Need Dental Work, But Don’t Know Where to Start?

Many people live with a fear of going to the dentist and undergoing any form of dentistry. This fear can manifest itself into someone refusing to seek treatment. For those who are fine with dental appointments, but are worried the costs of dental procedures will be insurmountable, due to lack of insurance, resulting in not taking the first step.

Dentistry is a key component of your health and mouth pain can cause severe distress and disruption to your life. Bottom line is that you shouldn’t avoid visiting the dentist and the right one will make you feel at ease and have a transparent process.

Let’s start by looking at the common concerns and why everyone should feel positive about dental visits. We’ll explore situations that might cause the most stress like those that require multiple treatments. Lastly, we’ll help you understand how we provide Barrie with exceptional dental care.

Ask Questions

Some patients delay treatments because it feels daunting or because they simply do not know where to start. To alleviate any anxiety, it’s important to take the time to ask a dentist questions. This will help you gain a clear understanding of the specifics with respect to your diagnosis and treatment.

To quell concerns, here are some questions you should ask:

• Are regular visits important?
• How often should I visit the dentist?
• What symptoms require an appointment?
• How will important decisions about my oral health be made?
• Can I fix issues that have lingered for years?
• Is it possible to improve my smile?
• Should I start with a specific procedure or an examination?

Making sure your questions get answered is a great first step.

Easing Dental Concerns

As Barrie dentists, part of our responsibility is to listen to the concerns of our patients and to lend our dental knowledge and expertise where necessary.

We’ve heard it all and are sympathetic to every concern. Most concern pain, treatment duration and treatment costs, or simply being unsure about how to start complicated dental procedures like braces, bridges or dealing with gum recession. Additionally, there are usually questions about the in-clinic experience and how regular checkups are performed.

We often advise that the best way to deal with any anxiety is to book one of our free no-obligation consultations. During a consultation, we’ll run you through the services we offer, the technologies we employ, sedation dentistry for example, and how we can deftly and expertly handle your needs.

If you need dental work, then don’t delay. Whatever dental concerns you have will only worsen or grow more complicated if left untreated.

Fear of the Dentist – Dental Anxiety

A feeling of fear leading up to a dental appointment is completely natural, but we assure you that there is nothing to worry about.

The biggest factors to overcoming fears are trust and open communication between the patients and the dental staff. Knowledge is another useful tool because it gives the patient a semblance of control. It also helps to know that something that might feel alarming during a procedure is, in fact, perfectly normal.

Here are some tips to help lower anxiety as you walk into a dental practice:

• Discuss your fears with your dentist. We’re trained to provide comfort to our patients.
• During your visit, focus on your breathing. It’s a calming technique that works.
• Watch TV or listen to music. Most clinics offer some form of entertainment that you can enjoy during treatment. Let us know if you’d prefer to converse with a staff member.
• Avoid caffeine prior to treatment as it can make you more nervous. Incidentally, high-protein food is known to produce a calming effect.
• Use hand signals. Verbally communicating during treatment is next to impossible so we suggest creating some hand signals with your dentist or hygienist to convey when you want to stop or have a question.
• Try to book an appointment during a time of the day where you won’t feel rushed. It’s not a great idea to schedule one in between two big meetings that will make you feel extra anxious.
• Speak to other patients. This is a way to gather reviews on the experience and to get a better sense of what to expect in addition to insight about the dentist’s personality.
• Talk to us about sedation dentistry. This option is extremely popular with those suffering from “fear of the dentist”.

Our team is extremely good at what they do, making complex procedures feel easy. Our gentle hands and knowledge of procedures will greatly reduce any potential discomfort.

It’s never easy to face your fears but it’s important to regularly visit the dentist and make sure your oral needs are met.

Barrie Dentist Approach

Our preferred method of performing dentistry involves a holistic approach, offering the best technologies and making sure patients are informed and cared for post-treatment. We diagnose ailments and plan treatments that will have patients feeling their best or enjoying a radiant smile as quickly and with as little stress as possible.

Holistic dentistry is a proven and unique philosophy that considers every aspect of a patient, not just their mouth, teeth and gums. Essentially, it considers how your oral care fits into the grander scheme of your overall health including your emotional and mental state.

It places an emphasis on the materials often used by dentist that could have harmful side effects or not be compatible with a patient’s biology. Our approach is to create customized oral strategies and make sure you are aware of how you can tackle your home care, diet and nutrition in addition to the preventive measures you can take to curb future issues.

Getting Started

If you’re experiencing any type of pain related to your mouth, gums, jaws or teeth then we recommend you immediately book an appointment at our clinic. We offer emergency care if you suffer one or more of the following after business hours:

• A broken, cracked or chipped tooth.
• A tooth gets knocked out.
• Severe toothache
• Negative side effect from a dental treatment.

Some early steps you should take are:

• Review your dental insurance and/or group benefits to determine what is covered or speak with your provider.
• Book the necessary time off work and/or line up childcare.
• In some cases, you might need someone to drop you off and pick you up from the appointment.

We also suggest letting your dentist know if you are feeling anxious. This way they can work to make you feel more comfortable.

Problems that Require Multiple Treatments 

Not knowing where to start gets murkier when a patient requires multiple treatments to solve a host of dental problems. For instance, a tooth must be extracted before an implant in installed.

If this is the case, your dentist will perform a thorough oral examination to determine every issue. From there, they will prioritize based on which issues are the most pressing and should be treated first. The next step is to sequence treatments so they happen in an order that is logical and will get the patient out of the dentist chair with little to no challenges. This is where the quality of a dentist matters. An experienced dentist with a team of knowledgeable and competent professionals can craft multi-prong plans that will tackle each problem with optimal efficiency and the utmost effectiveness.

If you need significant dental work like braces, dentures or fillings than you should visit us and let us perform an oral examination and also discuss any questions or concerns you might have.

Financial Concerns

Not everyone has insurance coverage, many of us are struggling entrepreneurs, or have recently lost our jobs, and many of the more complicated procedures such as dental implants, braces and other procedures can cost thousands of dollars at any dental clinic.

Our goal is to remove the financial from the equation completely and focus on getting you the dental care you need and want. To achieve this, we can look at a variety of financial options, such as partial credit card payments, third party dental financing, or splitting your total bill over several months (OAC).

Talk with us about your financial concerns during your initial consult and we’ll do our best to make things work.

Let’s Get Started

If you need dental work, then don’t hesitate to get started. The last thing you want is to let pain in your mouth, gums, jaw or teeth fester. The safest bet is to treat even minor issues early so that they don’t worsen and grow debilitating.

Book your free, no-obligation consultation today, and let’s get to work on creating a treatment plan designed just for you.