The Sights, Sounds and Smells of a Green Dentistry Office Susan Beck Director, The Eco-Dentistry Association™

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"And what do you do for a living," the new acquaintance at the holiday party asked Dr. Pockrass, of Transcendentist in Berkeley, CA. "I'm a dentist," he replied. "Ugh!" said the party-goer, "I hate dentists!"  As dental professionals, we have accepted that to some degree, people don't find enjoyment from the services we provide. But medical research is showing that regular dental visits are vital in the prevention and early detection of our society's deadliest chronic diseases.

The May 2000 U. S. Surgeon General's Report on Oral Health states, "You cannot be healthy without oral health. Oral health and general health should not be interpreted as separate entities." Dental hygienists in particular are in a unique position to recognize the early warning signs of what the medical community is calling lifestyle diseases: cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. These diseases are increasingly linked to a common source, an out-of-balance immune response. This systemic dysfunction can be seen in its earliest stages as bleeding, swollen periodontal tissue.

Given what we now know about the foundational role that dental health plays in the prevention of chronic lifestyle illnesses, it's time we as practitioners take responsibility for changing the dental patient experience from one of resistance to one of enthusiasm. Yes, enthusiasm!

Green dentistry is about more than reducing waste and pollution. It is an emerging approach to dentistry that shifts our service model from one of providing treatment to one of supporting and maintaining wellness. People love their massage therapists, fitness instructor, and nutritionists, so how can we support them in also loving their dental professionals?

This month I had the pleasure of speaking with Kathleen Bernardi, RDH, owner of Woodland Dental Hygiene, in Ontario, Canada, the first independent hygiene practice to achieve EDA Certification, and the staff at Transcendentist in Berkeley, California, where Dr. Pockrass and his wife founded the green dentistry model in 2003. At Transcendentist, visitors aren't called "patients," they're called "clients." Dr. Pockrass explains: "To call someone a patient tells them they are sick. We prefer to view the people we serve as clients, which infers a collaborative relationship in which we provide our expertise, skill and knowledge to support their well-being. We aren't just "tooth fixers" and "tooth cleaners", we're a resource, and in particular in the hygiene department, we're oral wellness therapists and coaches."

Kathleen's practice especially embraces the wellness model: "I start each day with a mantra: I am a loving, kind and disciplined professional who seeks to heal with my hands," she shares. "There is so much more capacity for me to give than what I'm giving clinically, but in the traditional office setting, it can be an uphill battle because of the physical environment."

So what are the sights, sounds and smells of a green dental practice that can help our patients better recognize the preventive wellness value we provide?

From Hospital to Spa

No one likes going to the hospital. It is a place where painful, often invasive treatments take place; it's where we go when our health has reached its worst, a last resort. The first step in creating a wellness experience is to transform the cold treatment setting to an atmosphere more akin to a spa. Regardless of whether your office markets itself as a spa practice, there are steps you can take to eliminate the institutional feel of many dental offices.

At Transcendentist, patients are welcomed to a cozy client lounge where they swap their shoes for comfy booties. "We call it a client lounge because, let's face it, who wants to sit in a waiting room? A waiting room tells patients they'll be waiting! We want our clients to come early and enjoy the lounge, relax, and prepare mentally for their time with our practitioners," explains Transcendentist Practice Manager, Lisa Beddie. Clients say it's like a combination of a spa and their best friend's living room. They enjoy a cup of tea or soothing herbal tonic when they arrive.  Books and magazines reflect the office's commitment to a wellness lifestyle: Yoga Journal, Body and Soul Magazine, books by the Dali Lama, and picture books of serene, natural settings replace the gossip rags found in many waiting rooms.

Once in the operatory, patients are greeted to a chair lined with a heating pad, offered a fluffy blanket, a soft (and reusable) cotton head rest cover and patient bib, and are invited to relax and take in nature videos of swimming dolphins, mountain waterfalls, and fields of flowers waving in a tranquil breeze. It is not uncommon for patients at Transcendentist to fall asleep in the dental chair and awaken from their treatment refreshed and renewed, and, importantly, interested in returning to the dental office.

The Sounds of Healing

Today, Bernardi's office is situated adjacent to a nature preserve. Patients hear the sounds of wind in trees, chirping birds, and even have the luxury of hearing no sound at all.  But it's not necessary to relocate to a natural park in order to address noise pollution in your practice. Noise-cancelling headphones can protect the patient from the distraction of buzzing hand pieces and beeping lasers.  Rather than pop music, offer meditation CDs or spa music during the patient experience. And encourage fellow practitioners to keep socializing to break times outside of patient ear-shot, and to speak in "spa" voices, a volume that is lower than your normal speaking voice but louder than a whisper.

The Nose Knows

"Wow! This doesn't smell like a dental office," is the first observation of many visitors to a green dental practice. The elimination of toxic x-ray fixers, phenols and glutaraldahyde are good for the planet, and also remove one of the most powerful triggers of patient fear.  Our sense of smell is recognized to be 10,000 times more sensitive than our other means of interpreting our environment. Unlike touch and taste, which must travel electro-chemically through the spinal cord to the brain for interpretation, the olfactory pathway is direct and immediate. Aromatic molecules travel into our nasal passages to the olfactory bulb which has sensory receptors wired directly into a part of the brain called the limbic system, an area responsible for our memories and emotion. Before we can even name the aroma, our brain has interpreted, drawn conclusions, and initiated an emotional response to smells based on memories. 

Aroma is a powerful way to transform the dental patient experience from one of clinical treatment to supportive healing therapy. Using the sense of smell, we can help patients unconsciously relate to our services as desirable and life-affirming rather than painful but necessary. Aromatherapy is a wellness approach that uses pure essential oils from plants to purposefully trigger a desired emotional response. Scents like calming lavender can help create a new sensory relationship to dentistry for our patients. Fill your office with relaxing essential oils by using a diffuser, or use lotions, soaps and hand sanitizers that contain pure essential oils from plants.  And avoid synthetic aromas which can cause allergic reactions and even headaches.

When Can I Come Back?

There are so many ways we can affect the sights, sounds and smells of our dental practice to help patients recognize our value as partners in their lifestyle of wellness. It's not simply about differentiating our practice from the competition. Green dental practice is at the forefront of dentistry's transition to medicine's new wellness model, addressing disease at its source, before or at the earliest stage. The first step is to educate our patients about the oral systemic link, giving them the information they need to maintain their wellness routine at home and understand the importance of keeping our professional maintenance recommendations. But to really affect a change in patient perception, we as practitioners must begin to see ourselves as therapists, coaches, and healers, and to create an environment that honors and reinforces our commitment to a lifestyle of wellness. Take one step in each area to transform the sights, sounds and smells of your practice, and don't be surprised if your patients stop asking "When do I have to see you again?" and start asking "When can I come back?"

 

 

About Susan Beck Susan Beck is the Director of the Eco-Dentistry Association and has been integrally involved in development of green dentistry standards and best practices. She has a background in public health, integrative medicine and dental office practice management, and was the practice manager of Transcendentist, an award-winning green dental office, prior to the launch of the EDA. Susan is passionate about sharing how green dentistry benefits patients, planet and the practice bottom line. As the EDA's Director, Susan has her finger on the pulse of the green dentistry movement, serving as a resource to the profession and the industry. She has written extensively on green dentistry topics, and presents to both the public and professionals to expand awareness and practice of eco-friendly dentistry. About the Eco-Dentistry Association The EDA offers dental professionals' practical tips on incorporating eco-friendly dental methods and practices, and offers the public access to dental professionals that share their values of wellness and environmental stewardship. The EDA's members are located in 42 U.S. States and 11 countries. The organization was co-founded by Dr. Fred Pockrass, a dentist, and his entrepreneur wife, Ina Pockrass, who together created the model for eco-friendly dentistry, and operate their own award winning dental practice in Berkeley, California, the first in the country to be certified as a green business. They formed the organization to stimulate a movement in the dental industry to employ environmentally-sound practices, like reducing waste and pollution, saving energy, water and money, incorporating wellness-based methods and the best technological advances in dentistry.