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The Blende Dental Group: Emergency Dentists, San Francisco

March 15th, 2011

Sooner or later, everyone needs to see a dentist. Ideally, patients will get cleanings and exams twice a year and will see a dentist on a regular basis. But many people only go to a dentist when they have a toothache or other dental problem. Some people even put off seeing a dentist until there’s an emergency.

When there’s a dental emergency, many people aren’t sure who to call or where to go. Should you dial 911? Head to an emergency room? Call your regular dentist? What if you need a specialist, such as periodontist or endodontist?

When choosing a dentist, few people consider the possibility of ever having to see a dentist who is available on-call for emergencies.

The Blende Dental Group has a team of dentists, specialists, and staff members who are fully committed to patients’ dental health. The Blende team even includes emergency dentists in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.

For over 20 years, the Blende Dental Group has been committed to serving patients and delivering excellence in dentistry. They work closely with patients who are underserved by traditional and conventional dentistry, including patients with special needs, anxiety and mental health challenges, disabilities, and patients who are aging. Making themselves available as emergency dentists in San Francisco is just one of many ways this team goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Emergency Dentists, San Francisco

The Blende Dental Group’s team includes emergency dentists in San Francisco who can treat patients on short notice. The team is available for emergency dental treatments in their office, in a hospital, and in some cases, at patients’ own locations.

Dental emergencies happen. Teeth get chipped or knocked out in accidents. Crowns and caps break. Decay and abscesses that have gone untreated can take a serious turn and become intolerably painful. Sometimes, patients can’t wait several days or weeks to see their regular dentist.

Unfortunately, many patients aren’t prepared for dental emergencies. But the Blende Dental Group is always prepared to handle a wide range of dental emergencies in San Francisco and beyond. Patients of the Blende Dental Group not only receive top-of-the-line dental care from a highly skilled team of professionals; they also receive excellent personal service, including immediate assistance when there is a dental emergency.

People who don’t have a regular dentist or whose regular dentist is not available in case of emergency are always welcome to contact the Blende Dental Group when they are facing a dental emergency. Their emergency services are not just for their own patients.

The Blende Dental Group

The Blende Dental Group’s team includes general dentists and specialists as well as emergency dentists. San Francisco is their primary location, but they treat patients throughout the Bay Area. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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San Francisco Dentists Taking Care of Patients

March 8th, 2011

Anybody who’s been to a dentist knows the routine.

First, you call to schedule an appointment. You’re lucky if they can squeeze you in during a time that’s convenient for you. Once you arrive, you sit in the waiting room for what seems like an eternity until you’re escorted to the dentist’s chair where you wait some more before the dentist comes in and starts poking and prodding around your mouth.

You’re a customer. And in most offices, that’s exactly how you’re treated.

The Blende Dental Group is different. From the time you call to make an appointment until you walk out the door after your appointment, you’re treated like a person, not as a customer.

The Blende Dental Group

The Blende Dental Group is a team of San Francisco dentists focused on providing top-notch care to all patients. The group is comprised of dentists, specialists, and office staff who know how to treat their patients with dignity, respect, and compassion.

They are dedicated to taking care of patients who often slip under the radar, patients with special needs, disabilities, and people who are struggling with dental anxiety.

In short, the Blende Dental Group provides specialized dental services for special people.

Special Dentists for Special Patients

Adults and children with special needs have been underserved in the field of dentistry. Most offices aren’t equipped to handle patients with special needs and staff members are not trained to work with special needs patients, but the Blende Dental Group has changed that with their outstanding efforts in special needs dentistry. From their office set-up to their warm and patient personalities, the Blende Dental has created a safe and welcoming environment.

In recent decades, there has been growing number of people who avoid the dentist due to negative past experiences. These people are struggling with dental anxiety, and as a result, often don’t receive the dental care they need. By combining sedation dentistry with a keen understanding of dental anxiety, the Blende Dental Group has made dental visits a calm and even relaxing experience for patients who struggle with anxiety.

Many other traditionally underserved patients have benefitted from the Blende Dental Group’s outreach. This amazing team of San Francisco dentists even makes house calls, bringing dental care to patients who are homebound or bedridden.

San Francisco Dentists

The city by the bay is home to over 800,000 people. Many San Francisco residents have special needs and the Blende Dental Group meets those needs with warmth and professionalism.

The Blende Dental Group’s team of San Francisco dentists is dedicated to serving patients throughout the bay area and are especially committed to making dental care accessible for patients who have found traditional dentistry and conventional dentist offices inadequate for meeting their special needs.

The Blende Dental Group has been serving patients in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area for over 20 years. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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Finding an Emergency Dentist in San Francisco

March 1st, 2011

Emergencies happen. We all know that when there’s a medical emergency, we can call 911 or drive to a nearby hospital with an emergency room. But those are medical emergencies.

What about dental emergencies?

If you’re facing a dental emergency, your first step should be to call your dentist. Many dentists will make themselves available to their patients when there is a serious emergency. Your dentist’s call service may also refer to you another emergency dentist in San Francisco.

If you don’t have a regular dentist, then what should you do? And what can you do if your dentist is not available? There’s a good chance your dentist keeps regular business hours, but emergencies can happen anytime, including nights and weekends. What if your dentist is dealing with another emergency, is out of town, or simply cannot squeeze you into the schedule?

Update Your Emergency Contact List

The best way to deal with any emergency is to be prepared. Keeping a list of emergency contacts is the first step in emergency preparedness. That list should include the contact information for your dentist and any dental specialists that you see regularly as well as an emergency dentist.

Contacting an Emergency Dentist in San Francisco

Unfortunately, not everyone is prepared. Many people have good intentions and plan on putting together an emergency contact list but never get around to it.

Here are a few things you can do if you need to get in touch with an emergency dentist in San Francisco right away:

First, assess the emergency to determine whether it’s critical. A broken or chipped tooth, cracked crown, or moderate toothache is a noncritical dental emergency and you can likely address the problem with your own dentist. Severe pain or profuse bleeding can be critical, so you should proceed with the emergency steps below.
If your dental emergency is serious or if you feel your life is at risk, you should call 911 and seek care at an emergency hospital immediately. Many emergency medical facilities have dental staff in-house or on-call, and if not, they may be able to refer you to an emergency dentist in San Francisco.
For less serious dental emergencies, call information or check the yellow pages or another local business directory. These directories are likely to have listings for dentists that specifically provide emergency services.
Another good resource is the web. If your emergency isn’t dire, you can probably take a minute or two to search online for a dentist. Be sure to check dentists’ websites to see if they offer emergency services.

Emergencies are unfortunate, but they do happen and sometimes cannot be avoided. Prepare yourself for emergencies by putting together an emergency contact list, and be sure that list includes your own dentist as well as a dentist for emergencies.

The Blende Dental Group – Emergency Dentist, San Francisco

The Blende Dental Group’s team includes an emergency dentist in San Francisco. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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San Francisco Dentist Puts Patients First

February 22nd, 2011

The Blende Dental Group’s San Francisco dentist office is not your run-of-the-mill dental practice. From scheduling to treatment options and payment plans, the Blende Dental Group works closely with their patients to ensure a relaxed, stress-free experience. But more importantly, the Blende Dental Group has reached out to patients with special needs, patients who have found it difficult to access professional dental care.

Millions of patients find it almost impossible to see a dentist. They are inhibited by anxiety. Some are coping with unique circumstances. Others have debilitating illnesses, physical limitations, or disabilities. But these factors shouldn’t be a barrier to dental health.

For years, the Blende Dental Group has focused on treating patients with special needs, helping patients who are coping with dental anxiety, and even making house calls for those patients who are homebound.

Dr. Blende and his team are dedicated to making dental health accessible to people who otherwise find it challenging or even impossible to obtain adequate dental health care.

Meet Dr. Blende, San Francisco Dentist

Dr. Blende has more than 20 years of experience in dentistry. He started the Blende Dental Group to fulfill his vision in building a practice that reached out to patients beyond the mainstream — patients who had dental anxiety, special needs, or complex medical conditions, patients with unique challenges. Dr. Blende strove to establish a practice that would provide access to dental health care for these patients.

Dr. Blende pursued his vision and worked to bring dental health services to people who previously could not obtain proper care. Since then, Dr. Blende and the rest of the team at the Blende Dental Group have helped patients with mild to severe dental anxiety, patients with special needs, and patients who are aging or homebound. Patients who have found that conventional dental offices may not be able to accommodate their particular needs can be successfully treated by the Blende Dental Group.

By combining advanced equipment and techniques with a friendly and caring atmosphere and flexible services, the Blende Dental Group has made dental health more accessible to patients with a wide range of special needs. The staff includes dental professionals who are trained and experienced in working with special needs patients. The office is set up and equipped to accommodate patients with disabilities. And treatment options, including a number of sedation dentistry treatments, ensure that patients have the best possible experience with their dental procedures.

Dr. Blende is a San Francisco dentist, but he and his team have helped patients all around the world. Now a renowned leader in modern dentistry, Dr. Blende has even expanded his practice to better serve patients in the Bay Area with his house call service. Bay Area House Call Dentists are a team of dental professionals who visit patients where they live to provide professional dental care.

San Francisco Dentist Office

Everyone in the Blende Dental Group’s San Francisco dentist office is attentive and considerate to patients’ needs. High quality dentistry is their top priority but serving patients with special needs and providing outstanding service, which includes an attentive and compassionate chairside manner, are just as important. Here is a team of dental professionals that genuinely cares about their patients’ experiences and their overall well-being.

The Blende Dental Group

The Blende Dental Group has been helping patients with special needs for over 20 years. To learn more or to schedule an appointment at their San Francisco dentist office, call 1-800-575-3375.

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San Francisco Emergency Dentist Makes House Calls

February 8th, 2011

In a medical emergency, most people know exactly who to call and where to go. They dial 9-1-1 or head straight to the nearest hospital emergency room. But when there’s a dental emergency, many people aren’t sure what to do.

Should they call their family dentist? Contact a hospital? What if the person who needs care is bedridden, housebound, or has special needs that prevent quick transport?

In San Francisco, emergency dentist services are in high demand. San Francisco is a small but heavily populated city. Emergencies happen all the time. When the emergency is dental-related, the Blende Dental Group is on call and ready to treat patients either at their locations or at our office.

Emergencies Happen

When patients encounter a dental emergency during normal business hours (usually Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), they are in luck. Most dentists will fit emergency appointments into a regular day’s schedule. So, all you have to do is call your dentist, explain the emergency, and get to the office.

But emergencies don’t adhere to normal business hours. They can occur in the early hours, late at night, and during weekends. During these hours, many dental offices are closed and impossible to contact.

Additionally, many dentist offices aren’t equipped for special needs patients and few dentists make house calls for those patients who cannot travel.

San Francisco Emergency Dentist: Answering the Call

The Blende Dental Group is renowned for treating patients with special needs, including patients who are coping with dental anxiety and those who are housebound.

Along with our sister organization, Bay Area House Call Dentists, our San Francisco emergency dentist team answers the call for dental emergencies in the Bay Area.

We are available for emergency appointments in our offices, in hospitals, and when necessary, at our patients’ location.

Update Your Emergency Contact List

We all know that keeping important emergency numbers on hand is a smart way to stay safe. It’s essential that every emergency list include a contact for dental emergencies.

Additionally, make sure your emergency dentist provides the level of care needed. In the case of patients with special needs, make sure the emergency dentist is qualified and experienced in the special needs field.

San Francisco Emergency Dentist: The Blende Dental Group

To learn more about the San Francisco emergency dentist team at the Blende Dental Group or to immediately get in touch with an emergency dentist, please call 1.800.575.3375.

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Sedation Dentistry for Anxiety-Free Dental Treatments

February 1st, 2011

Dental anxiety affects millions of Americans. Every day, people avoid seeing a dentist. They procrastinate when they know they need to make an appointment. They cancel the appointments they have. Many of these people aren’t aware that they are struggling with dental anxiety and that dental anxiety can be alleviated with sedation dentistry.

People with dental anxiety know that they are not fond of having dental work done. They may tell stories about negative experiences they’ve had in the past. Often, these experiences include procedures that resulted in severe pain. Their anxiety is understandable.

Yet at the same time, professional dentist visits are essential to maintaining healthy teeth and gums.

It’s a serious conflict. You need to see the dentist because you’re in pain or because you know you need work done. Yet your fear prevents you from making the call.

The bad news is that without seeing a dentist, your overall physical health is comprised. The good news is that sedation dentistry is available and can render dentist visits anxiety-free.

What is Sedation Dentistry?

In recent years, dentists have begun to understand the anxiety that many patients experience. This anxiety has created a barrier to oral health for millions of people. In an effort to help patients overcome their fears so that they can receive proper dental care, dentists have embraced sedation dentistry as a means to help patients receive the treatments they need.

Using sedatives, dentists can effectively treat patients with mild to severe dental anxiety. There are a number of options available, and a sedation dentist can help patients choose the best sedative based on individual needs and concerns.

In some cases, a mild sedative, such as nitrous oxide, will remove the edge that many people feel when they sit down in the dentist’s chair. In other cases, severe anxiety can be completely alleviated through a pill that promotes relaxation. The most serious cases may require unconscious sedation, in which the patient sleeps through the entire procedure.

Understanding Patients and Choosing Sedation Methods

The most important component of sedation dentistry is the patient. It is essential that prior to treatment, the patient consult with the dentist to determine the best sedation option.

There are four basic types of sedation dentistry: general anesthesia, IV sedation, oral conscious sedation, and nitrous oxide. Based on a patient’s level of anxiety, state of health, and medical history, the dentist and patient can work together to choose the best sedation option.

General Anesthesia

General anesthesia renders a patient unconscious, completely asleep throughout the treatment. It takes effect within one minute. While under general anesthesia, patients feel no pain and cannot smell or taste anything, nor will they have any recollection of the procedure. General anesthesia is ideal for patients with severe anxiety, special needs, and who are undergoing extensive work in a single procedure.

IV Sedation

IV sedation is similar to general anesthesia. It produces a lowered level of consciousness. Under IV sedation, patients are asleep within one minute, feel no pain, and cannot hear, smell, or taste anything. Patients will have no memory of the procedure and recovery is fast and easy.

Oral Conscious Sedation (Pills)

When using oral conscious sedation, patients take a pill an hour before the treatment appointment. The pill promotes relaxation, making it ideal for patients who need to alleviate anxiety prior to coming into the dental office.

Patients under oral conscious sedation will remain awake and able to interact with the dentist. Effects last up to four hours and require that the patient designate a ride home after the appointment.

The most common pills used in oral conscious sedation dentistry are Ativan and Valium, both of which have a low incidence of side effects. Oral conscious sedation is ideal for patients with dental anxiety who experience nervousness before and during dentist visits.

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous oxide is a gas that patients breathe via an inhaler that is placed over the nose. Often referred to as “laughing gas,” nitrous oxide reduces anxiety and promotes relaxation. It has an extremely short recovery time, allowing patients to drive themselves home. It is an ideal sedation dentistry option for patients with mild anxiety undergoing brief and simple treatments.

The Blende Dental Group

Sedation dentistry makes oral health possible for millions of patients who otherwise would not obtain professional dental care due to anxiety.

The Blende Dental Group offers a full scope of sedation dentistry options for patients struggling with dental anxiety. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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Sedation Dentist Dedicated to Making Oral Health More Accessible

January 25th, 2011

One of the biggest obstacles to oral health is anxiety. Many patients postpone dentist appointments because they fear the treatment will be painful. Usually, these anxieties are based on past experiences in which patients endured painful procedures.

Often, dental anxiety is referred to as “dental phobia,” but the word phobia doesn’t accurately describe patients who are fearful of seeing a dentist. Phobia specifically implies that a fear is exaggerated or illogical. Patients coping with dental anxiety experience a rational fear that is completely logical because that fear is based on actual past experiences.

The widespread phenomenon of dental anxiety in the past few decades has prevented millions of patients from obtaining and maintaining proper dental health. These patients have been coping with a wide range of anxieties, from mild nervousness to extreme fear.

Making Dentistry Comfortable and Accessible

Dental professionals and pharmaceutical developers have been working together to find solutions that will help patients overcome their anxieties, making dental health accessible for all, even for the most anxious patients.

A sedation dentist has the skills and resources to treat patients who are dealing with anxieties surrounding dentist visits. By incorporating sedatives into the treatment plan, a sedation dentist offers solutions for patients who are struggling with anxiety. The result? Healthy teeth and gums for even the most fearful of patients.

Today, there are a number of options for sedatives that allow patients to attend dentist appointments without experiencing any anxiety whatsoever.

Conscious vs. Unconscious Sedation

A sedation dentist can ease patients’ anxiety levels, fears, and discomfort by administering or prescribing sedatives. Sedation options range from calming medications that promote relaxation to strong sedatives under which patients are completely unconscious.

Conscious sedation incorporates the use of either nitrous oxide or pills to help patients relax through a dental treatment. Nitrous oxide is administered in the office at the beginning of the treatment session. Oral conscious sedation methods include pills that patients can take an hour prior to their appointments to help them overcome anxiety or pills that are administered at the beginning of a treatment session so patients are relaxed for its duration.

Unconscious sedation uses local or general anesthesia so patients are fully asleep through the entire visit. IV sedation may also be used in this capacity, especially for patients who will undergo lengthy treatment sessions.

Sedation Dentist

The most important quality that any sedation dentist can have is compassion for patients who are struggling with dental anxieties. In this sense, the dentist’s treatments go beyond treating the teeth and gums. The dentist’s chairside manner helps patients feel at ease in the chair.

An experienced and qualified sedation dentist will meet with patients before performing any type of procedure to determine the patient’s level of anxiety and to discuss sedation options. This ensures that patient and dentist work together to find the best possible solution for making dental health accessible.

Sedation dentistry makes healthy teeth and gums a reality for people who previously could not bring themselves to make a dentist appointment, let alone sit in a dentist’s chair.

The Blende Dental Group

The Blende Dental Group includes renowned sedation dentists trained and experienced in providing advanced techniques and medicine in dentistry to alleviate pain and anxiety. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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How Modern Medicine Makes Pain Free Dentist Visits Possible

January 18th, 2011

In recent years, stress and anxiety have become barriers to good dental health for millions of patients who have had negative or painful experiences in the dentist’s chair. As a result, these patients avoid making appointments and fail to keep the appointments they’ve made.

In some cases, patients are willing to endure toothaches, sore gums, and discomfort rather than see a dentist to fix the problem. Their greatest fear is that the treatment will be more painful than the ailment.

But postponing treatment is detrimental to both dental and overall physical health. Delays only give decay and disease more time to spread. Timely treatments are the best solution for avoiding pain and promoting optimum dental health. Luckily, recent advances have made pain free dentist visits possible.

Pain Free Dentist Visits

There is never a guarantee that a dental visit will be one hundred percent painless. Yet in recent years, advances in both medicine and dentistry techniques have made pain free dentist visits a reality for many patients.

Dentists have become increasingly informed about dental anxiety, which is the leading cause for patients avoiding dental appointments. A greater understanding of patients’ concerns has encouraged dental professionals to develop new methods for treating patients who experience fear or whose treatments may result in discomfort. In the field of pharmaceuticals, medications have advanced in alleviating anxiety as well as pain.

These advances in dentistry have made dentist visits less stressful and more comfortable for patients all over the world.

Medicine and Dentistry Techniques

The most important technique that any dentist can practice is a good chairside manner. Listening carefully to a patient’s concerns is essential for building trust and encouraging a stress-free visit.

However, techniques applied during treatments and procedures are just as essential. Care, caution, and consideration in how treatments are carried out can make a world of difference for the patient who is sitting in the chair.

One such technique involves using a topical anesthetic combined with vibrating the patient’s cheek and quick administration of Novocaine shots, which numb the treatment area. When dentists use this approach, the patient may not feel the shot at all.

In addition, a host of sedatives and pain medications have been introduced to help patients get past their anxieties surrounding dentist visits and to render treatment as painless as possible. These sedatives include both conscious sedation, during which the patient is awake but relaxed and unconscious sedation, in which the patient sleeps throughout the treatment session.

Getting Healthy

There is hope for people who are coping with dental anxiety and facing complicated dental procedures. Thanks to advances in dentistry techniques and medication, pain free dentist visits are now a real possibility for these patients.

The Blende Dental Group

The Blende Dental Group has been using sedatives, pain medications, and advanced techniques in dentistry to alleviate anxiety and pain for over 20 years. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, call 1-800-575-3375.

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Our San Francisco House Call Dentists are Recognized for their Dedication to patients with severe phobias, dementia, Autism, and the elderly

January 14th, 2011

The Nob Hill Gazette has just published their January 2011 issue and Bay Area House Call Dentists, a service of the Blende Dental Group are featured. Below is an excerpt of this article…

While most of emerging technology finds us eschewing the ways of olden days, one Bay Area dentist group is using it to return to an age-old practice: house calls. Several years ago, Dr. David Blende, founder of the Blende Dental Group, saw the need to provide such a service. Already well known for working with patients with special needs, Blende formed Bay Area House Call Dentists (BAHCD) in July 2009 to further this part of this practice. To provide such service, portable dental equipment is utilized to turn a home into a temporary dentist office. To date, BAHCD is one of the few groups to provide such a service in the area.

While this sounds like a luxury practice, it is actually, as indicated, aimed at helping the least-served populations—those for whom getting to the office is impossible or very difficult. This includes people with severe phobias, dementia, obesity, or Autism, and the elderly. As well as private home visits, BAHCD also regularly serves senior facilities. This is particularly important as lack of dental health can contribute to heart attacks, strokes, and pneumonia.

Click here to read the full article.

To read this and other press on the San Francisco Bay Area House Call Web Site, please visit http://www.bahcd.com.

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Thank you One World Children’s Fund

December 28th, 2010

One World Children’s Fund – We are happy to support your efforts and thank you for the kind plaque and card.

In case our readers cannot read the plaque in this photograph, it says…

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One World Children’s Fund

2010 Stepping up for Kids

The Blende Dental Group

The team of One World Children’s Fund thank you for our sponsorship of our annual fundraising luncheon. You support means more children will have a chance at a better future.

Signed November 2010 by the Board and Staff at OWCF.

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In case you haven’t heard of One World, they are a public charity and are located in San Francsico. Their website is: http://www.oneworldchildrensfund.org/

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