A TRUE WORKING TEAM

What makes a good, solid dental office? (Besides the dentist!). The main ingredient is the team. We are a team of only 4. Our hygienist, Tunde/our dental assistant, Michi/and our hygiene assistant, Cosetta. We formed a unique bond over 8 years together, with Tunde being with us 15+ years and Cosetta being with us 10+ years. We have learned to cross-train and we do back and front office. It's a treasure to have them. I bet almost all our patients know us by name. I asked a friend who his dentist was and he could't tell me! How about you? Do you know your dentist or team members' names??

The New Way to Fight Gum Disease

I just got certified to treat patients with gingivitis and periodontistis with a product callted PERIOPROTECT. Consider the conventional means of "deep scaling and root planing" and add trays which seal tightly on your gums and you apply a medicine that is push under the gums where you are "suppose" to be flossing twice a day. Depending on your case, you would wear these trays 1 to 3 times a day for ten minutes at a time.

The results are fantastic. You would have immediate improve of your gum situation in 2 weeks and once under control you would wear the trays once a day for ten minutes. Mind you, this is not a miracle that replaces flossing and conventional gum and teeth cleanings, but it will minimize your need to see us. It would reduce "our complaining" how you are not getting the improvements we need to prevent gum disease. As well, the gums are a doorway to other systemic diseases such as heart disease and complication with diabetes, immunocompromised patients, and strokes. So you would heal these ulcerous areas and closed these doors. And as a plus to much better gums and prevention of decay, you get a bleaching action from the medicine for you will slowly get whiter teeth. In a nutshell, you are destroying a "biofilm" that we can only disrupt when you come in for professional cleanings. Think about the rest of the time you are not in the office and the plaque thagt collects on top and under the gums. These trays and your ten minutes a day will totally changed the game. Truly, the future is now.

This is the cutting edge of dentistry. It is FDA and ADA approved and can benefit all of our lives and make us a bit healthier. You can always contact me and I would be more than happy to discuss your dental health.

IS YOUR DENTAL OFFICE UP TO PAR??

How much do you know about your dental office? For instance, in our office, we do not use the city water of Atlanta. Instead, we have a closed system of water for delivery to our patients. We purchase distilled water for the office to help clean our sterilizers and use when treating our patients. Our closed system ensures cleanliness for patients who may have immune systems that are depressed, from radiation or chemo therapy, systemic disease, or HIV. Plus it is just clean. We fill up our bottles for each operatory and the water that comes out of our handpieces for cleaning or fillings, etc. is clean. Each week, we flush our lines so no water will stagnate in the lines with something like bleach, but made for our water lines. Not all offices have this feature, so you should ask them if they do. Another service we provide is using Emory Healthcare Services to check our sterilizers to ensure proper sterility. We place "spore strips" in the autoclave and send the "sterilized" strip weekly to Emory for testing. This is called "Autocheck."

If for any reason sterility is not achieved, we would have the time and dates to further investigate.

Of course, we use "universal precautions" when treating all patients. This means we say everyone is a possible candidate for spreading "germs." New gloves are used on every patient and taking off for us to check or work on other patients, so we "break" the possibility of contaminating our next patient. All rooms are "wrapped" with plastic to prevent fluids from contacting the counters or handles and then we wipe the rooms down after each patient. Then we rewrap the room and get it ready for the next patient. Finally, ALL metal instruments and handpieces are sterilized and we use as much disposable materials as possible to run a very clean office. If you ever have any questions on our protocol, please ask us. We are proud of how clean we keep the office.

THE WOES OF INSURANCE

Insurance in the dental world is very tricky. Are you "in network" or "out of network" ? This all depends on your employer's choice of insurance plans for their employees. To complicate matters, there are PPO's and HMO's. Some dental insurance plans "contract" with dentists to set their fees for their services. The fees are, generally, very low and these dental offices need to have many more patients to maintain their practice. The special "one-on-one" service cannot be maintained simply because the office has to treat more patients per day. On the other spectrum, there are dental offices which are "fee for service." Usually, very high-end practices, great customer service and you pay in full at the time of your treatment. The dental office will give you the forms to send to your insurance company or they may submit for you. Our practice lies midway between the two extreme examples with our one goal being one-on-one treatment and high customer service. To put it humorously, we provide services like Neiman's or Sak's and price-point like Macy's or Bloomingdale's. We take insurance, but not all insurances, since some have such low contracting fees, we do not want to lose touch with our patients by treating in numbers. The one big item to get out of this short blog is to know the type of dental coverage your company offers you. When there are changes in the policy, let the dental office know a week or so before you go into their office, so it can be researched to understand what the changes mean to you and the bottom line of cost. Take time to discuss your plan with your dental office and understand how your plan works. Each treatment has a dental code and paid at different rates. For instance.... preventive care, basic care, and major work. A regular cleaning may be paid at 100% since it is preventive care, but a deep cleaning may be paid at 80% after a deductible. So, it can get tricky. Be proactive, find out your dental needs, and ask questions to your dental team. I hope these blogs are helpful. I enjoy your comments and questions.

The goal of my blogs is to be a forum for " dentistry for dummies." I want to breakdown some of our language and help patients understand the responsibilities dentist face in providing dental care to you. I will keep these items simple and quick.

Today: gingivitis versus periodontitis.

Gingivitis means inflamation(bleeding) of the gums which is reversible by proper flossing and brushing. Periodontitis means some degree of irreversible breakdown of the bone under the gum. (now realize, this is a very loose definition.) Dentist have a tool (a perio probe) which is a dip stick and we measure the depth of the collar of gum around each tooth. A good measurement is "3" and NO bleeding. If we get bleeding with a value of 3, then that is gingivitis and we "slap" your hand and tell you to floss these areas. Usually the bleeding is between the teeth and you can access these areas only by flossing. Brushing, alone, does not do the trick.

Now if we measure a "4" or "5" or higher, and we have bleeding, then we are having some degree of bone loss. This is not good and not reversible. The dentist has to "clean" ( or scale and root plane under the gums). The patient really cannot access these areas. However, once we are able to clean these areas, chances are good, healing occurs and the patient can access these areas. SO.........point being........not all cleanings are the same. It is vital and so important, your dentist takes the time each year or as needed to measure these areas and explain these readings to you.

Finally, if a patient has dental insurance and the contract says "100% payment for a cleaning".........please note that means your gums are healthy with NO bleeding. The definition of prophylaxis means to clean above the gums. Moderate to Severe Gingivitis and Periodontitis places the patient under another category with your insurance. Instead of 100% payment for preventive work, this changes to the Basic category which could mean paying a deductible and a percentage (usual 20%) for the treatment. So don't think the dentist is pulling a fast one on you. Invest a little now to clean them properly and get into the habit of proper home oral hygiene.

I hope this will bring up some questions I can answer for you. My goal is to be a platform for understanding dentisty and being the good dentist.

Did you know that 50% of Americans don't regularly visit a dentist? Surprised? Most people are. But the answer to the question ''why'' is actually simple...Each of these people has one or more ''discomfort levels'' with dentistry.

For some, there is fear of pain, others are embarrassed or afraid to confront the scope of long-term neglect. Some are just worried about the cost. Others worry that their dentist will ''over prescribe'' treatment they don't really want or need. Occasionally, there is someone that had a bad experience as a child-then resolved as an adult to never see a dentist again. Some people are even worried about the sterility of dental tools. And finally, many people just have anxiety about choosing the ''right'' dentist.!!

''I am afraid it will hurt''

Simply said, it will probably not. It is not like the ''good ol' days''...Modern advancements have all but eliminated pain fron the dental-care equation. Varied levels of sedation techniques make patient comfort to come of age.With a good dentist this fear will become a non-issue for you.

''I' ll be embarassed'

Everyone has there on set of things that they ignore, postpone or avoid. And its ok. So put that fear out of your mind and rest assured that regardless of the scope of neglect, a right dentist is a non-judgmental friend.

''I can't afford dentistry''

I hear this one alot. But first, have you ever considered the ''cost of neglect'' compared to the ''cost of maintenance?" Every time you have the oil changed in your car, you know that a few dollars, regularly spent, will avoid huge expenses down the road. The same applies to dentistry. While a routine exam, cleaning, and tiny white filling may pinch your budget a little by this month, it will save hundreds, fixing major problems like gum disease, root canals, or even lost teeth. AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION REALLY IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE.

Second, we all do it. It's human nature. We find the money to spend when there is perceived value in the purchase. Atrip to South Beach, new clothes, pedicures, and manicures!! It isn't that dentistry is expensive. It is the struggle of seeing its value. Sometimes it's easier to spend $800 on a television than on a rotting tooth-especially if that tooth doesn't hurt too bad( yet). You are smarter than that. One of the goals of every good dentist is to help people see, feel, and internalize the value of competent oral health care and appereance. The expression should move from ''I can't afford a great dentist'' to ''I can't afford NOT to have a great dentist''.

''I' ll be pressured into treatments I don't want or need''

It just doesn't happen.Period. No one can pressure you into anything you don't want. And you can always use a second opinion on treatments. Make sure you understand what your needs are and if your dentist will take the time to describe your needs and give the reasons, the pros and cons of not doing the work, and if possible taking an x-ray or photo of the teeth in question.

''I might choose the wrong dentist'

It's obvious that choosing ANY doctor should be based on many factors. The best is referrals, experience, reputation, etc..None will pressure you to use this or that one. It is totally in your hands and your decision can be very safe if it is educated. Hopefully, this casual dental blog will help anyone with these above concerns or other concerns about improving your dental health. I am but a click away and will be more than happy to discuss dental issues with you.

THE GOOD DENTIST