“Once you get a person through their initial treatment, they can start feeling better about themselves, and think ‘I’m getting myself back to health,’ ” said Dr. Travis, who opened Bullis Pond Dental in 2018.

“Everybody comes in with a totally different life circumstance,” agreed his partner, Dr. George Metropulos, who joined Bullis Pond Dental in 2020. “That’s going to help us direct them to what’s best for their health and smile, whether it’s routine cleaning, restorative service, or full cosmetic transformation.”

Sometimes, those life circumstances include anxiety about dental treatment, whether as a result of bad experiences during childhood or hesitancy after going for years without dental care.

For patients like this, Dr. Metropulos is excited that he will soon be able to offer a new option: conscious sedation dentistry. With the use of specifically calibrated medications, patients under this kind of sedation are relaxed and comfortable but still conscious, unlike general anesthesia.

“Sedation Dentistry offers the unique ability to provide a much more comfortable dental experience for the patient,” Dr. Metropulos said. “This will also allow patients to receive more treatment in a single visit.”

Conscious sedation dentistry is among the cutting-edge technologies used at Bullis Pond Dental. These also include the use of digital scans of patients’ mouths as well as same-day creation of dental crowns. Technologies like these can make dental procedures quicker and easier than ever.

Ultimately, however, successful dentistry is about more than technology: It’s also about building connections.

“It’s all about the people and the relationships,” said Dr. Travis, who has treated three generations of some patients’ families.

Alongside these relationships are the improvements seen in patients’ lives, not only in terms of oral health but also in terms of their well-being, self-confidence, and desire to socialize after their smiles have improved, Dr. Travis said.

“From start to finish, we want it to be a comfortable experience for them,” Dr. Metropulos added.

“Every team member at Bullis Pond Dental plays an important role in the overall patient experience and satisfaction. Any success that the office has is because of their hard work and dedication to our patients,” Dr Travis said.