Conducting research for the Academy of General Dentistry, the world's largest dental education organization, Dr. "KO" designed and supervised a 4 year sociological survey from 1995 – 1999 entitled "Your Dentist – A Love/Hate Relationship". This survey went viral and became ranked in AOL's top 20 most popular hits on the entire Internet. Dr. "KO" then spent another year "crunching the data" and presenting its results to Doctors in workshops across North America. In recognition of the value of this research, Dr. "KO" was awarded an honorary fellowship in the Academy of Dentistry International, a global honour society which recognizes doctors who have made scientific contributions to oral healthcare and education, deemed to have a worldwide influence.
It is from this research that a philosophical approach was developed with a different emphasis of "caring" for patients. This patient-centered philosophy is now known as the Veritas Way.
At Veritas Dental, we truly appreciate why so many patients express this sentiment, because we have spent years studying it outside the typical dental and medical healthcare system.
We understand that in spite of what people say, they don't hate the dentist on a personal level, they have anxiety and trepidation with respect to the manner in which dental surgical and dental medical services are provided. It's much easier to have a medical procedure done under a general anaesthetic when the patient is (blissfully) oblivious to everything going on, but putting patients under general anaesthesia is not how dental services are provided. So patient hear, smell and feel a lot of different things they would never experience in a hospital setting, and this is why people have great anxiety and even fear about their dental appointments.
At Veritas Dental our Mission Statement is purposely focused on addressing this anxiety...
This is our mission for every single patient at every appointment. We take this Mission Statement so seriously that we ask every single patient, at every appointment, to hold us accountable to this goal.
Finding a new dentist is not an easy thing to do. Patients have unique needs so when they are looking for a new dentist, they want to feel confident that they will choose a dental office that will answer their questions, that the doctors will take whatever time is necessary to listen to their patients, and most importantly, they want to have the trust and faith that the entire clinical team will be sensitive to their anxiety (and even their fears) to the point that these unique humanistic needs are fully addressed so they can feel that they are in good hands.
At Veritas Dental, we have invested years into studying what these patient needs are, why addressing these needs is paramount to developing a good Dentist/Patient relationship, and what we need to do that is different from the typical dental experience if we are to successfully serve our patients physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually. It is only by addressing all four of these components of Holistic Medicine that we can fully "care" for our patients as we strive to earn the critically important bond of faith and trust.
Please refer to the TED Talk video below. This TED talk was presented by our founder and CEO, Dr. "KO". It will help you to understand what we mean when we say that our goal is to develop a bond of "Faith and Trust" by addressing our holistic patients needs, not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
If people were robots, then dental care could be provided by robots. But medical treatment is provided on humans and as such, to truly "care" in healthcare requires a more humanistic approach than merely diagnosing what is physically wrong, and then just physically treating the disease.
Most patients want more than the provision of physical treatment, they want a more fully holistic and humanistic approach to care. This is where Veritas Dental strives to be different from the norm. While we strive to provide our highest possible level of physical treatment to cure dental disease, we also strive to put our energy, emotion and effort into prioritizing things beyond the mere physical needs, by being focused on the patient's sense of social needs. In other words, we go beyond the physical disease to holistically treat our patient's sense of dis–ease.
Because this is such a crucial question, the answer is not that simple. There has been decades of research into what defines "care" in healthcare, dating back to a famous lecture presented by Dr. Francis Peabody to the graduating class at the Harvard School of Medicine in 1927.
At Veritas Dental we have made a point of studying this question, especially the sociological research as to "why" people don’t like (or even "hate") going to the dentist. We understand the reasons why a dental appointment can be very intimidating, even if only for the simple reason that people feel that they have no control and that they are vulnerable.
In order to ensure that our patients feel that they have control and in order to reduce their sense of vulnerability, Veritas Dental makes it our highest priority to communicate medical diagnosis and medical procedures into easily understood everyday language. We are fully committed to creating an experience of bilateral communication where the patients get all the information they need, in terms they can understand, so the decisions they make along with our clinical team for their individual health and welfare are the best decisions for them.
If these are things you feel are important in your search for a dental healthcare team, we invite you call us. Our hope and aspiration is that you will experience the Veritas Difference.
Dr. "KO", our senior practitioner, has a unique set of educational qualifications that are outside of a dental degree. Prior to becoming a dentist, he studied psychology and sociology, then conducted sociological and socio-economic research for national healthcare organizations as well as major corporations where superior customer service was critical for success and sustainability.
