Dr. Leighton Fain is a general family dentist with McNeely and Mallette Family Dental Group in Concord, NC. Dr. Fain has always wanted to utilize Animal Assisted Intervention during dental practice and was given the opportunity when she started working with ATKINS, the preceding Facility Dog at MMFDG. With the retirement of both ATKINS and her handler, Barb Kucera, Dr. Fain was ready to start the process of Facility Dog training with paws4people so that her office could continue providing patients with the life-changing assistance of a Facility Dog.
Dr. Fain could not be more excited to add EMMY to MMFDG. EMMY will work with patients during cleaning appointments, new patient exams, and restorative treatments to provide a more comfortable and stress-free environment. EMMY can cuddle with patients during their appointments and provide a positive focus point for patients to place any discomfort they may be feeling while in the dental chair. Animal-assisted intervention has proven to reduce anxiety by lowering blood pressure and heart rate, and we cannot wait for EMMY to help our patients have a positive experience during their dental appointment.