If the thought of visiting the dentist fills you with dread, then rest assured, you are not alone.
You’ve already taken the first step. You’ve sought us, a dentist who can help you tackle your fears. But now what? How should I proceed? How can I get in touch without breaking down? What if I cry on the phone? What if they don’t understand me? What if they laugh at me? I don’t want to go any further. I can’t. I won’t.
If these are the stages that you go through every time you go to book a dental appointment, then you’re in the right place. Please understand that we have seen all manner of patients with all sorts of different phobias in relation to us; we’ve seen patients who couldn’t even pick up the phone to us to take that first step, who couldn’t get out the car from the car park, who wouldn’t sit in the chair. And guess what? They’re all regular attenders now.
How can we help you?
Our Principal Dentist, Aditi, is Dental Phobia Certified. It means she knows how to tackle your phobia at a pace that suits you. She can manage your phobia, and help you overcome it, so maybe one day you might even look forward to coming to see us for a catch up and a coffee! And Aditi is lovely. I’m not just saying that because she’s my boss! She’s 5 foot nothing and wouldn’t be able to hurt you if she tried. Honestly, she’s the least threatening person I have ever met!
So, let me tell you a bit more about how we can finally get you into our dental surgery.
Email us. Don’t feel like you have to phone us if you don’t really want to. By gum, you can even send us a Facebook message if you want. Just take that first step and reach out to us. We can do the rest. There’s even a form at the bottom of this page that you can fill out and we will email or phone you if that is easier. Whatever suits you, we will go with.
But what if I don’t want to come straight in for treatment?
And even then, you don’t have to jump in at the deep end with an appointment. Come in and meet us first. Dawn, our lovely receptionist (and dental mogul, oracle, and general know it all), will happily take you for a tour around the practice. We don’t feel like a practice. We’re built into a house, we have a drive way, garage and back garden. You could live here if you wanted. Well, the only thing we’re lacking is a shower but there is room for one! Come and get the feel for us first and have a sit down and a coffee with Dawn.
Once you’re happy with us, then we can think about booking an appointment. No rush. Book it in this time next month if you want, or we can get you in as soon as possible. We find that when people have a dental phobia, it’s more the thought of attending than the actual action of attending, so it might just be best to rip it off like a plaster, so to speak, and get it over and done with. Once you’ve been for your first appointment, you will feel much better about coming back for a second.
Even then, our first appointment will just to be to look around your mouth and devise a treatment plan. We won’t do any treatment until you are 100% happy to proceed. You probably won’t need as much doing as you might imagine! We will make a chart of your current dental state, take a few x-rays and go over any questions you may have. This should take around 45 minutes, if that. And usually most of that is us answering your questions.
Then, again, once you’re ready, we can book you in for treatment. If you need a lot, we can start with something simple like a scale and polish, and build up to the bigger things. We will go at your speed and whichever way you want.
So what will I get out of this?
Our goal is to keep you out of pain and discomfort. Most people who put off going to the dentist do so either because they’ve had a bad experience in the past, or that they’re scared of what we might say they need. But prevention is always better than the cure. Regular attendees are less likely to need any major treatment carrying out because we are usually able to spot small problems and fix them before they become big problems. And that’s our aim with you.
If my lovely blog has managed to persuade you to call/email/message in, then I am so happy you are taking that first step. We’ve not as bad as you think, I promise, and there are no school dentists here to poke and prod, and I’ve never seen a dentist get on someones chest to try and pull a tooth out!
We also offer two forms of sedation should you feel that you need to be a little bit drowsy to complete any part of your treatment. We are also a syringe free practice! We use The Wand to administer any local anaesthetic.
So what are you waiting for?? Get in touch today! Do it now, don’t put it off! I promise it’ll be the best thing you do today.
If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment, please do not hesitate to call us on 0121 550 6958.