Have you ever planned a dental appointment during your lunch break only to arrive and be kept waiting? Or received promotional mail from your dentist’s office and wondered if they even know you’re a patient and how much their marketing efforts raise their prices? Some dentists seem to emphasize quantity, focusing on bigger practices with more patients, but that can leave you feeling like you’re not that important to them.
One of the things that makes the dental practice of Anil Dwivedi, DMD, PC, different is that he intentionally keeps it small. “I maybe see 30 patients in a week, not in a day,” he said. As a sole proprietor in practice for 28 years, it is an approach that has worked for him. “We generally see one patient at a time, so we rarely run behind, and patients don’t have to wait.”
His practice on Chain Bridge Road in Vienna bears no signage, and he doesn’t do any marketing. Patients find him through word of mouth.
Dr. Dwivedi grew up in Northern Virginia and attended the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine. He also completed a medical residency in anesthesiology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Although there are dental practices in the Tysons’ area that offer sedation for anxious patients, Dr. Dwivedi’s anesthesiology training gives him a broader range of options to meet patients’ needs. He explained that dentists usually take a continuing education class over a weekend to be able to offer sedation. “They’re giving a patient a pill, like a Valium, and many times that works. Sometimes it doesn’t,” he said.
Dr. Dwivedi is able to offer different levels of sedation depending on a patient’s needs. That might be a calming pill, or it could be nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas; a conscious sedation with an IV, or general anesthesia where the patient is unconscious.
“For people who are allergic to local anesthetic, I can do a root canal, for example, by administering intravenous medication to ablate the pain,” said Dr. Dwivedi.
Although his training in anesthesiology sets him apart from most other dentists, Dr. Dwivedi’s practice isn’t just for people who have local anesthetic allergies or anxiety about seeing a dentist, nor is it just about specialty procedures. “We offer individualized, comprehensive care for the whole family,” he said. “I see patients for everything from routine cleanings and fillings to root canals, extractions, implants, veneers, full mouth reconstruction and more.” His in-office, advanced techniques also include analyzing patients’ airways to develop treatment for sleep apnea or snoring.
“I’m also one of the few dentists around who has special needs training,” said Dr. Dwivedi, who sees autistic and intellectually disabled patients for exams, x-rays and whatever treatments they need.
If you’re looking for a dentist who can take care of your oral health needs in one practice with individualized attention, then visit Dr. Dwivedi’s website at www.drdwivedi.com or call the office at 703-734-1080.
Analiese Kreutzer is a freelance writer. She can be reached at AnalieseKreutzer@gmail.com.
