No shame dentistry: a real approach to caring for people

I had a powerful experience with a new patient this week. This man had avoided the dentist for ten years and was scared to death to return. He was afraid and ashamed that his mouth might be falling apart. He had had very bad experiences years ago that left him feeling awful about himself and resentful toward dentists. As my new patient consultation appointment proceeded, this man would stop, shake his head, bring his hands to his face holding back inner emotions and say “wow.” He was overwhelmed by genuine, non-blameful caring.

He hung out with my office manager afterward and went on and on about how relieved, hopeful, and genuinely excited he was. He knew he could have good dental health and how we were going to help him with sedation dentistry to get a few things back under control. He could have confidence in himself again and the dentist wasn’t going to be the enemy any more. As a dentist, this is what it is all about for me: helping people get to a better place in their lives.

It is almost a daily goal and practice for me to help people get past their fears, resentments, and shame related to their dental health. When I meet new people, I try to find out what they want for themselves and what obstacles they need to overcome, like fear, trust, and shame. I see people start to relax as they realize I want to know what is on their mind. They slowly drop their walls as they realize that I’m not going to tell them how bad they are.

Instead, I help them see what the status of their health is and explain what they can do for themselves. We talk about what is important to them and a reasonable phased approach of how to get there. The confidence and trust build over time. I have seen so many guarded personalities become warm wonderful professional friends over the years. I know that is why our out-of-state population continues to grow. It just comes from walking the talk. And we are guilty of trying.

At Donaldson and Guenther, we do our work when it is right for you, our patients. In these hard times, there are many people we are just keeping stabilized until they can do more definitive work later. We do world class dentistry at realistic fees… Work that rarely needs to be re-done. Comprehensive Care in a supportive environment: implants, sleep apnea and snoring devices, root canals, cosmetic and restorative dentistry, and general care. More and more patients are making use of sedation dentistry with excellent results and little memory of the process.

It is for good reason that people like the man I saw this week sometimes try to hold back tears. In this world is seems unfortunately hard to find old-fashioned caring blended with state of the art quality. We do it every day at Donaldson and Guenther. Real people, real caring, real talent. Yep…. For real.

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Donaldson & Guenther provides excellent cosmetic, restorative, and implant dentistry and more. Our focus is always on fulfilling our patients' individual needs, preferences and priorities. We are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

We are experts at merging the science and fine art of today's dentistry. But don't take our word for it. Look at the smiles of our patients.