Connecting with Compassion: Cure Dental team builds relationships with patients and community

Healing smiles is the ultimate goal for Dr. William Shipley and Cure Dental, but this does not stop at cleaning teeth. Shipley says “dentistry is just a vehicle to heal smiles,” and his small team of six constantly works to expand their vision by caring for patients, creating an enjoyable dental experience and reaching out to the community.

In office, every aspect of the Cure Dental experience is curated with patients’ happiness in mind. The front lobby with comfortable dining room seating and colorful photographs of food helps provide a comfortable atmosphere and aims to diminish dental anxiety. Upon arrival, patients are immediately greeted by caring staff members and given “comfort menus,” where they can opt to use weighted blankets, watch Netflix or play with pop-it toys during their appointments.

The process of scheduling appointments is built with patients’ comfort in mind with an easy, online, real-time schedule that instantly displays the closest available appointment date. If the date is not optimal, the website allows patients to choose times during the week that work best for them and then displays multiple options to select from. For those who work on weekdays, Cure Dental opens their office two Saturdays a month.

“People work, and we understand that. We want [to provide] that access to care,” Shipley says. “We believe that everyone has the right to great dental care always.”

Cure Dental aspires to provide “radical access to great dental care,” and doing so also means finding ways to reach the underserved and provide affordable care options. To accomplish this, Cure Dental accepts Medicaid, a rarity among private practices, and provides the Cure+Dental Savers Plan for patients without dental insurance for $300 a year.

Providing quality dental care that is accessible, enjoyable and affordable is important to Shipley, but “connecting with compassion” is at the core of Cure Dental’s values. Connecting with compassion means Cure Dental staff members pay close attention to their patients and notice more than the health of their teeth.

An example of Cure Dental connecting to their patients with compassion occurred when one of the dental assistants noticed a young girl known for bringing a stuffed monkey with her to appointments was missing her toy. Upon asking, she discovered the patient had recently lost her beloved toy. By coincidence, the dental assistant owned the same toy, so Cure Dental took pictures with the stuffed monkey around the office before sending it to the girl along with the pictures.

A member of the Cure Dental team assists a patient with dental work. The team is passionate about reaching into the community to help heal smiles and has participated in events like the VintageNOW Fashion Show and Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk.Photo by Aaron Eisenhauer

Every month, the Cure Dental team meets to discuss their vision of healing smiles and how they can better connect with compassion in their practice and community. Some of the service opportunities pursued by the team include packing boxes with the SEMO Food Bank or donating power packs to Jackson R-2 School District’s Heroes for Hope Program. For every new patient exam, Cure Dental donates one power pack to the program, which provides food to children during weekends, extended breaks and after school. So far, Cure Dental has donated nearly 900 power packs during their first year of operation.

Another important cause to the Cure Dental team is the elimination of domestic violence. Over the past year of their operation, Shipley says they have cared for many women affected by domestic violence. During Cure Dental’s monthly meeting, the team decided to purchase a table at the VintageNOW Fashion Show to benefit the Safe House for Women and invited the women affected by domestic violence to attend the show alongside the Cure Dental women. Shipley says this is an example of Cure Dental healing patients’ smiles in-office and supporting the same patients out of the office.

“Just to know that there are people who care about you goes a long way,” Shipley says. “Teeth are important, but it’s the person that’s attached to them that’s even more important.”

The Cure Dental team understands patients are people first and life can be difficult, so they aspire to exhibit compassion to their patients through “healing their smiles and not simply cleaning them.” Cure Dental is aware some of their patients and their families experience the harsh challenges of suicide. The Cure Dental team attended the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in Cape Girardeau because Shipley says, “Healing smiles also means helping with mental health issues.”

“We can’t set aside the things that happen in people’s lives in order to clean their teeth,” Shipley says. “It comes with them.”

Cure Dental constantly improves their practice to further minimize dental anxiety, create a comfortable environment and show compassion for their patients both in and out of the dentist chair. Shipley says compassion is shown in the service provided, but also in the way Cure Dental seeks to continue their impact outside of the office, in the community.

Shipley says, “We just happen to do dentistry, but that’s just a small part of connecting and being compassionate.”

The Cure Dental office is located at 2143 Independence St. #101 in Cape Girardeau. During their first year of operation, the practice has donated nearly 900 power packs to Jackson R-2 School District's Heroes for Hope program.Photo by Aaron Eisenhauer

Contact Cure Dental at (573) 206-9531.