Here's what I like:

November 12th, 2012

OK, last week I had someone ask me what’s my favorite thing to do as a dentist.
My response was “something that the patient really appreciates. It could be getting them out of pain or making their smile prettier, or just helping a dental phobic through the experience.’

Flashback:
We used to do PPE’s at our staff meetings. Positive Patient Experiences are situations where we know that we’ve made a difference in someone’s life. It’s kinda cooler than just striving to do a crown with perfect fit and shade match (which we do, of course, we’re really not primarily serving our patients if we’re not striving for excellence with our dentistry now are we?). It’s kind of a perk or bonus to being a dentist that we relate with our patients, specifically when we can do it and make dentistry something that is less of a big deal for them in the future.

SB is a local college student that was having tooth ache on a Saturday. Her mom called me and told me about the problems that SB was having and gave me her number. I called SB, who admits to not being a complete stranger to a little drama and emotion. She’s understandably distraught and nervous.
I had a small window of time after Sofia’s soccer game that morning and could see her right away. She wasn’t sure how quickly she could get down to the office so I offered to pick her up on my way in. Five minutes later I picked up her and her bestie and drove them here into the office.

In the course of figuring out what was causing the problems the tone of the visit went from tears and nerves to laughs and smiles. At the end of the visit Bestie snapped a picture of the two of us that they proudly printed and put up on the bulletin board in their hallway of their dorm.

I thought of how I would want Trent treated in a similar situation while he’s off at school and used that to help guide me.

It’s one thing to have the ability to get rid of someone’s pain and dental problems. It’s another thing to be completely compassionate in reference to another’s needs in a tough time of their life. We take that latter aspect at least as seriously as we do the first and is truly one of the most gratifying parts of our jobs.

If you know of anyone in the Bryn Mawr area that is having a dental emergency I don’t want you to promise that I can pick them up and drop them off, but I do promise to cater to their dental and personal needs as much as I possibly can.

610-525-5497, if you need us!