Thursday, March 2, 2017

A Story

About three years ago, a new patient called my office 3 days before the Memorial Day Weekend and stated that his girlfriend had been up all night with a terrible toothache. He pleaded with us to see her and we did. When I met her, she told me that she was truly petrified of going to the dentist and that she was in horrific pain.

Now you may not know this but it is really hard to get an appointment with a physician or a dentist before a holiday weekend. Our office does our very best to advocate for our patients with our team of specialists so that our patients do not have to suffer especially on a long holiday weekend. We were able to have our new patient seen immediately so that she could be put to sleep to have a hopeless tooth removed.

A short time later, my new patient was in our schedule to start as a new 'regular' patient which means that we do an exam and take a full mouth series of x-rays. My patient needed to have many teeth filled and implants placed to replace her missing teeth.

My new patient was terrified of being hurt when she had fillings and I promised her that I would use some laughing gas and get her profoundly numb before I started treatment. After our first all afternoon appointment to replace her old fillings, my new patient became a believer that dentistry does not have to hurt.

Yesterday, I took impressions for the crowns on her four implants. When she came into my treatment room, I asked her if she was nervous or afraid. She replied, "No."

My patient is not very different than many dental patients who have had horrific experiences at the hands of a dentist. I will always do my best to make your dental visits as pleasant and pain free as I can.

My job is to take CARE OF YOU. I take this responsibility  very seriously. I took an oath to do so.