A dentist from Bergen County has a unique way to put his young patients at ease – he uses magic tricks.

Dr. Eyal Simchi of Riverfront Pediatric Dentistry in Elmwood Park says that he knows that children are sometimes frightened of going to the dentist. He says that he stumbled upon magic years ago when he was with his wife and saw a demonstration. She suggested that he learn the tricks as a way to break the ice with his young patients.

“I was never into magic before then, but it looked like a cool idea,” Simchi says.

Simchi, who has six children of his own, says that he knows what it is like to be afraid to go to the dentist, because he used to be too when he was a child.

“I was very sensitive to everything. I had a bad gag reflex, I didn’t like tastes, so a lot of what my patients go through, I went through,” he says.

The original video of Simchi performing magic for a patient went viral and has garnered about 38 million views.