The Tooth and Face Specialists
Dr. med. dent.StefanieSchönmuth
Aesthetic dentistry · Endodontics · Dentosophy
On tears in the dentist's chair, the art of breathing, and teeth that are allowed to stay.
Appointment with Dr. Schönmuth- Focus
- Root canals, aesthetics, dentosophy
- Speaks
- German, English, Dutch
- At F80
- since 2024,
previously Amsterdam - Appointment
- Book online
About
Anyone who becomes a patient of Stefanie Schönmuth does not get to know her across a dentist's chair, but on a sofa in the Welcome Lounge. There she asks every new patient the same first question. Why this one of all questions is explained by her own story.
The story
IThe question
Most people expect a first dental appointment to mean a treatment room, harsh light, a tray of instruments. At F80 the first appointment begins in a room that feels more like a living room. You sit on a sofa, not in a chair. And Stefanie Schönmuth asks her question:
“What exactly is it that frightens you?”
The answers vary. Some fear the injection, others pain despite anaesthesia, many the feeling of being at someone's mercy. Schönmuth asks so precisely because she can do something with every answer. Against fear of the injection there is a numbing gel, which with her always goes on the gum before every needle. Against the feeling of helplessness, an agreed hand signal: as soon as it comes, she stops, immediately and without discussion. Those who would rather be distracted get a screen and headphones above the chair. And she explains every single step before it happens.
That she wants to know so precisely what someone is afraid of has a simple reason: she knows the feeling from the other side of the chair.
“As a teenager I shed tears in the dentist's chair myself.”Stefanie Schönmuth, on her path to anxious patients
IITeeth that are allowed to stay
That experience has become a way of working: calm, time, control in the patient's hands. In 2015 Schönmuth completed her studies at the Charité, treated patients in Berlin for four years and then looked after her own patients in Amsterdam and Dronten for five years. Since 2024 she has been part of F80's dental team, and anyone listening closely will notice: with her, treatment is available in German, English or Dutch.
Her two favourite subjects show what she stands for. The first is root canal treatment, very often retreatments: old root fillings that did not work out optimally the first time and cause pain again years later. Under the microscope this can be fixed in many cases. A tooth that already seemed lost is allowed to stay.
The second is dentosophy, a myofunctional training: a soft training device, the balancer, brings the basic functions of breathing, swallowing and chewing back into balance. Anyone who permanently breathes through the mouth, grinds or clenches at night is working against their own muscles. Once balance returns, a lot can improve, from grinding to snoring. Among colleagues it has earned her a title. “The best dentosophist Berlin has to offer,” says her colleague Dr. Cora Betko.
IIIThe practice behind her
What patients never get to see: the dentists' team meeting. Once a week all the practice's dentists sit down together and go through cases until the best strategy is set for each one. Anyone in treatment here has several specialities at the table in the background, plus state-of-the-art diagnostics, supported by AI and checked by humans.
The greatest compliment for her work comes from within the practice: the lead dentist brings her own children to Stefanie Schönmuth for treatment.
Quick questions
- Her favourite topic right now
- Dentosophy: bringing breathing, swallowing and chewing back into balance.
- What surprises patients about her
- That she was once an anxious patient herself.
- Her remedy for fear of the injection
- Numbing gel before every needle. Always, not on request.
- At the chair, at home in
- German, English and Dutch.
The craft
- Bal·anc·er, noun Dentosophy
- A soft training device, the heart of dentosophy: myofunctional training for the muscles that control breathing, swallowing and chewing. Instead of merely splinting symptoms, she addresses the cause; the exercises lead from mouth breathing back to nasal breathing and thus work exactly where grinding and clenching arise: at the muscle imbalance. She completed dedicated training in this field.
- All-ce·ram·ic, noun Restoration
- Crowns, inlays and veneers entirely without metal: ceramic refracts light much like natural enamel and can be matched exactly in colour to the neighbouring teeth. Done well, the boundary between tooth and restoration disappears, and that is exactly the standard she measures her work against. That standard has grown over fifteen years in the profession, five of them with her own patients in the Netherlands.
- Re·treat·ment, noun Endodontics
- The second chance for an old root filling: the old material comes out, the canal is cleaned under the microscope, disinfected and tightly refilled. It is the most demanding form of root canal treatment and her most frequent special case, because teeth come to her that start hurting again after years. If the retreatment succeeds, the tooth often stays in the mouth for many more years.
From the consultation room
I grind my teeth at night. Do I need a splint now?
In the past I would often simply have said yes, because the teeth need protection. Today my standard is different: not just protect and let the grinding cheerfully carry on, but find the cause. It often has to do with breathing or with a muscle imbalance. That can be worked on; with dentosophy the grinding itself can subside in the long term, not just its damage.
My root-treated tooth hurts again. Is it lost?
Very often not. Behind such pain there is frequently an old root filling that did not fully succeed the first time. With a retreatment under the microscope this can be fixed in many cases, and the tooth can stay for a long time yet.
Milestones
- 2015
- Degree in dentistry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- 2015–2019
- Employed dentist in Berlin
- 2019–2024
- Self-employed dentist in Amsterdam and Dronten
- since 2024
- Member of the dental team at F80, Berlin-Mitte
From the practice
“Steffi is one of the most empathetic colleagues I could wish for. She has her own history with dental anxiety and can therefore put herself in patients' shoes so well.”Dr. Svetla Alpermann, Lead Dentist
“My sparring partner for challenging root canal treatments. No matter how full the day is: she meets every patient with warmth and as an equal.”Ly Cao, dentist
Take a seat
The first conversation begins in the Welcome Lounge, not in the treatment room. Appointments online or by phone: seven days a week, Monday to Friday until 8 pm.
Happy birthday, Dr. Schönmuth!