Life-changing testimonial for Inhalaton Sedation

Yesterday was my last day working as a dentist at Newbury Smile Studio (Ex-Newbury Smile Makers).

I will be continuing to educate other dentists and their teams in Inhalation Sedation or "Happy Air", a technique which has helped so many of my patients over 36 years, 25 of these in Newbury to overcome their dental anxiety..

On my last working day I received this very nice and helpful testimonial. It is quite long but worth the read.

"I hope this is alright.  If there is anything else I can say please let me know.  I am happy to help with your video presentation too.

I would like to say a BIG thank you to both you and Chris for all the help and care you have both shown me in the past years.  I am sorry to loose you as my dentist, but you have left me in a good place to move on.  I have come a long way, if you recall the first visit when I struggled to open my mouth for you.

Thank you for everything, and for looking after my whole family so well over the years. Anything else please let me know,
Hope you both have a very happy and healthy retirement and enjoy your grandchildren.

With fondest regards,
Alison Orr Burns 

"Sedation Testimonial

I have been terrified of the dentist since I was a child.  And I mean genuinely shaking, cold sweats terrified. It dates from a very bad experience that was both painful and very scary. I won't go into the horrible details but it left me with a genuine hate and fear of visiting the dentist. I knew it was probably irrational – albeit based on a real experience – but as a consequence I would never go for a check-up and could only be persuaded to go when I had a terrible toothache.

The first time I had to go to the dentist after I was married I asked my new husband to come with me. He thought this a little strange, even though I had told him how scared I was about going. To someone with no issues about visiting the dentist it did not make a lot of sense. I do understand that.  However to all those out there who are also scared you will understand exactly how I felt; you know exactly how you genuinely dread the day of the appointment, no matter how much pain you are in. 

As I sat in the waiting room he took my hand. He was surprised at how clammy and shaky I was and that I was evidently quite frightened.  This has been the story of my dentist appointments over many years and he would actually always take me to make sure I actually went and to try to calm me as we were waiting to be seen.

When we moved to Berkshire a number of years ago the dreaded thing happened and I started to get toothache.  We looked for a dentist who specialized in nervous patients, found one and, after much coaxing, we went along. I won’t go into the details, but this was another horrible and frightening experience. Obviously this did nothing to help me with my fear, and in fact only made it worse.

And then some time later, it happened again. I said nothing, hoping it would pass. ‘Please let it pass’ I kept saying to myself.  Well two and half years later it had not passed and I knew I had to do something. I started trawling for dentists trying to find someone whom would just knock me out and I didn't care how they did it. I just did not want to know anything about what was going to be going on in that chair.

Richard’s name came up in my search so I called Chris. We chatted for a long time on the phone. She explained everything to me in a comforting, calm and assuring manner, and certainly made me feel that I was not abnormal and that I wasn't the only really scared patient in the world.

So I went along to see Richard, once again with my husband taking me.

It was a challenging start for Richard, as I was having difficulty breathing normally and was so scared that I could not even open my mouth wide enough for him to see anything. Richard took this all in his stride and his calming and assured manner helped to settle me. He seemed to understand exactly what I was going through so he suggested that the best way forward was intravenous sedation. This was fantastic. Next thing I knew the job was over.  However you do need a driver and someone to look after you after the procedure, which was sometimes very difficult for me as my husband was often overseas.

So for the next time, having got over the initial hurdle, Richard suggested we that try nitrous oxide.  I was a little dubious initially so the first time we tried it was on a small filling. Well, it was amazing. I became totally relaxed and almost asleep. It is hard to describe, almost like I had had a couple of rum and cokes! I simply did not notice the time I was in the chair. It felt like just as I was starting to drift away Richard was saying that we were nearly done.

And it has been like that every time; even for a big job it is only when you look at your watch later that you realize you have been in the chair for almost 2 hours. In the past if I had been at the dentist for that amount of time, I would have been drenched in sweat and every muscle in my body would have been tight and exhausted from where I had been tense and stiff throughout the visit. I would have been tired and exhausted not just for the rest of that day but also the next day.

Richard’s manner and approach, and the way he uses the gas, takes all of my worries away. I can now go to the dentist knowing that the experience will not be traumatic. Indeed, I can now go on my own without my husband having to take me and hold my hand. The only thing I used to worry about was when I was under the influence of the gas would I talk a load of rubbish, which I sometimes have a tendency to do when I have had a drink. Then of course I realized that when a dentist is working in your mouth you cannot talk, so therefore that’s even one less thing to worry about! "