Fear and modern dentistry

"No offense doc, but I hate you!" In addition to damaging my already delicate self-esteem, these words are indicative of a major problem in our society...fear. Fear not only keeps us from going to the dentist, it also keeps us from realizing our full potential as human beings. Whether or not you believe in God or some other supreme life force, most people would agree we must have something more important to do here than eat, sleep, reproduce, and get our teeth fixed. Whatever that something is, you can bet there is some irrational fear standing between you and it. In olden days, dental work was performed by barbers or untrained tooth guys under, well, less-than-antiseptic conditions. These caring souls limited their practice mainly to removing painful teeth with no anesthesia, mind you, and dentists have had a bad reputation ever since. Now I won't say I've never hurt anyone,
but you should know that the vast majority of dental patients generally have a fairly unexciting experience. Dental fear, like all fear, is caused by a lack of knowledge. Once you know or have experience with a thing, you may not like it, but you no longer have fear. If you know you have a dental need, find a dentist who will take the time to give you the knowledge you need to relieve your fear. You can find some criteria for dentist selection here and to help if you're nervous after all try the DOCS website for sedation dentists in your area.

Gene Sapp, DDS

Welcome to what I hope will become a useful source of information on the subject of cosmetic dentistry, smile design, and whatever random thoughts happen to pop into my head. I enjoy being a cosmetic dentist. While dentistry has been a rewarding career for me There is a special pleasure I get from giving someone a better smile. People just respond differently to cosmetic dentistry than they do to other types of dental treatment. Kind of like the thrill you get on Christmas morning or when you get something special from a loved one. Compare this with the thrill you get from a nice oil change or haircut. You appreciate it, you know you needed it, but the excitement just isn't there. Hopefully I can share some of the excitement my patients feel when their lives are change in this manner.