Dr. Vladimir Korovin: "Do I treat teeth or fight fear? Both"

An interview for Oleg Gurari’s podcast. On the fear of the dentist and where it comes from, on choosing the profession at the last moment, and on where medicine ends and the technician’s craft begins.

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The interview is in Russian

The conversation is recorded in Russian. Below is a short summary of what it covers.

Vladimir Korovin opens by admitting that almost everyone is afraid of the dentist — himself included, precisely because he knows what is about to happen.

He explains the fear historically: before anaesthetics, dental treatment was genuinely painful, and the fear has been passed down through generations to people who never experienced that kind of treatment themselves.

He never starts treatment at the first appointment. Fifteen to twenty minutes of examination and conversation are enough to understand what the person expects and how afraid they are.

He talks about patients who come after other dentists, about the chain between patient, dentist and dental technician, and about two recent full rehabilitations where most teeth were saved although the patients had been advised to extract them.

Asked whether he is more of a dentist or a businessman, he answers without hesitation: a dentist. And he does not plan to leave Ashkelon.

I feel like a resident of Ashkelon. I do not want to leave and I am not planning to.