First, look at this website on your computer. Then…pull it up on your phone.
We just optimized the site to work well on whatever screen size you’re using. One more way for you to get in touch and one more way to make us your Saginaw dentist!
Let us know what you think! If you’re looking for a dentist in Saginaw, we’re always happy to accept new patients! You can request an appointment online or call the office at (989) 799-9133. And, as always, you can email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com. I always answer my own emails!
We’ve had TV’s in the operatories of my office for years. Like almost a decade. Until 2011 the TV’s were limited to the reception area and my two operatories. If you wanted to watch TV, you had to be seeing me, not having your teeth cleaned. Last year, that changed.
More painful than having work done at Mead Family Dental
I got my teeth cleaned about a month ago while watching TV. I switched from “The Talk” to CNN. I pretty much watched presidential politics for the better part of an hour while Kelly cleaned my teeth. Although watching presidential politics is pretty painful, the cleaning was not. And the experience was pretty dang cool. I was distracted from what Kelly was doing in a really nice way. Except for having to watch Newt Gingrich.
In case you’re wondering, we have other channels besides CNN, Fox News or MSNBC. You can watch soaps, ESPN or Spongebob. Whatever you like. The point is to distract you from having your teeth worked on. Not that we plan on it being uncomfortable. In fact, we’re pretty proud of how comfortable treatment is at our office. But if you can watch your favorite TV show while someone lovingly crafts an exquisite, custom made dental restoration or carefully and painlessly cleans ever nook and cranny of your teeth and gums, why wouldn’t you?
Do you want to try this novel approach to dental care/television viewing? Call us at (989) 799-9133 or make an appointment online! We’d love to be your Saginaw dentist!
We saw a new patient recently. She had a dental emergency and her current dentist wasn’t able to get her in. She contacted us through the internet by clicking on the “Make an Appointment Online” button at the upper right of any page of our website. She indicated that she preferred to be contacted by text message. So I text messaged her telling her that we could make some room for her at the end of the day. Her reply?
“Oh my goodness! Are you serious! I’ll take the appointment!”
She remarked to Kathy (the most amazing and talented front office/office manager/dental insurance ninja/patient hand holder that any dentist office could have) that she couldn’t believe she was texting back and forth with the dentist.
If I had my way, I’d never make another phone call. I love email. It serves my needs perfectly. Text messaging also holds a warm place in my heart. Our office uses GoogleTalk throughout the day and I Facebook chat very often, too. Some folks have no time for communicating over the internet and much prefer a phone call. We understand.
We use this, too.
We want to make your dental experience fit seamlessly into your lifestyle. I realize that’s a tall order, but one way we accomplish this is by fitting the way you like to keep in touch. We’re happy to email, text message, call you on the phone or send you a letter. Whatever you like best is what we’ll do. Just let us know. If it helps you keep your teeth healthy, we’ll do it. One thing, though…I have to admit, my semaphore is very rusty and smoke signals are against fire code. Sorry about that.
While I have your attention and we’re talking about social media stuff…why not look over to the right and click on the button that says “Like us on Facebook.” This will take you over to our Facebook page where we share photos, cartoons and other cool stuff! Thanks, and stay in touch!
I’ve been gratified by the response to my posts. I love reading comments and seeing “likes” on Facebook. I’ve come to realize that it’s odd for a dental website to be in a blog format, but I really enjoy writing it.
Let me know if you have any “requests” for me to write about. If you’re looking for a dentist in Saginaw, we would love to have you as a patient! As always, you can feel free to call the office with questions at (989) 799-9133, request an appointment online or email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com. And thanks for reading!
I find myself walking around my office, rubbing my hands together in front of me. Just so you feel better, I have no plans to take over the world. I’m actually a kind and gentle person. Really.
It’s just that I always use a really good hand sanitizer between every patient. Every time. Which makes for a lot of hand rubbing.
I love blogs. I really like working on my office website/blog. But I’m limited. I know a lot about some stuff (mostly teeth), but very little about making a website look the way I wanted to. That’s where Matt Brett came in. He’s an amazing website developer, and he helped me make the site the way I always wanted it to be!
As you can probably tell, we’ve redesigned the website for the better. Much, much better, I think. So come on in, take a load off. Put your feet up and make yourself comfortable.
Please explore the site. Let me know what you think. As always, you can email me directly at alan@meadfamilydental.com. I answer my own emails. And, as always, if you’re looking for a dentist in Saginaw, MI…I’d like to help!
I have the opportunity to present at the Michigan Dental Association’s Annual Session. My program is entitled “Facebook and Twitter and Youtube, Oh My! Social Media for the Beginner.”
I should be back to my normal posting schedule next week. For now, feel free to take a look at what I’ll be talking about!
I hear this line at least once a week. Really. ”No offense, but I hate dentists.” How could I take offense at that?
My usual reply: “Perfect! I hate patients, too. Open wide.”
I know, I’m making light of the way a lot of people feel about the dentist office. Perhaps I shouldn’t, but I’ve found that approaching patients with a sense of humor is usually helpful.
So why would a patient “hate the dentist?” Some associate the dentist with pain. If you’ve ever had an abscessed tooth, who could blame you? Others may have had a bad experience in the dental office that has been hard to forget. Some people really don’t like the way that anesthetic makes them feel.
Finally, dental care is expensive. Anything that costs money that you would rather spend in some other way is expensive. Have you ever had someone trying to sell you a new roof or a dry basement try to explain to you how inexpensive their product is? Dentistry is kind of the same way. If you came into my office and said, “doc, I’ve got a bunch of money in my pocket that I don’t know what to do with so I thought I’d have a root canal” you’d be the first patient that ever said that to me.
Any of these concerns is 100% legitimate. So my job is to try to make you hate us less. I have a few suggestions that might make coming to the dentist a little easier:
Don’t wait until something is broken or something hurts. By the time it breaks or hurts it’s going to cost more to fix (if it can be fixed) and has more potential to hurt. Regular visits for checkups when you’re not having troubles make it a lot easier to catch small problems before they become big problems.
Dentistry has come a long way! The way it used to be and the way it is now is a LOT different. The needles are smaller, our numbing agents are better and our understanding of pain control is much improved! If you haven’t had work done for awhile I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. I can’t guarantee that there will be absolutely no discomfort but we’re able to keep pain down to an absolute minimum.
Tell us! If you had a previous bad dental experience that information is really important. If you tell us what happened to you before, we’ll make sure we don’t do it again. For instance, I’ve had a patient tell me that her biggest problem with dentistry in the past was a feeling of claustrophobia because she was leaned back too far. This is an easy problem to fix but we don’t know if you don’t tell us!
Mead’s rule. There is never a time when we’re working on you that we can’t stop. In my office, the patient is in charge. If you need me to stop, for any reason, I will. Just raise your hand or let me know in some way. Even if it’s just to rest your jaw or take a deep breath. There’s nothing so important during dental work that we can’t give you a break. Even if you aren’t in control of anything else in your life…you’re in control when you’re here!
The goal of this Saginaw dentist is to turn “haters” into “regulars.” We do it by treating you like we’d want to be treated. We’ll greet you with a smile. You can pick whatever TV channel you might want to watch. Maybe you’d prefer to surf on your laptop or iPad. We’ll explain what we’re going to do before we do it and we’ll tell you how much it’s going to cost before we start anything. You’re in charge and what you say goes. I don’t know if we can change “I hate dentists” into “I love visiting my dentist” but we’re going to try!
Questions or comments about this blog? Would you like to make an appointment? Call the office at (989) 799-9133 or email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com. I always answer my own email!
The March Madness brackets came out on Sunday. Shelly handed the remote to a patient and he asked, “do you have ESPN?”
Wait a second…this guy is at the dentist office! And there are TV’s? And he can watch what he wants?
Yup. We have ESPN. And a whole bunch of other channels, too.
Shelly’s pick: game show network…ideally Lingo or Chain Reaction
Doc’s pick: How it’s Made, Mythbusters or Spongebob Squarepants.
But it’s not about us. It’s about you. What do you want to watch? Let us know ahead of time and we’ll have the channel on for you.
Hey, if you’ve got to have some dental work done, you might as well watch what you want!
Should we set a channel for you? Email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com or call us for an appointment at (989) 799-9133. I would love to be your Saginaw dentist!
Although it's Tuesday morning as I type this, we here at Mead Family Dental drank the Kool-aid. The weather predictions for heavy snow from Tuesday evening into Wednesday evening are such that we decided to bail out early. We're not coming in today, Wednesday, February 2nd. By the way, Happy Groundhog's Day!
If you have a dental emergency I can be reached at home at (989) 488-7665. Stay warm and stay safe.
