Your dentist in Milton Keynes for nervous and anxious dental patients

"I have a dental phobia"

"I'm nervous about the dentist"

"I'm scared of the dentist"

"I had a terrible experience previously and I've not been back to the dentist since"

Do any of these apply to you? Please be assured, we've heard it all before (thousands of times!). Our job is to help you (and we've done it for our patients, tens of thousands of times!).

What nervous patients at Mi Dental Stony Stratford say about their treatment:

"I am very nervous.... Dr M Patel has helped me to overcome my fear...."

Who are we, and why can we help? Our dentists understand that most people are nervous about coming to the dentist, at least to some extent. Our philosophy has always been to make the treatment as comfortable as we possibly can.

But we have also put our money where our mouths are (forgive the pun!). Our dental sedation clinic has been running in Milton Keynes for over 40 years, first established by Dr. Indra Patel, and now being led by our Principal Dentist, Dr. Mitesh Patel.

Both have been trained by SAAD (the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry), the leading organisation in the U.K. for helping nervous dental patients. It means that we are qualified to administer sedation for your dental treatment, and we have taken this forward by following gold standard practices in both intravenous and inhalation sedation techniques. Put simply, you'll have to go some way to be in better hands!

Here are some common questions that we encounter:

- "I've not been to the dentist for 10 years, will you see me?"

Of course we will! That's the whole point. If you're ready to take that first step back into your routine dental care, it would be our privilege to help you on that journey.

- "My teeth are so bad, you're going to be in for a shock."

We've heard this so many times before! Our sedation dentist, Dr. Mitesh Patel, has been in dentistry for 30 years. He always says "trust me, whatever you've got I'll have seen a lot worse!" Let us have a look... it's probably nowhere near as bad as you think. And we'll have a solution, either way!

- "I'm extremely nervous. What happens at the first appointment?"

We like to be thorough in what we do. But that DOES NOT mean inflicting pain or making you uncomfortable in any way. We will explain to you what we're doing and why, you just let us know if there's anything that you don't feel up to and we can take it at your pace. The first appointment is very rarely anything beyond a brief look, a painless xray (external, if you really don't like the ones that go in your mouth), and then simply a chat through your options. And here's the thing that our nervous patients might not get initially- this is how we actually like to work. Calm, relaxed, discuss plans, and work it out from there!

- "I'm really worried, could I come in for a chat first?"

If this would be helpful, yes of course you can. We can find a time for you to have a chat with one of our team and you'd be welcome to discuss any concerns that you have. But, honestly, our first appointment process is SO relaxed that it's almost unknown for us to have a patient who found it too much to handle.

- "Do you offer sedation for nervous patients?"

Yes, we have been sedating nervous patients for around 40 years. Intravenous (sometimes called IV sedation or conscious sedation) and inhalation (sometimes called 'relative analgesia') can be a revelation if you're worried about any aspect of your treatment. We have a lot of patients who use it even just to feel comfortable through longer appointments.

- "Can I bring someone with me?"

Yes, absolutely. Having some support is often a great idea, and it can be really helpful to have someone extra to listen to the possible options.

What happens on your first appointment for a nervous dental patient?

1. You'll come and sit with your dental team, typically one of our highly experienced dentists, and one of our lovely nursing team.

2. We'll have a chat to begin with as we want to understand what your concerns are...what treatment you think you need, and what particularly worries you.

3. There will be a very simple look at your teeth. It can honestly be nothing more than that, just with a small mirror so we can see around your teeth.

4. We would usually advise an xray of your teeth so we can check the insides of the teeth as well as what we can see on the outside. At Mi Dental Stony Stratford we have an OPG and CBCT machine which means we can take external images if necessary. A lot of our nervous patients liken it to going to the optician for an eye test.

5. Then we talk! We'll tell you our findings, we'll break it down into what we feel would be of benefit to you, and why it's important. We can then discuss about how you feel about organising or staging the process. It doesn't always need to be done in one go....Rome wasn't built in a day!

What happens if you want dental sedation?

1. We'll organise a 'pre-assessment' for your sedation. It's extremely simple. One of our team, whether it is our sedation trained dentist or our sedation trained nurses, will go through some basic questions, take some simple measurements of your blood pressure, and use a finger pulse checker, all of which is considered gold-standard assessment of dental patients who are to be sedated.

2. We then need to decide on what type of sedation will be most appropriate for you. At Mi Dental Stony Stratford you can choose between intravenous dental sedation or inhalation dental sedation. We will go through the pros and cons of both. Or maybe you'd prefer having both!

3. We will agree the treatment plan and what care is going to be provided during the dental sedation appointment. We will also send you comprehensive information with what you need to know for before, during, and after your dental treatment. The information we provide is in line with best practice from the IACSD (The Intercollegiate Advisory Committee for Sedation in Dentistry- with which our sedation nursing team are trained).

4. We get you booked in. The treatment is done and dusted, and you'll be on your way home!