West Dentistry Keeps Its Focus on Patient-Centered Care

20 Years of Trust

During a time when the landscape of healthcare and dentistry may be changing, it’s business as usual at West Dentistry.

What does that mean? For the patients of West Dentistry, owned by Dr. Jacqueline West, it means they can continue to expect the same level of care, focus, and attention they’ve come to expect from the Riverside practice.

It is a point of pride for West that her dental practice has remained “a true private practice,” something she believes is becoming less and less common in the field of dentistry.

“We’re not going to do telehealth – you know, all these things that are just taking the entire care aspect out of dentistry,” West said. “So I’m glad that we have not sold. We’re not stock-owned, we are not hedge fund-owned, it’s just me.”

West Dentistry is comprised of a small, dedicated team of dental professionals, as devoted to their practice as they are to their patients. In fact, Lisa, West Dentistry’s office manager, celebrated her 19th anniversary this year. Likewise, West herself makes sure her patients have access to emergency dental care outside of business hours by ensuring they have her direct cell phone number.

The impact of that immediate, direct connection to a dentist is evident in a story she recounted of a child who needed two teeth reimplanted following a Friday evening playground accident that dislodged them. West and her office manager marshaled their resources after receiving a frantic phone call from the child’s mother searching for the two missing teeth in the grass. West was able to implant and splint the two teeth.

“That’s a true dental emergency,” West said. “You only have two hours to do that, and to this day, those two teeth are in…If that had happened and that child was not a patient here, they would have ended up at the emergency room, and those two teeth would not have gone in his mouth.”

In addition to offering general dental care, West Dentistry provides cosmetic dentistry, including what she calls “smile makeovers,” which can have transformational impacts on people’s lives.

“[Smiles] impact people’s personalities, their ability to be hired, how they feel dating, in a marriage,” West said. “It’s a pretty intense thing.”

Prospective patients considering a smile makeover first meet with West for a consult appointment during which West gathers information about their end goal. Her 20-plus years of experience transforming smiles allows West, in many cases, to provide before-and-after photos of similar cases to give that patient an idea of what the process and result could look like for them.

“Then it’s relatable [for the patient]: ‘I’m coming here for this one thing and she’s done this on five people, 10, 15 people,’” West said.

Patients are not required to retain West Dentistry as their general dental practice to receive cosmetic dental care, West added.

“A lot of times, because they have a good experience and they love our office, some of them will switch,” West said. “…and some patients end up going back to their general dentist, which is great. If you love them and you love where you’re going and you like your hygienist, stay there.”

West Dentistry is located in a converted, historic Riverside duplex, and West has maintained the homey feel for her patients, which can help reduce anxieties some may feel. West also takes great pains to alleviate other anxieties for her patients, from providing noise-cancelling headphones to installing massagers on all the dental chairs to using strong topical anesthesia so patients don’t feel injections.

“With anxieties, it’s a question I have with every new patient,” West said. 

The times may be changing, but at West Dentistry, the patient has and will always be the top priority.