New Patient Hotline: (513).275.5365
Existing Patients: (513).777.7017

Dental Office Message: Relax

By John Eckberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The pillows are heated buckwheat, the furniture in the waiting room is comfy wicker, and chairs are upholstered in fine ostrich leather. A back office has a 27-inch computer monitor with an infrared mouse and keyboard for Internet and satellite television access. There are private fax and phone lines, Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies are baked daily, and the separate child's play area has a VCR, Nintendo 64, a television, books and games. A fountain gurgles under soft halogen lights, while a refreshment center is loaded with lemonade and bottled spring water. The latest in leased office space? A state-of-the-art sub urban business park? Try dentist's office.

High-technology creature comfort for patients meets temporomandibular periodontics in the office of Dr. Thomas K. Hedge. The Dental Health Center in the 7900 block of Cincinnati-Dayton Road in West Chester pushes the limits of customer care and service and represents one of the latest trends in dentistry: Make the patient forget about the screaming drill. “The dentist office has this aura of being a little shop of horrors. People come in petrified,” Dr. Hedge said. “We have to make them comfortable, avoid that sterile office smell and bad music. All of that has to be removed from the environment, and there are a lot of ways to do it.

Dentistry has changed in the past two decades, and the health center in West Chester is on the cutting edge. “Absolutely, it works,” said Mary Petrie, a dentist who has practiced since 1980, the last seven years from offices on Hyde Park Square. “It helps the patient, and a fair number are particularly anxious. Having a calm manner and reassuring chair-side feeling helps a lot.”

Dr. Hedge first struck upon the idea of enhancing comfort when he bought a wall-size map of the world and positioned it above the dental chair. He noticed that patients forgot about the work he was doing as they immersed themselves in the map. The most popular element is the satellite television feed, which includes radio programming and wireless headphones. A new treatment room with cherry trim, the satellite system and other amenities cost $70,000.

According to a 1997 consumer survey from the American Dental Association, 58 percent of adults reported that they had seen a dentist in the past six to 11 months. When a similar survey was completed in 1989, only 44 percent had seen a dentist within the past six to 11 months. Mark Messina, a dentist from Fairview Park, near Cleveland, and consumer adviser to the American Dental Association, said dentistry has made great inroads in providing better consumer service. “It's not your father's Oldsmobile anymore,” he said. “We are finding that children do not have the fear that their parents may have. Children are not afraid to come to the dentist at all.”

He said something as simple as giving a remote control to a patient can dramatically enhance the patient's sense of control. “More and more, we are seeing music, games and television in treatment rooms,” he said. Patient comfort can translate into better care because patients are less likely to fidget. Dr. Hedge is gaining recognition for his efforts to increase patient comfort. He'll lecture next month at a Gener8tnext conference for dentists in Scottsdale, Ariz. In March, he is scheduled to lecture about patient comfort at a seminar in Destin, Fla.