Scene setter: the dental waiting room
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Our dental services are driven by demand
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Focusing on oral prosthetics
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Use our customer suggestion box
Patient anxiety is something dentists deal with almost every day, and North Street Dental is no exception.
It’s true that a friendly, quietly confident dentist reassures many patients or elect sedation dentistry to blot out the experience. But for those with higher levels of anxiety, the mere sight of a waiting room could cause panic attacks.
We recall one instance where we found a patient rocking on her chair in the dental waiting room gripped with terror.
After many hours with her, she now counts the staff here as her friends and is no longer dental phobic.
Our dental waiting room
To make the dental experience more agreeable, some practices have adopted the term ‘dental spa’ and expanded with complementary therapies while others prefer the term dental boutique.
However, we package oral care; we are still clinicians delivering dental services to patients. But that ‘packaging’ is becoming increasingly important as a discerning public expect to experience and service from independent clinics like ours.
For us, the first point of contact with a patient is the most important. We restore smiles, in fact, the Press once branded our principal Steven Burchell Dip CDT RCS(Eng) as the “Smile Mechanic”, but we also lavishly dispense them.
Psychologists tell us our environment is generally a scene setter – comfortable seating, soothing colours, neutral lighting – they all aid our mental state.
We have taken a lot of trouble to get things right at the Denture Clinic. The car parking, a drop-off point, level access, the light and airy feel, our furnishings and not least, air conditioning – all help create the right mood. Check out our disabled friendly facilities here.
But we’re still working on it . . . For us, it’s not quite right, yet.
We don’t want to embrace the scented candles spar philosophy – it’s just not Dudley, and it’s certainly not what we’re about.
We do, however, have some nice touches and seats that are comfortable too.
Creating an anxiety-reducing atmosphere for us is as much about our staff and their reaction to you the patients, as it is about furnishings and seating arrangements.
Give us friendly people over flickering geranium oil burners any day!
Patients come to our practice as guests, and we believe our philosophy reflects it.
We are welcoming, generous with our time slots, and a water cooler and free tea and coffee offer refreshments for those wanting a drink.
We’re also aware that patients mentally prepare for treatment while in the waiting room, so it’s clearly in our interests to get it right.
There’s a delicate balance to being attentive and not overbearing, and we are proud to say we get it right most of the time.
Everything we are has been driven by patient demand, and we’re still listening.
Please make use of our suggestion box in the reception area.
Everyone knows that waiting is never much fun – the busy supermarket checkout and rush-hour traffic are two prime examples.
We do our very best to manage our surgery time, and mostly we run on time. Occasionally, we must admit, dental appointments take longer than planned, especially when treatments become more complicated than anticipated.
For those times, please forgive us and if you have any ideas for the suggestion box, do drop them in.
As always, we do want you to have your say.
