Technology changes so quickly. Do we keep up or get left behind? This is a personal choice. I choose to keep up and my new LED has attracted some attention in Palm Harbor. Copy and paste the link below to see what was on Fox 13 News last night.
http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/video?clipId=8883993&topVideoCatNo=236673&autoStart=true
Epulis Fissuratum
One of the most common tissue reactions to a chronically ill-fitting denture is the occurrence of hyperplasia of tissue along the denture borders.This proliferation of tissue is usually slow in developing and probably is as much a result of the resorption of the jaw bone as of the trauma of the loose denture.
Treatment and Prognosis:
This excess (hyperplasic) tissue should be surgically excised and either new dentures constructed or the dentures rebased to provide for a proper fit. If the denture is replaced or rebased, the growth should nor recurr. Complete regression, even after construction of a new denture will not occur
I had dinner with a friend the other night, and the conversation came up of how we each remembered the dentist from when we were kids. Over the course of the conversation, we recalled some of our experiences at the dentist when we were younger, but the more hilarious thing was how many memories we had of dentists in the movies. That conversation inspired me to compile a short list of hollywood dentists. So here it goes.
The three funniest portrayals of dentists in films, in no particular order, goes to, Ricky Gervais, the guy who invented the Office, who played a dentist who could see dead people; Ed Helms, who plays the only dentist that ends up with teeth missing in The Hangover; and Eugene Levy in Waiting for Guffman, playing a dentist who desperately wants to sing but really can’t.
The best dentist from films of past generations goes to Charlie Chaplin in a film called Laughing Gas, and Alan Arkin in The In-Laws. The naughtiest dentist goes to the sexually deviant dentist played by Jennifer Aniston in Horrible Bosses. The spookiest dentist was played by Christopher Lee, as Doctor Wilbur Wonka, Willie Wonka’s father in the newest version of that great classic. The most miscast dentist goes to Keanu Reeves, who played an orthodontist in Thumbsucker. I just couldn’t stop thinking of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and I didn’t want that guy straightening my teeth! And the most versatile dentist actor award goes to Steve Martin. He is best known for his role as the insane motorcycle riding dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, but he performs equally well many years later in the captivating murder mystery, Novocaine.
Maybe when I retire I’ll move to hollywood and advise the movie stars on how to play a real dentist. Then again, friendly patients and a calm and healthy environment might make for a great practice, but a pretty boring movie!
Having Graduated from Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, I am very accustomed and comfortable sitting in the doctors stool and offering advise to patients. I deliver my findings in honest calming tones offering options and alternatives to both good and bad situations. Ultimately the patient and I reach some conclusion. Twice this month I had to take off the doctor hat and wear the patient/parent of child hat. It is so different.
Practicing dentistry, with a focus on dental implants has given me enormous knowledge and insight into bone physiology as well as other more standard types of dental procedures. This knowledge has not saved me from having a root canal on a front tooth fail. The dental knowledge lets me know my choices. Apicoectomy for tooth #10 or extraction, bone graft and dental implant. The quick and most common solution would be the apico – but I feel this has a poor long term prognosis.
On Friday, April 19, 2013 I presented to my dentist’s office and while under oral conscious sedation, I had tooth #10 removed, bone grafting with a Peri-cardium membrane and interim replacement with a removable tooth. Pain and swelling has been minimal.
I’ve been thinking lately about how being a dentist and being a father are both practices of caring. I wouldn’t go so far as to suggest I love my patients the way I love my children, but I do think similar skills are required to foster positive relationships throughout our lives, and my practice as a dentist is no different in that respect.
Trust and communication are the foundation of successful relationships. With my children there is a great deal of time for establishing this trust, but with my patients a more concerted effort is required up front. While it is important for me to explain procedures clearly and lay out all the patient’s options, it is at least as important to listen, to ask the right questions, and to remember each patient is a unique person with unique needs. This may seem like a lot to deliver, while also insuring top-quality, efficient care that is sure to invest in that patient’s long-term well being, but listening and getting to know my patients is actually one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. Continue reading
Dental Implants Driver in Fixation Screw in Abutment on Model & Crown
Dental implants are not teeth. Dental implants are very much like the roots of teeth. Crowns can be cemented to teeth or dental implants. Overdentures can be secured to either dental implants or tooth/teeth roots. Neither are the white things that people smile or chew with.
In this picture a hex driver is being used to tighten an abutment screw and the final crown is seen.
This picture and the narrative above outlines the detail of this specific case, but for the one stop shopping – comprehensive dentist, this is just one small but very important aspect of restorative dentistry. In my opinion, as I have stated before, Comprehensive Dentistry means ” accepting a patient in any stage of dental disease and restoring them to a state of health, comfort and esthetics consistent with their wants and being respectful of their finances.”
Future blogs will address infection control in the dental office as this is huge issue right now.
The good old days, an expression used by many of us as we age, but were the old days any “gooder?” I think not.
In this first picture one can see the view from the back of the courthouse in Colonial Williamsburg. This is a small room by today’s standards, but finished in magnificent detail. As in any situation, it depends on which seat one sits in as to ones perspective. During the pre-Revolutionary War era, someone appointed by the British Government would preside over the trial, but amazingly the person on trial might have been awarded many of the rights we all have come to expect – trial by jury, the right to confront our accuser, the right to an attorney. Trials only took place every 90 days, this courthouse, in the Capitol of VA at the time was only for felony crimes, and the conviction rate was 54%.
This was a fun way for me to spend the spring break with my children, the first part of the trip was enlightening, in my opinion, Case Western Reserve University is truly an incredible university, but unfortunately the city of Cleveland has not pulled itself out of what appeared to my to be a deep depression decades ago. The re-growth appears painfully slow, I needed to see that for myself. My son will probably go to Boston University, or if accepted to Johns Hopkins. The second part, Colonial Williamsburg was very educational for my son and I, but, it was torture for my daughter. I was very unsettled, but enlightened by the horrors of slavery. The public talks with Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were awesome, I am just sorry we did not catch the public audience with George Washington.
In the jail
This is where those awaiting trial stayed, the jail, not a pretty place, but a jail is/was not meant to be a comfortable place. Life in this era was harsh, inside the legal system, as a free person especially so as a slave. Even though the conviction rate was 54%, many convicts got pardons. A pardoned convict got branded on the left hand, very painful, but most convicts got hanged. It was almost guaranteed that a branded, pardoned convicted that was tried again for a felony was hanged – two strikes and you are out.
We heard an actor playing Thomas Jefferson speak the first day, today we heard an actor playing Patrick Henry speak, as I mentioned above, I quite enjoyed the first presentation.
I love traveling, learning and spending time with my children, but I am looking forward to going back to real life being a Palm Harbor Dentist!
A circa 1920′s wedding gown
Every year since 1996 I have enjoyed a spring break with my children. In 1996 there was just one, then in 1998 came the second bundle of joy. As time marches on, my first child is 18 and will be heading off to college next year. Next year he will probably want to spend his spring break with friends, normal and natural.
For this years spring break, I began planning approximately 6 months ago, trying to poll multiple personalities, to find some common happy median. It was a futile effort. Either we could not agree, or no one wanted to discuss it “now,” after all, it was months away. After painful negotiating, I was somehow able to choose Colonial Williamsburg.
About two months ago, after my son, Mathew, was accepted to Case Western Reserve, I decided to include an excursion to visit the school in Cleveland, OH in this vacation. Pictured is one of the wedding gowns displayed at a Case Western historical gallery exhibit. This gown caught my daughter Kendall’s attention. It very shinny and just what a “flapper” getting married might have worn.
After a very early flight yesterday and a 9+ hour drive from Atlanta to Williamsburg, we will tour Williamsburg for the next three days before getting taking the AutoTrain back to Tampa on Monday. Then Monday afternoon I see a patient for extractions, dental implants, immediate temporary fixed bridge work and under sedation.
I hope to blog a little about history after immersing ourselves in the Colonial and pre-Colonial time periods the next few days.
Before
This is a very handsome man, but not so without teeth. With teeth, many people say he looks like the guy in “The Most Interesting Man in the World” commercial. In this picture, he does not look like “the most interesting man in the world” because he is missing his front teeth!
A little about me, now a dentist in Palm Harbor, Florida, since 1988. My family moved to Long Island, from the Bronx in 1962. I grew up in Atlantic Beach, NY and went to SUNY @ Binghamton, receiving a degree in Chemistry in 1981. I decided that I wanted to a dentist when I was 15, never wavering. I ended up at Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, graduating in 1985. During my Dental Residency program at Nassau County Medical Center, I met Karen, the mother of my two incredible children, Mathew and Kendall. Mathew and Kendall were both born in Clearwater Fl, in 1995 and 1998 respectively. My interest in Implant Dentistry began in the mid 1980′s and grew like “Jack’s Beanstalk.” My move to Florida in 1988 was the natural evolution of becoming a Comprehensive Dentist with a focus in Dental Implants. I was fortunate to meet O’Hilt Tatum Jr, DDS in 1989 at an Alabama Implant Congress. After being invited to train at his Dental Implantology practice in St. Petersburg FL, I found my mecca. ”Hilt”, ”Big Daddy” took me under his wing and trained me as he so generously trained scores of dentist throughout the world.
After
Who does this look like to you? Is it “the world’s most interesting man?” It sure could be him, he has teeth!
This man came into my dental office with a broken front tooth, very unhappy with his smile. True multidisciplinary comprehensive dentistry, including extractions, bone grafting, dental implants and modern milled zirconia crowns brought him to this definitive place in March of 2013.