Call me old fashioned, but I would dread going to the dentist. It's not so much the pain and…read morediscomfort from having one's pearly whites scraped, chiseled, picked and drilled upon - but more the combination of that and having one's purse completely drained at the same time. Dental health costs seem to have entered the stratosphere lately and my insurer has turned benefit-claim denial into a blood sport.
What's a smart girl to do? Dental hygiene, maintenance and the occasional repair is something that can't be ignored. For me, doing so immediately summons the Gods of Peril!
So there I was, last year, like all those years before, visiting my dentist, in the all-to-familiar position of lying back, fully submitting, sucking it up, and opening my mouth - and purse - wide. And then, while gurgling on a saliva vacuum and attempting to visualize J-Lo and Tay-Tay giving me a private in-home concert (my usual go-to when I'm feeling completely out of control of a situation), I had an epiphany!
I realized that if I'm to be paying this months yacht lease for my dentist - then I better freaking well like my dentist! Like a lot! Amiright?
And the thing was, I didn't really like my dentist. That's not to say he was a bad dentist - he was good. Possibly very good. It was just that here he was, climbing into my mouth, staring deep past my tonsils, and I kind of felt a bit abused. I felt like I was a number - a line item. A feeling reinforced by him getting my name wrong as he left my chair on the way to another patient in an adjacent room, leaving me to clean up a puddle of drool on my new summer frock. I realized that the whole practice was a bit too 'factory' and devoid of warmth. I realized that it shouldn't have to be this way.
So, I made the decision to break up with my dentist of over a decade - and begin the search for someone that I'd feel more comfortable with.
Now look, I'm not expecting my dentist to be all chummy, full of smiles, chatter and pleasantries - that too, can easily rub a girl the wrong way. But I do expect my dentist to be empathic to my situation as a patient. I also really appreciate a dentist (and a doctor too, for that matter) to properly explain what's going on as if I were an adult -- a peer -- and not as if I were a nine year old.
I tried another dentist here in MV and realized quickly that I had just traded the pan for the fire. I was beginning to wonder if I was the problem. Perhaps expecting too much. Or maybe I was the difficult patient and deserving only of merciless dentists consigning me to a lifetime of countless anxiety-ridden never-ending sessions where my only solace was in counting the perforations on their ceiling tiles as they ground upon me, literally, while I laid back in their articulating chairs. Shudder.
But then, thankfully, by chance, I found my way to Frances Yankie. As soon as I entered her practice on Miller Avenue I knew that I'd found the right place. Established on the ground floor of an old Victorian homestead, it felt more like I was sitting in her living room. The other patients in wait were noticeably more at ease in this environ - myself included. The staff were not the usual wooden and stiff animitrons and Stepford Wives that I'd become so used to -- their enthusiasm and friendliness actually felt genuine. And Dr. Frances Yankie herself -- she made it seem as if I were her friend. A friend is not an attribute I was necessarily seeking in a dentist -- but that is how she made me feel. It's hard to explain what a game changer that was for me. My anxieties and dread just vanished. I really felt like I was in good hands. Hands that I could trust.
We are all very lucky to live in a zip code that offers best-of-breed in most things -- including dentistry. There's probably not a truly bad dentist here. The value that Dr Frances Yankie offers over and above the other excellent dentists that provide service in our town is hard to quantify. But for me, it's the feeling of ease, an environment that makes me feel safe, heard, appreciated and respected all while knowing that I'm getting excellent dental care -- that's priceless.
