In today’s focus on dentistry, let’s talk about the possibility that dentistry for you could be positive, pain-free, and affordable.
Hi, I’m Dr. Paul Henny and let’s spend a few minutes talking about the relationship you have with your dentist and whether it’s positive or negative and perhaps why that’s so.
Over the last 20 or so years I’ve spent a lot of focus really on getting to know my patients really well, before I even begin treatment on them, if it’s possible. I call this ‘relationship-based dentistry’, and I think it’s almost impossible for me to help someone in a significant way if I don’t now them really well, if they can’t express to me what their goals and needs of dentistry are, especially if their needs are complicated.
I’ve found after talking with a lot of people—hundreds, if not thousands of people—over the years that most people’s fears of dentistry are related to the fact that they don’t understand what’s going on, what’s going to happen next, or even how much what’s going to happen next is going to cost them. This is enough to drive even the most normal person crazy, or even get them pretty upset. And I’ve found that if we spend time talking to people, showing them what’s going on and making sure they can understand it, they can participate in the decision making, they can help us pace treatment, they can help us stage treatment in a way that that works for their budget or fits into their work schedule, or their life.
All of this reduces anxiety and just dramatically improves success rate with the individuals that we work. If this is not the kind of situation that you’re in or the relationship you have with a dentist right now is stressful or creates a lot of anxiety or is even kind of uncomfortable, with the way dentistry is today, with the aesthetics that we have and the other ways to assist you, there’s no reason why you should be uncomfortable with a dental office. If that’s happening on a regular basis, you might want to just step back and say hey, maybe there’s some better alternatives for me out there.
If you’d like to discuss that sort of thing with me I’d be more than happy to do that, I do that with people all the time. Please give me a call, (540) 774-1577. We hope to hear from you soon.