Wow! State of the art dentistry. I was sure dazzled.

Dentistry has sure came a long way since I used to visit Doctor Steenerson’s office in Indiana in the 1960’s. His wife was his chair-side assistant, receptionist, bookkeeper,and so on. When Doc Steenerson worked on you, you sat upright in the dental chair, and he
bent over you to do his work. To rinse, there was a little cup that sat on a pedestal chair-side that was always full of water. Steenerson did his own cleaning.
Recently I changed dentists from one suburb to another. My new dentist is with two other dentists. They practice in a brand new building. It is in the shape of a Y. Around the perimeters of the building there are high narrow horizontal windows (like Frank Lloyd Wright used) that provide natural light to all the rooms. There are 12 state of the art treatment rooms with TV and movies available. The building has a full kitchen, so the employees never have to go out. There is an appliance room, where presumably they fashion all sorts of dental things. The waiting room has all kinds of amenities: magazines, TV, video games, toys, pinball machine, and beverages. I half expected them to offer me a glass of white wine.
At the dental chair, the assistant ask me if she could ask me a few questions. She wondered if I was happy with my smile. She also asked, do you think your teeth are white enough? After the questions, she asked if she could go in my mouth and take a few pictures. I was there to get a new crown for a tooth and have another one prepped for a
root canal. They had intra-oral cameras and used the Casey patient education system to show and explain needed treatment. All their drinking water is purified by an “Oso-pure” water purification system. The hygienists, assistants, receptionists, appointment schedulers, and others,who were female, looked as if though they were picked by the same guy that picks the chicks on Fox News. Honest!
After they had finished their treatment/procedures and brought me upright, the girl/assistant massaged my neck. That really felt good. Then, they entered information on a touch-screen monitor as to what they had done and what they proposed to do next. I think this was then made available at the front desk for billing and so on. When I got to the front desk, they gave me some goodies, and made me another appointment.
I’m sure they had a lot more high tech stuff than just what I observed or read in the little flyer provided. Oh, I forgot . . . they also had an apparatus of rubber (?) that was placed around one of the teeth they were working on . . . like a curtain or something. I had never encountered this before.
They called me at home about 5:30PM and asked me how I was doing. I had just had two martinis, so I was feeling great. I really didn’t need the Tylenol 3.
While the dentist (maybe senior partner) was working on me, I complimented him on the new building. He told me he was building another facility in another suburb just like the one we were in. I jokingly quipped, “going to be the Sam Walton of dentistry, huh?” He chuckled.
I know this is all known to you dentists. But I was so thrilled
about my experience, I just had to tell someone, who would understand, about it. Do you think it is possible for some crackerjack to come along and create a "Wal-Mart of dentistry?"

Thanks,
Tom in Ohio
	





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