b-Calm Makes California Debut
An Answer to the Fear: New System set to Reinvent Trip to the Dentist
Chico dental anxiety coach praises system making Calif. debut in Redding
CHICO, California – Thirty million to 50 million Americans are so fearful of the dentist they will avoid treatment, only seeking help when the pain becomes debilitating. Sadly, when they do arrive at the dentist office, these patients often find little available to help calm their fears. But a local doctor who is nationally recognized for his work with patients who suffer from severe dental anxiety says a device making its California debut in Redding will change all that.
Dr. Rich Varlinsky, a dental anxiety coach and researcher, has been studying dental anxiety for 10 years. He notes that dentistry has made tremendous advances in tools and techniques during the past 50 years, painlessly restoring and improving teeth that were once routinely removed.
“However, the problem of dental anxiety remains largely unaddressed. What we’ve found is a tremendous need for coping strategies that can put patients with serious dental fear at ease,” Dr. Varlinsky said. “Unfortunately, aside from anti-anxiety medications or oral and IV sedation, dentist have very little to offer as solutions for anxious or phobic patients. Also, many people cannot or choose not to use sedation or other medications. They would welcome a non-medication alternative but usually there is not anything that the dentist can offer. It is truly an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed.”
Varlinsky said it is only in the past three years that new technology has come to market that stands to make a difference. Dr. Ken Budke, a practicing dentist himself for over 30 years, knows all too well the complaints and fears of patients.
“I can give someone a local anesthetic for the pain, but I had nothing available for their fear. My staff and I would go out of our way to be friendly and caring with our patients but that was often not enough,” recalled Budke, who lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa. “I found the fear was often related to the sound of the dental drill.”
With that knowledge, Dr. Budke started b-Calm, LLC. Working with acoustics researchers, Budke developed the b-Calm AudioSedation system – a simple audio player built especially for the dental office. The system contains a unique blend of nature sounds and noise masking signals which Budke uses to significantly calm his patients by giving them noise relief. “When you block even a portion of the disturbing sounds in a dental office, you give a fearful patient a real mental escape from what is usually a frightening experience,” he said.
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Now b-Calm is making its California debut. Dr. John Sutherland in Redding is the first California dentist in the state to implement b-Calm into a dental practice. In another ground-breaking step, Sutherland is teaming with Varlinsky to study the system’s effectiveness. So far, the results have been impressive.
“I use b-Calm on my patients with an aversion to the high-frequency whine of my high-speed hand piece. b-Calm blocks much of the sound my patients associate with their fears,” Sutherland said. “By blocking and masking that sound they can relax more and reduce the anxiety associated with dental treatment. I am committed to using the b-Calm system and hope more dentists will explore it because it’s extremely easy to use and it works.”
Varlinsky added, “I believe that the b-Calm system represents the first significant advance in dental anxiety treatment we have seen in the past 75 years. It is a non-invasive system that can be easily implemented in any dental setting. I recommend this device to the dental offices I work with. This system represents a beacon of hope for those trapped by dental anxiety and fear.”
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