The mouth is one of the most sensitive and intimate parts of the body.
Adjacent to teeth are soft tissues (gum tissue and the tongue) which are fragile parts of our anatomy. It’s no wonder then, that for many people, having an oral examination can feel scary and invasive, particularly if there has been previous trauma sustained in the dentist’s chair, or indeed because of other intimate trauma sustained in life.
At Denpure, it’s always been our goal to be part of the mission to take visiting the dentist off people’s list of top fears in life.
The main reason why dental anxiety occurs is usually down to a negative, (or even traumatic) experience with the dentist in the past.
If you’ve previously struggled with anxiety or trauma, you’re not alone. We’ve helped hundreds of patients just like you. We take a trauma-informed approach, and the dental clinicals who join our team share in our desire to lead with this mentality.
We encourage you to let us know if you do need to talk about your past experiences at another dentist. Equally though, if you aren’t ready to divulge, that’s no problem at all either. It’s all about going at your own pace and fostering an atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable.
The biggest concern for patients during a check-up or procedure is that their nerves will become so uncontrollable that their confidence will get knocked back even further.
IV sedation completely eradicates this risk, as its sole purpose is to relax you. The Midazolam sedative alleviates feelings of anxiety by slowing down your central nervous system.
When under sedation, a second dentist is present, and their role is purely to monitor the patient’s response to the sedative, making it an exceptionally safe practice, especially compared to general anaesthesia.
In her amazing TED Talk about how to end dental anxiety (really worth a watch if you want to learn more about how dentists are changing how they approach treating nervous patients), Dr Sharonne Zaks talks about patient and dentist being “equal status collaborators”. This is the notion that it isn’t just about the patient being sat in the chair as a docile presence, but as having an equal amount of collaborative say as the dentist.
Today, the best dentists will make sure that they and the patient have equal control. Safe words can be established, allowing the patient to halt the procedure at any time, and technology allows for there to be the chance of delays or breaks if the patient is struggling.
At Denpure, we establish all of these factors, and we’ll also make sure that the temperature in the room is right for you, and ask you if there’s any particular music that might help you relax beforehand (this can be a huge relaxant for many people).
In the past, dentists could offer the effects of dental anaesthetic with a view to numbing your mouth before a procedure. The irony was that administering the anaesthetic could be extremely painful for patients, making them feel anxious before any part of the main given procedure had even taken place!
Today, the needles used to administer anaesthetic are far finer, and the techniques used to administer it are less invasive.
Unsurprisingly, much of whether dentistry is pain-free has to do with the dentist performing treatment too. At Denpure, we use a variety of equipment that is specifically geared towards patient comfort, including minimally-invasive cutting methods, digital scans and X-rays.
Our implant surgery is a guided process that uses X-guide AI software, which deliver real-time interactive guidance of drill position during surgery, taking any guesswork out of the process.
When patients come in to see us, they put mouths in our hands (quite literally!), in our trust. This is something we will never take lightly.
Our approach to caring for patients and delivering what they need starts and ends with listening. We will always be guided by you, and we promise to always be sensitive to any concerns or fears you have about a procedure or check-up.
Our dentists have caregiving in their DNA, and love to work with patients as individuals to help guide them through any anxieties, and to come out of these the other side with additional confidence and alleviate fears.
Please give us a call if you would like to book a no-obligation consultation, or to simple come and have a tour of the practice.
We look forward to welcoming you at our dentist in Uxbridge
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