Like other dentists, Harvey Passes said, he confronts fear every day.
“Anxiety prevents people from moving on in life because of their fear. Everybody’s afraid,” Passes said. “People don’t wake up in the morning and say ‘let’s see, I’ll go to Carvel or I’ll go to the dentist?’”
Passes, a Manhasset resident whose dental practice Passes Dental Care is at 415 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck, said he has dedicated his 41-year career in dentistry to helping patients overcome their fear of the dentist.
His success in helping patients overcome their dental fears, he said, inspired his effort to publish the recently released “Profiles in Dental Courage.”
“As time has gone by, I have realized that we do so much, and I said wouldn’t it be great if I could put all of this together in a book,” Passes said. “And have people read this book so they can understand how they can be helped.”
Inspired by the popular John F. Kennedy book “Profiles in Courage,” Passes’ book uses short vignettes of patient successes mixed with his career experiences for readers to fight their dental fears.
“The book is part memoir and part informational. You can’t give the information without backing it up with some kind of credential, some kind of testimony, some kind of credibility,” Passes said. “And that’s what the book does by my explaining my background in anesthesia.”
The book highlights significant moments in Passes’ life like his rejection of a performing contract offer from Columbia Records, his meeting with Pope John Paul II, his television career with his own Cablevision program, and the creation of the Single Tooth Anesthesia device, which allows dentists to numb only the tooth being operated on rather than a patient’s whole mouth.
It also includes tips and explanations of how his dental processes work.
While the book can be purchased on Amazon for $24.95, Passes said, he is giving away the book for free to anybody who contacts his office.
“This is the culmination of 41 years of dentistry, and it makes me feel good,” he said. “It makes me feel good to know that I’ve been here and I’ve done something. That I’ve passed through and effected people in a positive way.”
While attending the College of Dentistry at New York University, Passes said, he worked in an oral surgeon’s office where he said he discovered that he “really enjoyed” dentistry.
After graduating from NYU, he completed two year-long residencies at Jamaica Hospital in general dentistry and general anesthesia.
It was there, Passes said, that he discovered patients would get work done on their teeth, and then not return for years because they were too afraid to come back.
“This is not the way I wanted to live my life as a dentist,” he said. “Because I truly felt like I wasn’t doing anybody any good if I just fixed their teeth and then they come back and it’s all broken down again because of their fear.”
Passes said he and his colleagues created the Dental Anxiety Control Program at Jamaica Hospital in 1981, which helped people rid their fear of the dentist through behavioral approaches.
The objective of the program, he said, was to find what causes a patient’s fear and to give the patient control during their visit, something Passes uses the acronym B.L.T. = R to explain.
“The patient has to believe you, they have to like you, and they have to trust you in order for them to respect you,” he said.
“The one thing I look for in every single patient is their story. Everybody’s got a story to tell. You’ve got to have a patient open up to you,” Passes added. “They have to feel, in a sincere fashion, that you are genuinely interested in them, their story, why they are fearful, what their issues are and to be respectful of it.”
Passes, who works with his wife Marji and has two sons, aged 16 and 13, says that at 67 he should be retired, but still feels like he has a lot to offer dental patients.
“That’s why I love being a dentist. I get the chance to be with someone to talk with them and to make them feel good,” he said. “And it’s great.”
