The American Dental Association recognizes February as National Children’s Dental Health Month! This topic has us thinking: healthy oral care habits start in childhood, and a big part of it is regular dental visits. Unfortunately, the dentist is a source of fear and tears for many young patients. From the needle to the sound of the drill during procedures, the dental practice can be a scary, intimidating place for children—but not when you have a laser.
By offering reliably anesthesia-, drill-, pain-, and noise-free dentistry, you will notice happy patients and even happier parents. This, of course, is going to help grow your practice, but more importantly allow you to offer more patients anxiety-free visits that help them develop and keep good oral health for life.
Treating patients with a laser that virtually eliminates the need for anesthesia means most of your hard-tissue procedures, such as cavity preps, can be performed without an injection and leave patients smiling. This alone transforms the experience, as many children are needle phobic. Using a laser that also removes the scalpel from the equation will help you provide minimally invasive surgeries, with little to no bleeding and without sutures in many cases. All these advantages help patients see there is nothing to fear when it comes to the dentist.
Something else to consider when choosing laser dentistry is the effect on parents. After all, they are the ones who choose you to treat their children. Once they see their child is not afraid during dental visits and that the procedure is fast and easy, they are going to love you, too!
There are many dentists, including Dr. Andrea Gamble and Dr. Bobbi Augustyn, who use Solea to provide the best possible care to their patients.
For Dr. Gamble, helping children have positive early childhood dental experiences is key, and that is where the 9.3 µm dental laser comes in. She appreciates how Solea takes away the intimidation factors and promotes productivity that benefits the child and her practice. For instance, Solea lets her free up appointment slots to care for more patients, as well as allows her to complete dental work quickly and minimize injections: this puts children at ease and helps her save time.
Dr. Gamble also notices how parents perceive Solea. They are happy because their children are happy, and it de-stresses them to see how calm their little ones are during procedures. Additionally, parents are loving the speedy appointments! All they can say is “wow” when they are able to return to work, not having to use all of their lunch time or additional hours, and drop the children back at school right away. Dr. Gamble goes on to mention how teachers are reacting to Solea, too. Many of her new patient referrals are children whose teachers have recommended parents try the laser creating dental visits that don’t compromise the school day. Check out Dr. Gamble’s Solea story for more.
Dr. Bobbi Augustyn has her own special Solea story. She was featured on her local news channel, with coverage highlighting one of her patients: 9-year-old Reese who had her very first cavity quickly and painlessly taken care of with Solea. Dr. Augustyn was able to prep the cavity without the drill or local anesthesia, allowing the Minnesota dentist to keep true on her word of how easy the procedure would be, and her promise of no lingering numbness after the procedure was over. Watch the full Solea coverage to hear from Dr. Augustyn herself.
National Children’s Dental Health Month stops at the end of February, but that does not mean pediatric patients can’t be celebrated every day with smile-worthy dental experiences! Whether you specialize in pediatric dentistry or not, integrating a laser, such as Solea, into your practice can help you do the most for your most impressionable patients. Contact Convergent Dental to find out more today.