whether music changes how children feel at the dentist is a research question. Published studies are summarized, as research and without reference to any station, in Music and dental anxiety: what the research says.
Describe the music, not what it does for a child. "We play instrumental music with no words. Would you like it on, lower or off?" is enough at check-in or at the chair. The parent knows what suits their child, and some patients of every age prefer no music at all.
eleMusic's Terms set the same rule for anything a practice says to patients, in person, in new-patient materials or online. Section 12.3 (version 2026-10-11) says a practice must not use the Service "as part of clinical care or treatment," and must not make any health or clinical claim about it, or attribute one to eleMusic, "including in communications or advertising to patients."
Music that works for the whole room at once, because the teenager in the chair is one of several patients in the room. The American Association of Orthodontists writes that it "recommends that children first visit an orthodontist no later than age 7," and on another page reports "one-in-three orthodontic patients over the age of 18." An orthodontic office on a weekday afternoon can hold a seven-year-old at a first check, teenagers in braces, the parents who drove them, and adults in treatment of their own.
Pick for that whole range, not for the teenager in the chair, then let the team adjust by time of day. If the room wants more pulse than the treatment-room stations, the next section names the quicker ones.
No. Every eleMusic station plays original instrumental music, generated and mastered by eleMusic (how the music is made). There are no chart songs, no artists your patients will recognize, no lyrics and no song requests. A teenager who expects the songs they stream at home will not hear them on any eleMusic station.
If current hits are part of how your bay feels, eleMusic is not the right service for that room, and it is better to know that before you start. Popular recordings come from services built around commercial catalogs, and personal streaming accounts are licensed for personal, non-commercial use, which is why business music services exist. Our guide Can a dental office play Spotify? quotes Spotify's own terms, and our comparison of business music services lists other services' prices and terms, with dates.
What eleMusic does have is stations with more movement than the treatment-room ones. On October 11, 2026, Light Jazz ran 78 to 110 beats per minute, Tropical 92 to 108, and Elevator Music 72 to 120. None of them is pop, and the player suggests them for the waiting room, the front desk and hallways rather than treatment rooms. Listen before you decide.
One device, one station, set for the whole bay. If your practice treats patients in an open bay, several chairs in one shared room, everyone in it hears the same music, so choose a station that suits every chair and the team working across all of them.
From the office, the signed-in owner or office manager can see in the Rooms panel what every connected room is playing and change its station, play, pause or skip, so the bay can be switched at lunch without anyone walking over. Connecting a device to the bay's speakers is covered in how to set up music in a dental office.
Waiting room and front desk
An easy jazz trio: piano, nylon guitar or electric piano over upright bass and brushes, with a light swing or a soft bossa lilt. One of the quicker stations, for an orthodontic waiting room or a bay team that wants more movement.
Treatment rooms and waiting room
One or two acoustic guitars, fingerpicked slowly, 60 to 80 beats per minute as of October 11, 2026. Its styles are solo steel-string fingerpicking, solo nylon-string guitar, two guitars, guitar and cello. Suggested for treatment rooms and the waiting room, so it fits an open bay that families can see into.
Quiet instrumental music in the waiting area and treatment rooms, with the clinician deciding what happens during surgery, sedation, recovery and consults. These practices share three things that change the music: appointments that can run long, rooms where the team listens closely to monitors and to the patient, and first visits that are mostly conversation.
Many periodontal patients come by referral. The American Academy of Periodontology notes that while some general dentists treat less serious cases, "many will refer their patients to periodontists for the more challenging periodontal cases." A referred patient is meeting the practice for the first time, and that first visit includes a review of their medical and dental histories, which is why the consult room has its own section below.
The music is part of the room for longer, for the patient and for the team. The American Association of Endodontists says "Most root canals can be done in one to two appointments" and "Each appointment lasts roughly 90 minutes each."
A typical eleMusic track runs close to three minutes (2 min 55 s on Calm, as of October 11, 2026), so 90 minutes is about 30 tracks. Each device shuffles its station into its own order every day and works through the whole station before it starts over.
That is the clinician's decision, room by room and patient by patient, and off is always an option. Oral surgeons in particular are trained to provide every level of anesthesia. In the words of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons:
As a result of extensive training, every oral and maxillofacial surgeon is well-prepared to appropriately administer local anesthesia, and all forms of sedation including general anesthesia.
AAOMS, Anesthesia for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, last updated September 2026, read October 10, 2026
eleMusic is background music for the room, not part of the procedure. Section 12.3 of the Terms, cited above, says the Service must not be used "as part of clinical care or treatment," and Section 12.4 adds:
You must not use the Service as an alarm, alert or timer, or for any other safety-critical purpose.
eleMusic Terms of Service, Section 12.4, Your environment, version 2026-10-11, read October 11, 2026
Nothing, or very little. A consult is a conversation: histories, options, costs and questions. The American Academy of Periodontology describes a first visit this way: "During your first visit, the periodontist usually reviews your complete medical and dental histories." An orthodontic consult with a parent and a child, or an oral surgery consult before a procedure, is the same kind of talk.
Any room
Warm pads, soft drones and airy textures with no melody, 50 to 70 beats per minute as of October 11, 2026. The station to try for a consult room, if anything plays there.
Treatment rooms
Felt piano, electric piano and warm strings playing slow, simple melodies with no beat, 50 to 70 beats per minute as of October 11, 2026. A treatment-room station for long appointments.
eleMusic wrote this guide, and we sell background music to dental practices, so read this table with that in mind. The suggestions follow the room hints the player shows under each station, and they are only suggestions: every room can play every station.
| Practice | Room | Stations to try | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pediatric | Waiting room with families | Tropical, Classical, Light Jazz | Suggested for the waiting room; no lyrics to screen |
| Pediatric | Open treatment area | Soft Piano, Acoustic Guitar | Suggested for treatment rooms and the waiting room |
| Pediatric | Private treatment room | Calm, Soft Piano, Acoustic Guitar or Ambient, or off if the parent prefers | Suggested for treatment rooms; Ambient for any room |
| Orthodontic | Waiting room | Light Jazz, Tropical, Elevator Music | The quicker stations, suggested for the waiting room, front desk or hallways |
| Orthodontic | Open bay | Acoustic Guitar or Soft Piano; Light Jazz for more pulse | One station for every chair, so pick for the whole bay |
| Oral surgery, endo, perio | Waiting area | Soft Piano, Classical, Ambient | Softer instruments, or Ambient's textures with no melody, for patients waiting before an appointment that can run long |
| Oral surgery, endo, perio | Treatment and surgery rooms | Calm, Soft Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Ambient | Suggested for treatment rooms; the clinician decides during surgery and sedation |
| Oral surgery | Recovery area | The clinician decides; eleMusic suggests no station | Terms, Section 12.4: the practice decides where and when music plays |
| Any specialty | Consult room | Off, or Ambient at a low level | A consult is a conversation |
To hear all 8 side by side, see which station for which room.
Choose one sound per room. If a waiting room screen plays shows with sound, two audio sources compete for the same ears, so pause eleMusic in that room or run the screen silent. Do not use eleMusic as the soundtrack for a video or a slideshow: Section 9.2(b) of the Terms excludes it.
The permissions a waiting room TV itself may need are a separate question. TV, videos and hold music in a dental office covers them, including what the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and the American Association of Orthodontists have each published about their agreements with the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation.
Count the devices that play at once, not the chairs or the rooms. A device is one stream: a tablet feeding the ceiling speakers in several rooms counts once. Three examples:
List prices as of October 12, 2026. Prices in US dollars, plus applicable sales tax. Specialty groups with more than one office set up each location with its own plan and access code. Five or more locations take 15% off every location. Every plan includes every music station. See pricing for annual plans and the details.
Eight instrumental stations and one access code, on a tablet or laptop in each room, or cast to your TV. From $15 a month for one device; Practice covers up to 5 devices for $24.
New locations start with a 14-day trial. A card is required and nothing is due at checkout. A reminder goes to the billing email before the trial ends, and you can cancel in Manage billing or by emailing hello@elemusic.fm. Unless you cancel before the trial ends, the card is charged the plan price when it ends. See the Terms of Service and the Refund and Cancellation Policy.