Why We Are Different

We feel that the patient’s psychological perspective towards implant treatment is one of the most important indicators for success. Old habits die hard. Dental neglect is usually to blame for missing teeth. If we feel that patients can not, or in all likelihood will not, be able to change the patterns of behavior that contributed to their dental condition, we will not attempt dental implant treatment on them.

Many dental offices today are “goal driven” and production quotas are set by practice managers. While this may work well for the automotive industry, it can become a problem when the “product” becomes a human being. Instead of turning out a certain amount of widgets this week, many offices must produce certain amount of crowns and other prosthetics a week to meet their production quotas.

A philosophical question immediately arises. What if no one walks in the office door who requires a crown? Doctors and staff who are quota-driven have no problem in answering this question. Their quotas for crowns will be met. Procedures that dental insurance does not cover will not be done. The needs of every patient will be molded to fit into the same shoe.

Our office is different from the run-of-the-mill practice in that we have the ability and temperament to repair and create many types of prosthetics inhouse. This ability can at times save the day for you when emergencies arise, and a laboratory wait time is out of the question.

Dentistry is highly material dependent. Would you as a patient even know to ask of what material your crowns or restorations are made of? Many patients do not. A crown can be made of anything from base metals to high noble metals. Metal-free materials such as newer porcelains and glasses are also available. All of these materials have their advantages and disadvantages. Different patients or even different sites in the same patient’s mouth may require a different type of crown.

These same treatment dilemmas present themselves across the full spectrum of the dental field. Cheap acrylics and poor quality denture teeth can be included in a good looking prosthesis, but will not stand up to continued use as well as other brands that might add a few more dollars to the doctor’s overhead. Ethical practitioners should attempt to use the best materials possible to treat their patients, with the goal of restoring them to dental health for the longest period of time. Remember that as a patient of ours, you are buying our time, not our materials. When finances become an issue we strive to explain to our patients the alternative treatments available, along with their limitations.

Good judgment on our part attempts to access the needs of every patient and address their financial as well as their dental concerns. The full exercise of the doctor’s expertise is manifested by explaining to patients the complete spectrum of options for their dental treatment.

In our office we encourage as many questions as patients feel they should ask. Our main goal is to try to address any concerns that our patients may have about their course of treatment and that they understand what is being done. If we feel that their dental concerns are best addressed by a specialist, we will stress that they go to one.

We feel that dental treatment is a two-way street. It is discouraging to us to perform successful treatment only to have it fail because of the patient’s neglect. We feel that educating patients in the etiology of their dental problems can help to motivate them to become good patients, and maintain their oral health. This becomes the most cost-effective dental measure of all.

Cosmetic treatments, (veneers, bleaching, the changing of a smile with restorative materials) are again only done with the complete understanding of the positive and negative aspects of these types of treatment. We encourage open discourse.

Please visit our office policies page to view our payment policies. Thank you for your attention. We look forward to meeting you!