“I was nervous anticipating seeing my first patient at the end of my first year in dental school, and of course, it was a guy who looked like he could have been a pro football player.  It turns out he is an ex-Army Ranger.  So now I’m scared because if I hurt him, he could snap me in two like a twig.  I go to check his teeth, and he is jumpy.  I ask why and he then tells me that the dentist hurt him as a child, and he has been scared of dentists ever since.  I told him, “Well, that makes two of us.”  We laughed it out, I was patient with him, and the result was that I got him over his fear.

My mission statement is not simply to patch holes in baby teeth but for my child patients to have such a positive attitude towards dentistry that they are comfortable with the dental care as an adult.” – Dr. Scott Weinstein