Re-thinking branding dental offices with names like “Gentle Dental” or “Comfort Dental”

I recently went to see my medical doctor for my annual physical. I would classify myself as a healthy individual. But I had conversations with my doctor that made me feel a little uncomfortable and a bit “out of the normal.” In fact, it was the first time meeting him since my regular doctor retired. Afterwards, I pondered about my conversations and slowly began to appreciate what my new doctor had said to me. I needed someone to be as straightforward with me as possible. Just give me the facts even if it’s something that I don’t want to hear. After all, it’s my health. I need to be better.

Screenshot of google search for “Gentle Dental”

Dentistry today is nothing like this. We see advertisements of how nice and gentle the dentist is. Maximize comfort….cleanings and treatment are comfortable…we’ve got 3-D Oculus gear here while doing dentistry. Well, I’m not sure if every dentist is using an Oculus for their patients, but I have heard stories about it. Yet, we forget about the uncomfortable part of dentistry which is a conversation about our gum and dental health. Diagnosing and treating disease is uncomfortable. Let’s face it….we don’t like being probed inside our gums, neither do we like being told about having a disease. Treatment may or may not require us to get a patient numb. But bringing one back to health needs to start with an uncomfortable conversation of what the problem is, treating it with an uncomfortable treatment, and changing one’s daily dental hygiene habit.

I hope you understand where I’m getting at. Think about it…you don’t see medical offices or hospital branded as gentle or comfortable. Comfort and Gentle Doctors???! They’d be lying to you if they did that. But this is exactly what dentists like to brand themselves as.

Some of you may disagree with me. As dentists, we can be as gentle and comfortable as possible. But when it comes time to diagnosing and treating a disease, that might not be possible. There has to be a fine balance between the two.

Unfortunately, the four different hygiene method that I’ve highlighted in my free opt in offer doesn’t come with a guarantee of it being gentle and comfortable. In fact, it’s not. It’s because we’re working with disease and not health. It’d be a different story if your gums were healthy. Remember it’s your health that we’re dealing with. I love what Jesus says to an invalid man who had been laying around for 38 years (LAYING AROUND FOR 38 YEARS!) in John chapter 5: Do you want to get well???

Imagine what this man would have thought. We know his answer and Jesus healed him anyways. And so….would you rather be stuck where you’re at or do you want to get better?