DR. TORSTEN WEGNER: THE SECRET TO LESSENING DENTAL ANXIETY

Discover a modern dental clinic where perfect design flow and personal attention come together to allow patients to relax during the most varied dental treatments.

Dr. Torsten Wegner is a dentist located in Hamburg, Germany. He owns a beautiful and modern dental clinic, where organic forms, perfect flow and personal attention come together to allow patients to relax during the most varied dental treatments.

ELIMINATING DENTAL ANXIETY WITH DESIGN

Dental anxiety, or dental phobia, is a well-known problem for those working in dentistry. According to the British Dental Health Foundation, 36% of the population don’t see a dentist regularly because of this fear.

Dr. Wegner took these matters seriously when he built his clinic in Hamburg. He chose a design where the rooms are semi open and allow patients to hear each other. The goal was to give patients the feeling that they are not alone.

“Many told us that we were going to fail, that you can´t have a dental clinic that is open, but actually people feel more comfortable in our clinic because of its openness. They often say that if no one closes the door, bad things can´t happen, so they actually feel more relaxed.”

TRUST IS EVERYTHING

Besides having the opportunity to enjoy a well-appointed room that is characterized by symmetry and clean design, patients also enjoy first class service, as Dr. Wegner regularly greets his patients at the door.

Meeting patients before they enter the treatment room is an excellent technique for learning whether they suffer from any kind of anxiety.

In fact, the greeting is an important element for calming down patients, and it also helps to build a relationship of trust, even before the treatment starts.

PERFECT SYNCHRONY

To remain in perfect synchrony with the architecture flow and standards of his clinic, Dr. Wegner needed a unit with the right design.

“When I saw the XO unit, I thought: I want that, it´s beautiful, it´s pure design, and it reminded me of Jacob Jensen Design.”

Jacob Jensen Design is in fact the designer behind the XO unit, and XO CARE won the Danish Design Award with the XO 4 in 2007.

“My first impression of the unit was of course connected to its design, says Dr. Wegner, but after learning about good ergonomics and dentist productivity, I understood that the XO units are made for extraordinary dentists, so it changed the way I work.”

CHANGE YOUR PERSPECTIVE TO WORK BETTER

“It takes some time to get accustomed to the XO unit, to learn how to work with the patient in a perfect, ergonomic position, but once you do, you will never leave this unit.”

The XO unit allows the dentist to perform treatments without having to look away from the patient ­– you don´t need to bend, everything you need is in front of you.

“Furthermore, the XO unit allows you to park the instruments to the side so the patients will never see the instruments. This was just a bonus to my design choice.

There is no other unit on the market that could fit our clinic and our needs like the XO unit does, you work better and have the most relaxed patients.”

Explore the extraordinary clinic of Dr. Torsten Wegner to get a deeper feeling for their work here http://www.braunerwegner-zahnmedizin.de/

Read more about other extraordinary clinics in our journal XO CARE Blog (xo-care.com)

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SUCCESSFUL NON-SURGICAL PERIODONTAL TREATMENTS

XO ODONTOSON 360 has been indicated to be particularly effective for subgingival flushing with 0.1% PVP-iodine solution.

Read the guide created by Dr. B. Rosling for the treatment of advanced periodontitis using XO ODONTOSON 360:

1. The procedure can be started after examination of the dentition, gathering information from the patient and careful instruction in oral hygiene.

2. Treatment planning: Most levels of periodontal disease are possible to treat using the XO ODONTOSON 360. However, the outcome of the treatment will depend on the initial level of disease and the way XO ODONTOSON 360 is used. Treatment of a single quadrant at each appointment is the general procedure. However, in very severe cases and/or with patients who feel uncomfortable being in the dental chair for a long time, you may divide the dentition into sextants.

3. Always use anaesthesia to be able to perform a good treatment!

4. The time input for each tooth with pockets of 6 mm depth or more is between 6 to 10 minutes – the deeper the longer. 6 minutes for a 6 mm pocket, then add about 1 minute for each 2 mm. Start by adjusting the power and irrigation to maximum and work in a vertical direction with small horizontal movements of about 2-3 mm. When reaching the bottom of the soft tissue pocket be a little aggressive by pushing the tip towards the bottom. Use very light pressure against the root/tooth surface. It isn’t the pressure of the tip but the ultra-sonic energy that removes the bio film of microorganisms and calculus. Remember to apply light pressure and never work without moving the tip. Use a water solution of PVP-iodine 0.1%. Bleeding is a common response to mechanical debridement and is associated with the inflammation of the tissue rather than wounding because of the scaling procedure.

5. When you have finished the treatment, always give a prescription to your patient of 0.2% chlorhexidine for mouth rinsing twice a day for 2 minutes over 10-14 days. The patient will have difficulties performing adequate tooth brushing the first week. Reinstruct the patient in oral hygiene measures and make an appointment for the next treatment 4 days later.

6. If your patient experiences pain because of hypersensitive root surfaces give him/her fluoride dentifrice and fluoride solution for mouth rinsing.

7. After treatment of all teeth call the patient for re-evaluation after 3 months and repeat scaling in the same way for all 5 mm pockets with bleeding on probing. Recall the patient every three months in the first year and repeat check-ups. After this first year, recall the patient once every 3-6-12 months, depending on the healing and level of oral hygiene.