How do I become a patient?

There are three ways to become a patient with us:

1. Your dentist, hygienist or family doctor can refer you directly.
2. You can refer yourself.  A referral from your family dentist is not required.
3. Some of our best patients come from our best patients!  We welcome and encourage referrals from our loyal patients who have visited us in the past.

Is parking available?

There is ample free parking directly in front of our office.  The office is completely barrier free (wheelchair accessible).

Is it going to hurt?

We get asked this question a lot.  So much so, that we performed a study to provide an evidence-based response to the question “Is this going to hurt?”.  Results of the study, which were published in the Dentistry Journal, showed a positive correlation between anticipated pain and actual pain.  The factors that influenced the amount of pain our patients felt after surgery were things like:

• anticipated pain (I think it’s going to hurt, therefore it is vs. I don’t think this will hurt so bad, therefore it isn’t)
• age (older individuals reported experiencing less pain)
• sedation during surgery (patients under sedation during their treatment reported less pain during recovery)
• the number of pain pills used during the recovery period (more pain pills, more pain, as expected).

To make your experience with us as comfortable as possible, we use a combination of topical and local anesthetics as well as intravenous sedation with one of our registered nurses, should you be interested in this avenue.

What’s with the canoes Dr. Fritz?

Most of my major life decisions were made on canoe trips.  Things like, the choice to go to dental school, to open my own practice, to grow my hair out… While on a canoe trip to Temagami in 2002, I was inspired to design the office you see now in Fonthill.  I figured that you could choose to decorate a dental office with pictures of diseased gums, or canoes.  I chose canoes!  I hope the theme resonates with you.  See how many you can spot on your next trip to our office.