'Spa Dentistry'
Puts The Patient at Ease
Reporter: Dr. Linda Niessen / Baylor College of Dentistry
Online Producer: Phil Oakley
IRVING — Do you hate
the smell of a dental office? Some dentists are changing the clinical
environment of their offices into something very different. The latest
trend is called “spa dentistry”.
At this dental office,
patients are served soothing milkshakes at the end of an appointment.
They watch television or movies, and a massage mat in each chair relieves
stress.
“It puts you
at ease,” said patient Teena Murphy. “You don’t know you’re
having dental work done. I had a horrible experience 15 years ago in a
different dental office. And I said I’m not going to do that again.
I want to be pampered. I want to have it where you can relax. When you
leave, you feel like you haven’t been run over by a truck.”
From the moment you
walk in the front door, you can tell you are not in an ordinary dental
office. It especially doesn’t smell like one.
“We’ve
created a lot of comfortable distractions so you’re not so focused
on the traditional, negative aspects of dentistry,” explained Dr.
Jeff Roy.
Called 21st Century
Dental, their web page describes the spa dentistry concept.
“I know one
of the biggest problems in dentistry is fear. And we want to have an office
and practice where the patient isn’t even aware this is a dental
office,” Dr. Kent Smith said.
The concept begins
with office design. Then, the philosophy is simple: pamper the patient.
“If it creates
goodwill and makes a patient want to come to the dentist,” Dr. Smith
added, “that’s good dentistry in my opinion.”
“We also bake
Otis Spunkmeyer cookies. They come out hot and fresh every couple of hours.
We’ve taken trips to the Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons to know how
they treat their customers,” he concluded.
Most dentists really
do try to eliminate all pain, not inflict it. Spa dentistry takes the
concept even further by combining customer service and compassionate care.
Dr. Linda Niessen
is affiliated with the Baylor College of Dentistry, a part of the Texas
A&M University System.
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