Apollonia Dental

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Enough about me……
This is the part of our website where we are supposed to say how wonderful we are and how special our dental practice is, but that sounds a bit tiresome, so let’s talk about YOU instead.
It seems to me that there are already far too many dentists all talking about themselves, about their new spiffy X-ray machine or their new computerized crown designer, and while that seems wonderful to me (of course it would because I am a dentists, after all), I suspect that by and large YOU are more interested in other things.
Let’s talk about YOU!
Now, truth is we don’t (yet) know YOU very well, so the best substitute is perhaps to talk about the other 13,831 (and counting) Bakersfieldians that we have met here at the Apollonia Dental Center, and perhaps some of the things we know about them will ring a bell with YOU.
Instead of saying “YOU or others” every single time, let’s make it easy and say when we are talking about “You Or Others” , we’ll use the acronym “Y.O.O.”
Now my mother was an english teacher, and if she reads this (and she probably will), that would give her fits, so I’m going to just say YOU.
Maybe YOU could think of it as “You Or Uthers” (that’s not much better, is it, Mom?).
Why YOU go to the dentist

That's about it. Never once have I met a patient who wanted a 3-D computer generated image of their jaw, and never have I met anybody who wanted a framed copy of their X-rays to take home. Never once did YOU come in looking for a root canal.
Nope, YOU come to dentists for help with YOUR dental problems. We, the dentists, are the ones who get excited about the cool new tools we can use to fix things. YOU don't care (if YOU are like most people) how fancy our tools are as long as they let us do our job well, and do it quickly, painlessly, and inexpensively.
Why YOU avoid the dentist
Now, let's look at the other side for a minute, and talk about why YOU so often don't come to a dentist.

OK, I know we dentists are all told to say “discomfort” and “just a pinch” but YOU know that that is not what YOU are concerned about. Anybody can handle a little “discomfort” and that is not what has kept YOU away. What has kept YOU away is a different thing all together. It is PAIN.
Now , most sane people (like YOU) want to avoid pain, and most sane people know that dentists can cause pain, especially if the dentist isn't real careful or doesn't think this is important.
Let me spell this out loud and clear. We take comfort very seriously. We know that painless dentistry is the only kind YOU want, and we focus our attention on providing just that.
We will never let down our guard in this important issue. We buy our novacaine on sale, and we might as well use it up. Rather than a minimal pain control strategy we want a pain control bomb. No doubts.

Fear is another barrier, sometimes based on past experiences, and sometimes completely irrational, but fear is a big issue and just because we think it's silly doesn't make it go away.
The best way we've found to deal with fear is with mild and safe sedatives. When confronted with the need to treat a fearful patient, I know my own blood pressure goes up, my forhead perspires, and the room suddenly feels warm. It's pretty clear, that in those circumstances, at least one of us should be sedated. In most cases, it works out best if the sedated one is YOU, and then I can relax with YOU (me of course relaxing without pharmaceutical help) and we both can have a pleasant dental experience.
Fear of needles is a big one. Call it part of the overall fear thing, but it's got to be one of the most common fears. Again, if one of us is sedated, we can get through this together. “I couldn’t tell YOU were there” is sweet music to my ears (well, honestly that may only apply to the dental office and may not be what I wanted to hear at home with my wife, but that is another story altogether).

After pain ("discomfort"), and after fear, the last barrier that keeps people like YOU away from the dentist is the high cost of dentistry.
Yes, we have financing available, and yes we can work with YOU to find a treatment plan that is affordable, but we all gotta admit it going forward.... dentistry is expensive, and that keeps a lot of people like YOU away.
Top 10 Reasons why YOU left your last dentist
Most likely, YOU have been to another dentist before coming to see me. Maybe YOU just moved to town, or maybe YOUR dentists retired, but there’s a pretty good chance that YOU left YOUR last dentist because YOU simply weren't happy and didn't feel YOU were in the right place.
It’s always made me curious to know what kinds of things dentists do that drive their patients away, and it’s always been very important to me that we NOT do those things here at the Apollonia Dental Center.
So let’s do a “Top Ten” list of things denitsts might have done that drove YOU away.
Number 10: They were rough.
Boy, I can tell YOU that a heavy handed dentist is like having a sledge hammer in YOUR mouth. Some people should be in heavy construction and not in dentistry. We can't promise YOU that our fingers are so light YOU won't even notice we're in there, but we can assure we know it matters. We can assure YOU we care, and pay attention, and try to be gentle, and to be considerate of the fact that "hey, I'm attached to those teeth, buster" and treat YOU gently.
Number 9: YOU weren't numb.
Usually accompanied by a truly always incredible "yes YOU are, YOU have to be numb!" This is so incredibly rude, and I can't believe that dentists say such things, but I've heard it from so many patients (like YOU) over the years, that unless there is some secret society where dental patients go to make this stuff up, it's simply got to be true. Incredible. Rude. Arrogant. But true. You won't here that here. Here, YOU'll hear "Can YOU still feel YOUR toes in YOUR shoes? Do YOU need more anesthetic?"
Number 8: Their office was so slow, and YOU figured they weren't any good.
Have YOU ever been in a restaurant and realized YOU are the only one there? Find yourself wondering how long that chicken has been in the freezer? Now, it's true that some of the best dentists run offices that are very quiet. And fair enough, if that's YOUR thing, YOU might not like it here. In our office, we are always busy, and sometimes we are accused of being too busy. We also sometimes get noisy, tell loud jokes, laugh and hug, and share homemade cookies that our hygienist or one of our patients made that morning. But we won't be slow. Guarantee it.
Number 7: They didn't listen to YOU.
There are a lot of flavors to this one. "The doctor did everything he wanted but never addressed the main reason I went there." or "I tried to explain to them I wanted no black line on my crown and they put one there anyway.", or "I told them I had to be out by 3:00 to pick up my kids and they didn't even get me back until then."
We've heard a million of these stories, and all I can tell YOU is we meet every morning and spend half an hour together as a team, making sure that when YOU say something to anybody in our office, we listen, we share with each other, and we remember. We do really care.
Number 6: They messed up YOUR insurance billing then made YOU pay the difference.
This is so common it maybe ought to be higher on the list, but the story goes like this. The dentist says YOU need three fillings, and the office staff says YOUR share is $30. Six weeks later, they find out YOU have a deductible, a waiting period, and no coverage for the type of filling they did. They want $400 from YOU now, or they will send YOU to collections.
We have some very smart people working with us, and more to the point those really smart people have direct computer connections to the human resource departments of every major employer in Kern county. We get live benefit information, including all the gobbledeegook terms and small print.
We are faster, more accurate, and better at estimating insurance than anybody (picture our receptionist blowing on her smoking keyboard finger). When there is controversy, we ask. We can send electronic X-rays and pre-determine YOUR benefits in the blink of an eye.
You can trust us not to roll our eyes and act like YOUR dental insurance is a nuisance. We know YOU rely on it to pay YOUR dental bill and YOUR family's dental bill. Honest.
Number 5: They charged YOU more than they said they would.
Here's the scenario. You are told YOUR treatment plan, make an appointment, get numb, and they start drilling. When they are done, here comes the "well, YOUR teeth were worse than we thought so we have to charge YOU $4,000 more than we said earlier." (yes, this actually happens in dental offices every day, and we've heard it a thousand times.) When I am feeling generous, I call it "moving the goal posts in the middle of the game" and consider it a form of professional rudeness and arrogance. When feeling less generous, I call it "not spending enough time in the initial examination and treatment planning phase to have even the foggiest idea of what YOU are doing before YOU start."
Bottom line: if we misdiagnose YOUR problem, and because of our error, YOUR bill goes up, well, that's our problem not YOURS. The difference is on the house. (and believe it or not, we sometimes still make these mistakes, but very rarely, and YOU don't suffer the consequences. We do.
Number 4: They were just too expensive.
Sometimes dentists get carried away with all the things that they know how to do, and they get all excited about the things they can do for YOU, and then forget that YOU may have financial limitations that prevent YOU from being able to afford all that they want YOU to have.
In the old days, dentists could only do so much, and most of it was pretty affordable. Now, there is so much more that can be done and so many choices, that we sometimes put together a plan to build a new mouth when all YOU really want right now is a filling on YOUR front tooth that looks funny when YOU smile.
Sometimes, dentists get so eager to fix everything, that they do something equal to "proposing marriage on the first date!" I mean, sometimes we all need to take a breath and take things a little slower. YOUR mouth didn't get like this in one day, and it doesn't all have to be fixed today. YOU are in charge in our office.
At Apollonia Dental Center we will work with YOU and not against YOU, so that together we can decide what is right for YOU and what is not. We can make dentistry more affordable, and of course we can’t make everything affordable to everyone. We sure to try, however. Every minute and hour of our day, we try to make dentistry more affordable to YOU and all of YOUR friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
If we ever present a plan to fix up YOUR teeth that is too expensive for YOU, then we want YOU to slap us in the face (well, maybe not really) and say loud and clear “I can’t afford that ….. what other choices do I have”.
Number 3: They fixed YOUR tooth, and now it’s ugly.
Some people don’t mind that black filling, and some people actually want gold crowns on their front teeth. Cosmetics is important to everybody, but what is attractive differs between people. One person wants a “movie star smile” and other people want their teeth to “blend in” with the rest.
We try very hard to satisfy every patient’s cosmetic wants, and to do so we have to listen to YOU and what YOU want. We will try hard to never do anything for YOU that YOU don’t want. YOU are the boss, when it comes to cosmetics.
Number 2: They don't take YOUR insurance.
There a a million dental insurance plans out there, and new ones every day. If we haven’t heard of yours, we’ll find out, and if we aren’t a “participating provider”, we’ll look into becoming one. Either way, our Apollonia Dental Center insurance experts can always find a way to give YOU the maximum benefit available from YOUR plan, even if it means doing some homework to discover the best way.
So many people don’t have dental insurance at all, there is no reason for YOU to have it and not be able to use it.
Number 1: They were arrogant.
Maybe this is really all of the others rolled into one, but it seems to deserve it’s own place on the list, and in our experience, it deserves to be number one.
“I’m a doctor and YOU are not.”, is not a sufficient answer to YOU and YOUR concerns. We promise not to belittle YOU, to ignore YOU, to roll our eyes at YOU, to lecture YOU, to criticize YOU or in any way treat YOU like other than a valued guest in our Apollonia Dental Center.
We take what we do very, very, very seriously, but we refuse to take ourselves that seriously. Chances are YOU are as good at what YOU do as we are at what we do. YOU deserve respect from YOUR dentist. YOU can find that at the Apollonia Dental Center.