Let's be honest -- nobody really likes going to the dentist. Even the most
devout brushers and flossers don't look forward to their next visit.
Dentist Sasha Prior knows this for a fact. "It's true," she says. "People
are never really happy to see me, but they'd sure miss me if I was gone."
Prior understands dental work can be uncomfortable. "Who likes having somebody
else's fingers in their mouth?" she says. But she also realizes that not having
the dental work done can be downright painful.
"When a person comes to my office with an aching tooth, they're not looking
forward to having me touch it," she says. "But they probably can't wait for
it to feel better after I'm done."
Prior isn't the only dentist who thinks this way. Dentist Hor Tak D. Zung
believes people fear dental work out of habit or as the result of one bad
experience.
"Dentistry has come a long way in reducing people's anxieties and experience
of pain," he says. "But many people getting a filling today expect it to feel
the way it did when they had one in the 1970s."
Dentists say this assumption couldn't be further from the truth, since
dentistry has gone through a lot of changes in the past 20 years. "We've come
leaps and bounds in recent years," says Prior. "The dentistry today is much
more technical and more precise than the dentistry of 20 years ago."
Some of the most difficult patients are children who have had a bad experience
in the dentist chair. Very often, these bad experiences are the result of
a lack of communication on the part of the dentist.
If a dentist uses a needle on a child without telling him or her, the patient
may grow to be suspicious of everything that happens in a dentist's office.
"Kids can fidget, cry, close their mouths constantly, scream for their
parents -- it's very trying, and you have to have piles of patience," says
Zung.
Zung says people's perceptions are their worst enemy in the dentist's chair.
If someone expects a procedure to be painful, they become anxious. And that
makes it harder for a dentist to do his or her job.
"It can be very stressful dealing with fearful patients," says Zung. "But,
with reassurance and confidence, most people can be helped with a gentle hand
and compassion."
Good communication skills are needed in order to be an effective dentist.
This field demands manual dexterity, technical reasoning, creativity and a
strong scientific mind -- and that's just to get into dental school.
In fact, dentistry is one of the toughest university programs to enter.
Experts say most colleges and universities won't even look at an application
unless the student has an A average.
A friend of Prior's had an experience a few years ago that illustrates
the competitiveness of dentistry programs. A friend who had always been an
excellent student applied to several dental schools across the United States
and was turned down by every school.
"He didn't know what to do, so he decided to apply at medical schools,"
Prior says. "Every place he applied not only welcomed him, but offered him
scholarships because of his good academic record."
Dentistry wasn't always such a hard profession to crack, but the field
has become more competitive since it's become a more popular career choice.
Dentistry offers a shot at a very good living, self-employment and challenging
work.
While it may be the prestige or the money that draws some people to this
profession, Zung believes these aren't the true rewards of dentistry. "One
can take a lot of pride in helping people out with their dental problems,"
he says. "Improving people's smiles is the most fulfilling part of being a
dentist."