Nervous patients

Nobody here will tell you off for not coming for ten years. The teeth are what they are, and the first job is to make the room a place you can sit in. The second is the teeth, and that can wait a visit.

James sees most of our nervous patients. The first appointment can be just a conversation in the chair with the door open and nothing in your mouth, or a look with a mirror and nothing else, or the full examination: you decide on the day. Before anything happens you agree a signal, usually a raised hand, and when you raise it we stop, every time, without a sigh. Treatment is planned in small steps, easiest first, with the numbing done slowly and tested before anything else.

For patients whose fear is beyond that, we offer intravenous sedation: you are awake but deeply relaxed and remember little of it, with a trained sedation team and monitoring throughout. Many patients use it for one or two big visits and then find they can manage without. We also see patients with a strong gag reflex, with autism or sensory needs, and those who need a quiet morning slot with no waiting room; tell reception and it is arranged.

What is included

• A first visit that can be just a conversation
• A stop signal, honoured every time
• Treatment in small steps, easiest first
• Slow, tested numbing
• Intravenous sedation with a trained team
• Quiet slots for sensory needs

What it costs

First visit £75 including X-rays where you are ready for them; the talk-only visit is £48. Intravenous sedation £295 per session on top of the treatment fee. Members are seen for emergencies free. There is no VAT on dental treatment and every fee is on the fees page, with the membership plan that spreads the routine cost. Nervous? Start on the nervous patients page.