How the Wickham Terrace Dental team care for nervous patients

“It’s the best thing I’ve done for myself – will recommend them to anyone!”

Something the Wickham Terrace Dental team are highly experienced and understanding of, is looking after those people who are very nervous about visiting the dentist – sometimes to the point where they’ll put off treatment for months or years.

Yet, because many dental problems will only get worse without professional help, we certainly encourage nervous patients to come and see our team. To help nervous patients overcome this challenge, all of us are committed to helping them in any way we can.

That was the case for our patient Chelsea and her partner Rhys, who were both very anxious about the thought of having dental work done. So much so that they had avoided seeing the dentist for many years!

Putting off a trip to the dentist because of anxiety

Chelsea and Rhys’s journey with Wickham Terrace Dental began back in 2019. “I had started dating Rhys the year before, and he was insecure about his teeth,” Chelsea says. “I just told him, ‘That’s no dramas! That can be fixed’. But honestly I had issues with my own teeth too.”

Chelsea knew that she couldn’t put off seeing a dentist for too much longer. “It’s easy to put it off, and of course there’s the issue of money as well. Like most people we don’t have a heap of spare money floating around,” she says. “But I knew that if I didn’t do it now, I’d never do it and ultimately I wouldn’t have any teeth!

She began the process of searching for a dentist who would understand her nervousness and treat her without judging. “I started doing my research, and took it upon myself to find the very best dentist because I had a lot of anxiety about it,” she says.

“I spoke to a lot of different dentists, read all their reviews, and spoke to their receptionists,” Chelsea says. “I quickly worked out that there are plenty of dentists that just do not care.”

“It was important to me that they didn’t judge,” she says. “Everyone has dental issues, but we need someone to help us without judgement.

“Talking to Wickham Terrace Dental’s reception, I thought you know what, this is the one,” Chelsea says. She went ahead and booked an initial consultation for herself and for Rhys.

Finding an entire dental team who really care

Entering the practice for the first time, Chelsea says that she had a good impression of Wickham Terrace Dental right from the start. “Just walking in, it’s a cliché but you really feel so much warmth,” she says.

Chelsea says that she and Rhys were so lucky to have Dr Andrew Teakle look after them. “Just chatting to him, the way he speaks is so warm, kind, and knowledgeable – you can just tell he really cares about what he does. It’s so evident,” she says.

On the basis of this initial meeting, Rhys went ahead with a treatment plan to address the challenges he had with his smile. “Andrew absolutely changed Rhys’s life. Amazing,” says Chelsea. “He used to hold his hand over his mouth when he laughed – I would have done anything to give him back that confidence.”

“So when his front six were done, it was so beautiful. It was emotional.”

“With what they can do in dentistry these days, it is amazing,” Chelsea says. “We don’t know how he did it, but he literally built Rhys’s teeth back and it looks SO natural.”

Even after seeing Rhys’s experience, Chelsea’s anxiety still made it difficult for her to go ahead with her treatment. “I had my consult, and just got so scared,” she says. “I fully believe I was terrified – just the sound of the drill, the instruments all poking around, it put me off.”

There would be one final prompt to encourage Chelsea to take action – she and Rhys were getting married in September 2024. “Four years later, I was so anxious about how my teeth would look at our wedding, that I made the call to Wickham Terrace Dental.”

“I said, ‘I’m ready. I want to get in there’ and I went in the very next day.”

The experience of a dental consultation as a nervous patient

What was it like having dental treatment after so long? “There are things that stand out in my dental journey – just little things that were said, experiences I had,” Chelsea says. “For example, at that appointment Andrew came back from lunch and put his hand on my shoulder and just said, ‘I’m so happy to see you.’ That just sticks in my mind, and it meant I knew I was doing the right thing.”

The reassuring feel and overall environment of the practice meant that Chelsea was able to overcome her fears. “I’m sure I left a big sweat mark on the chair, I was freaking out!” she laughs. “But I was able to be in the chair with no one else with me – as an anxious patient, that’s just insane.”

And although Dr Teakle led Chelsea’s treatment, she has warm words for the entire Wickham Terrace Dental team. “Dr Nick is fantastic too. What I like about him is that he explains every step that he’s doing,” she says. “I feel much better knowing the complete journey from start to finish – it just takes the mystery and anxiety away from it all.

“Even the girls on the front desk, I feel like I know them now, we’ve been on a journey together. Everyone is so warm and amazing in their own right,” Chelsea says. “Sophia the hygienist is fantastic too – we end up having a laugh together which is rare for me!

“We love Wickham Terrace Dental, we truly do.”

How to improve a smile in time for a wedding

With her wedding fast approaching, Chelsea was keen to improve the appearance of her front teeth. With a skeletal underbite, her ideal treatment would be orthognathic surgery and orthodontic treatment. Yet this expensive, time-consuming and possibly traumatic treatment was not an option in the timeframe she had.

In consultation with Andrew and the team, Chelsea decided she would have just a few veneers placed on her teeth set back in her upper arch. “I had a conversation with Andrew about it, because I thought they’d need to file them down into piranha teeth,” she says. “He said no, that won’t be necessary – there was virtually no filing needed.”

“The veneers appointment was one of the quickest I’ve ever had,” Chelsea says. “I had four veneers placed on my front teeth and they’re so natural, when I tell people I have veneers they say, ‘What?!’” she laughs. “They can’t believe I’ve had work done.”

“My mum cried when she saw me, because she knew it was such a big thing. My friend brought me over a care package and said I’m so proud of you,” Chelsea says.

Wickham Terrace Dental’s in-house laboratory made the process easy too. “Shout out to the boys in the lab downstairs too,” she says. “I had to get a temporary replacement because one fell off. No worries! You literally walk down to the guys in the lab and they can help you.”

“You just feel really important – it’s not like you ever get an eye roll like, ‘Oh you’re inconveniencing us’ from anyone there,” she says.

“I tell everyone about it – my extractions were done in the chair, including three wisdom teeth. I had no bruising, no swelling, no pain. Never once have I had pain.”

“I wouldn’t say Andrew’s ‘more gentle’ than any other dentist, but he’s so experienced, he knows what needs to happen and he won’t put his patients under duress to reach that goal,” says Chelsea.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better dentist to go on that journey with.”

Nervous about seeing the dentist? There’s no need to be!

“Not once did I feel pressured through the journey at Wickham Terrace,” Chelsea says. “I’d previously had orthodontics and a jaw expander, and it was just an awful experience – this is completely different.”

“Having been through the journey, I know I was such an anxious patient – but the team was just amazing. I recommend them to anyone,” Chelsea says. “What they’ve done for Rhys and myself I can’t put into words. It’s absolutely life changing.”

“This is what dentistry can be like with people who care.”

If you’re feeling nervous about the state of your teeth, or you haven’t seen a dentist for some time, please reach out to the team at Wickham Terrace Dental. We will take the time to really get to know you and your oral health, before suggesting a treatment plan that suits you. To find out more, get in touch with our Brisbane dentists on (07) 3831 3031 or contact us online.