he word “impact” means different things to everyone. For most, the last place they want to hear it is at the dentist in terms of an impacted molar.

Dr. Todd McCabe ’87 works to make his patients’ visits as comfortable and efficient as possible. He is the owner of The Meadows Dentistry, a general dentistry practice with two offices in Sarasota, FL. With most of his patients being members of the local retirement communities, his office focuses on basic dental care such as cleanings, extractions and fillings and restorations such as dentures, caps and crowns.

McCabe is convinced his undergraduate studies prepared him for this future. “When stacked up to the other students in my dental program, my Potsdam education prepared me well.”

Dr. McCabe’s practice aims to create “beautiful smiles to last a lifetime.” They focus on preventative care and smile makeovers. Each of these is done with the patient’s comfort in mind. And by comfort they mean televisions in every room, massaging chairs and also a variety of methods to minimize worry and anxiety in their more fearful patients.

Even though the average age of Dr. McCabe’s patients is 74, he stresses that the way to alleviate potential fears of the dentist is by starting young. By exposing children to visiting the dentist, “riding the chair” and having someone else’s hands in their mouth other than their own or their parents’ as early as possible will help to get the child more comfortable with the dental experience.

However, for those patients who already have a fear of visiting the dentist there are a variety of options to calm them. These can range from the traditional nitrous oxide to various levels of sedation medication. Dr. McCabe points out that if patients let their fear of the dental office keep them from going when needed, their problems will only get worse. As a result, when they do finally go in for a visit, the treatment could be more painful, thus validating their previous fear.

Dr. McCabe’s office goes one step further in decreasing common complaints of the dental office. Traditionally, being fit for a crown or cap requires at least two visits and the use of a temporary crown. That’s not the case with the new technology used by The Meadows.

A procedure called CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics) can have a restoration prepared for you in an hour, eliminating the need for multiple time-consuming appointments.

“You would think that as you get older you would have more free time on your hands and it’s not important. In fact the reality of it is, it’s reversed. They don’t want to spend the time they have in the dental office. They want to be golfing, playing tennis, walking or riding a bike,” he said.

More than being on the forefront of technology, Dr. McCabe holds true to his practice’s promise of putting the patient’s needs and comfort first and having the impact on people to overcome possibly a lifetime of fear and loathing the dentist.