"We work with you at your own pace to ensure a series off successes at each visit!"
We are a strong believer in patient choice. As such, we believe that in a typical clinical situation, there can be several 'right' options, but patients put emphases in different aspects of treatment choices(ie.: aesthetics vs. function, as in the case of simple fillings, gold vs. porcelain vs. composite - there is no perfect material), but patients often will choose a material based on their hierarchy of needs, which might be different than my own clinical opinion. We can take that information, and that patient's set of priorities and balance it with clinical and professional opinion and the result is an educated choice that both the patient and the doctor is happy with. Our philosophy is based on finding the right balance of communication, medicine, innovation and recognition that each patient is an individual.
We frequently consider ourselves as an information providers, followed by a team of professionals (other doctors, hygienists) that help the patient make the best possible decision – based on medical opinion, patient's desired outcome and what measures are required to get from start to finish.
We do believe that dentistry has a whole health effect, which is why ensuring that everyone has access to care, and educating that oral health care is paramount to a person's overall health, including those patients who are anxious or fearful of the dentist is in everyone;'s best interest – from the patient, to our National Health Care system and everyone in between.
The unfortunate view of dentists is that we look at the dollars and cents of each situation, and have no concept of a patient's point of view. The Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario philosophy is based on trust : "Trust Is A Must" and "Ensuring Continued Trust" – and We believe that this is paramount to overcoming Dental phobia. Treating patients in a way where they feel comfortable trusting us as a doctor, but also as someone with their best interest in mind, both medically and emotionally.
As you can probably gather, we like to inform patients of benefits and risks, advantages and disadvantages. We believe we have a moral duty to do so(in addition to the Royal College of Dental Surgeons requirements)and spend quite a bit of time doing so. We believe it is inappropriate for us to imposemy value system on a patient, as long as the choices are within ethical boundaries. Again, it all comes to building trust and a relationship with each patient.
One of our main objectives is to provide a high quality patient experience. We would go so far as to call it a philosophy. This would extend from the initial new patient 'experience', to being greeted by name by the front desk when they arrive at subsequent appointments, to a positive clinical experience, and a friendly and efficient administrative conclusion to the appointment. Obviously many aspects of patient care, administrative and clinical, are involved to create this objective – but at the heart of this experience is a compassionate, patient and understanding doctor who puts a patient first.
Dental Phobia and Treating Anxiety in Dentistry
Anxiety is very common in the dental office. Approximately 60% of individuals who regularly visit the dentist claim to feel some anxiety during some dental procedures, and the generally accepted proportion of people who have anxiety to the extent that it prevents them from going to the dentist is in the 10-15% range. The anxiety is found at all ages; more females than males admit to anxiety, although the true rate is likely evenly split between the sexes.
Significant anxiety is frequently related in some way to a previous incident or incidents, especially as a child. Middle-aged or older individuals grew up in the pre-fluoride era when caries (decay) rates were significantly higher than now and as result typically had many restorations (fillings) at quite a young age. Doing dental work on children can be technically demanding and patient management of children can be challenging, with the result that children of that era may not have had ideal experiences in the dental chair. Frequently, the emotional results of these appointments can be carried forward many decades.
Other sources of anxiety can result from a perceived lack of ‘control'.
The identification of the individual with anxiety is not always straightforward. While the majority of patients volunteer this information, in others it is only through sometimes extensive conversation that it becomes evident.
We believe that in order to make dentistry more tolerable for these individuals it is critical that we tailor the way in which we provide our services to avoid inadvertent introduction of any anxiety-inducing triggers. In addition to feeling the stress of being in the dental office, these people are often quite self-critical for having these emotions, describing themselves as ‘irrational' or ‘weak'. We reassure them that their feelings are quite rational, especially given some of their previous experiences, and that we have a great deal of empathy for them. We advise them that our objective is to help them get to the point that their anxiety is no longer an impediment to their receiving any future dentistry.
We believe that success in overcoming anxiety is built on engineering a series of small successful steps within the dental environment. As an example, for the patient for whom simply coming into the non-clinical area of the office is difficult, restricting the appointment to sitting down with me prior to any clinical examination and discussing the way in which we can anxiety is seen as being a success. This may allow us to proceed to doing an examination at the next appointment and builds a sense of trust and accomplishment.
At all costs we try to avoid having the negative experience that might result from trying to do too much too early for these patients; We focus very much on letting the patients comfort level dictate the speed of the progression of appointments. Giving patients the ability to slow (or, for that matter, halt) any appointment and for any reason allows the patient to recover the sense of control that may have been lacking in previous dental experiences.
Frequently, and especially early in the series of appointments, various types of sedation can be utilized in order to reduce any anxiety levels and to ensure that feeling of ‘success' can be achieved. It is an option that we review with all our patients that exhibit degrees of anxiety.
"Get the care you need with a gentle and patient approach"
