Hi I’m Claire, you may or may not know me from my seat at the front desk. However I’m here to talk about the seat we all wish to be less familiar with. I know, more than most, how it feels to be in the dentist’s chair and how we’re not all exactly racing to get into it. For anyone who wants to know what it is like to be a patient in our practice, I am here to be your eyes and ears as I begin my dental journey. From the first visit to pretty much every treatment there is on offer I will be offering my two cents on the experience. I am getting married next year and I, like every other bride to be, want to be able to smile confidently on the day and not look miserable and like my lips are glued together!
I have not always been the greatest oral health crusader. Chowing down on sugar and neglecting to floss my teeth for, oh about 10 years. All of which has led to the situation i’m in now. I’ve worked in dental positions for about 5 years, which in truth has improved my dental diligence. However when I came to work here at Docklands Dental, the guys insisted on a check up and the pangs of guilt started. Probably should have been a little extra diligent!
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous initially. Gregg (Dr. Barry) brought me down what seemed like a never ending hallway to the infamous chair. Generally I have little fear of the dentist, for me it was more embarrassment of my less that perfect pearly whites. I have to say Gregg, put me straight at ease. He asked me about what I didn’t like about my teeth and what I wanted to achieve. Then it was down to business, gloves on and mirror at the ready. It was like no exam I’d had before. A camera was used to show me what’s going on in there, and to show me what and where I’d been missing.
This is, albeit informative and fancy, a little scary! Thus proving humans were designed to never be able to see into the dark crevasses of their mouths,
and justifiably so. I had an OPG x-ray taken, which is one large panoramic image that shows all the teeth. It was cool and equally strange. I learned I need to floss and that 99.9% of my problems stem from my complete lack of doing so. (Please note I am now a grade A daily flosser). Gregg, talked me through what needs to be done and put it into a treatment plan for me. This way I have a visual aid to reference as I go on my dental journey. Working on reception, I immediately looked at this as a to-do list and was itching to get ticking things off. I have a goal and now the plan to achieve it. Next stop the dental chair…again. This time minus the fear and with twice the enthusiasm (only enhanced by getting to watch Netflix on the big screen).
I will be having fillings on my next trip to the chair so check out my next blog if want to know what this treatment is like, or if you are more interested in finding out what it’s like to watch tv and have dental treatment- i’ll be giving the low down on that too!
