IT is easy to feel anxious at the thought of going to the dentist at the best of times, let alone in the middle of a pandemic.
Even Swan Hill Smiles dentist and owner, Gaurav Grewal, known as Dr Gary, understood people’s hesitancies when it came to dentists.
“That’s usually the biggest inhibition and a big cause of anxiety, thinking, ‘What is going to happen? How much it’s going to cost, I don’t want to spend thousands, I don’t know how my health is going to be, will I be able to smile?’” Dr Gary said.
Many expected people’s oral hygiene to have suffered as a consequence of not leaving the house as much and getting out of the routine during COVID.
But, Dr Gary was more concerned with the signs of stress he had seem in patients since coming to him after lockdown.
“People have fractured a lot of teeth, which otherwise you wouldn’t have, so I think they are clenching a lot,” he said.
For Dr Gary, communication was the key to obtaining the best results possible for his clients, and making their dentistry journey as comfortable as possible.
“We want our patients to know what is happening in their mouth and then direct us so then I become a partner in their choices,” Dr Gary said.
“Once we have that partnership solid … I find that all those [worries] just melt away.”
After an increased demand for dentists because of lockdowns during the past two years, Swan Hill Smiles has employed another dentist.
Dr Gary has also extended operating hours to ensure patients didn’t miss out on any consultation time or delay their appointment further.
“I think that even when we are recruiting dentists, it takes a long time for anybody to put their hand up and have an interest in rural, and rural health suffers a lot,” Dr Gary said.
“I have a practice in Melbourne as well, it’s a great place to be for everything else, it’s a great place to practice, however I wasn’t serving that great a purpose of being a helpful member of the community.”
A strong community sense was not just important to Dr Gary, but to his entire staff.
“I am the youngest in this scene in terms of being a Swan Hillian, but all my staff are well-rooted locals, they’ve got their families here,” Dr Gary said.
“I’m very happy here in the sense that I am playing my small part, and we are going to continue to do that, that’s for sure.”
