Description
Drs. John Pinnix and George Betancourt offer sedation dentistry to help anxious patients relax. Many patients feel anxious in the dentist's chair, but Advanced Dentistry excels at helping patients feel comfortable. Dr. Betancourt is trained in IV sedation so that these patients can achieve deep relaxation under our care.
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Dr. Pinnix: George is fantastic with fearful patients. There are a lot of people that haven't been able to do dentistry because of their anxieties about dentistry. And George has an ability to connect with them and then understand their fears. And then he is trained with IV sedation so he sees a lot of our more anxious patients and puts them at ease. And then ultimately they get to do the dentistry that they needed and probably couldn't have elsewhere gone.
Dr. Betancourt: There are many, many people who benefit from sedation dentistry. And it gives people the opportunity to get care that they've been needing for many, many, many years. You certainly find that what we can do for those patients is life-altering. Give them their smile back. Give them their confidence back.
And sure there are some instances that really stand out. One is a relatively young boy, 19 year old, a lot of decay, a lot of teeth that were headed south. And he was so concerned about his smile that nobody in his family had seen him smile in years. We finally got to a point where he let us look at his teeth. We did a full exam and talked about some of the things that we needed to do. I spoke to him in very frank terms. I was very clear, but I was also very compassionate which is something I think he needed.
He was very responsive and over the course of many appointments, we gave him a new smile. And we gave him much more than a smile, we gave him confidence and the ability to enjoy his life. Overall, it improved his quality of life immensely. We're at a point now where he's become a regular patient. He comes every six months. He does not need sedation for those appointments. He gets his teeth cleaned. His hygiene has improved tremendously.
And not only did we turn him around from the point where he can actually smile, but I think from a health benefit moving forward, we had an impact that will last his lifetime. That's a gift that keeps on giving to him and it makes us feel good that we've really done something significant for this young man's life.