"Sippie Cups"

We did several fillings on a 5 year old at the end of the day today. The day I discussed his decay with his mother she was surprised at his relapse as it seemed we had his decay under control. I was as well considering we have discussed oral hygiene and diet several times as he has been our patient since he was two years old.

At the end of that discussion we realized that it was likely due to his use of a "sippie cup" throughout the afternoon. So with some cartoons on the monitor in front of him and some "Iron Man Gas" ie laughing gas, we set off to complete his dental work. Things went well and our work was completed quickly and mother and son were happy and off to get some ice cream later.

It's situations like these that remind me that fighting tooth decay is a battle. You can improve things and increase dental knowledge but it takes staying on point and creating good habits and sticking to them. I was very happy to hear that they threw out his sippie cups the day they found out about his cavities.

We've also been working on several new videos for the site of patient interviews; and they should be up on the page soon. I think the finished product give a nice summary of what we do on a day in and day out basis.

Dental Education

"Somebody Doesn't have a case of the Mondays"

That'd be me I'm in the office working my tail off as an assistant I worked with years ago used to say.

I met a new patient today who had called our office about a specific item he had heard of that is in essence a flexible partial denture. He heard about our practice online and had viewed one of our patient testimonials and mentioned it when we met. As he is employed in the audio-video-entertainment field, his compliment on our interview was a pleasant surprise.

This man, like many people, seemed to have never had someone sit and talk with him about his smile and his dental health. One of the things I often say is "your teeth don't match you" this is often when I see a person who is well dressed, cares for themselves in many ways but has let their teeth go. In surveys, people say they see our smiles before they see our eyes, outfit, purse, car or home or whatever other status symbol is currently popular in society. I believe more often than not this is merely because they have never been educated.

I do not mean scolded. I do not mean lectured. I mean truly taught via a back and forth dialogue about what is really going on in all of our mouths. Fear often is the main reasons people do not visit dental offices, financial obligations can be as well. But most often people, especially in America, people often find ways to get what they want. How many people have iphones in this "economic downturn"?

I have never been in this mans company when he visited the dentist in the past, or what the conversations were like. But I do know he left here today knowing our philosophy of care, that if he came with us on this journey we would restore not only his smile but his dental health overall. As he makes us his dental home his dental I.Q. will increase drastically and so will his smile.

As far as music it seems to be a lot of classic 70's rock today. Up front is a little heavier tunes with some Doors and Rolling Stones and in our operatories a lot of Motown and Creedence, Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. But then there is always some Fleetwood Mac or Stevie Nicks playing somewhere in this office...

Dental Trauma and the Winter X Games

We dealt with a dental trauma last week, ironically the week after the Winter X Games.
These adventure sports bring their own particular risks. Our patient had a fall while snowboarding and traumatized one of his anterior, or "front" teeth. Unfortunately this trauma will cause the tooth to need reconstruction with root canal therapy, a post, and an all porcelain crown. This like many injuries could have been prevented with a professionally made dental mouthguard.

A few years ago I attended a continuing education course that was given by a Denver Prosthodontist that did hundreds of dental implant reconstructions per year. He cited Denver's active skiing, snowboarding and outdoor culture for the damage to many teeth that required implants to restore optimum occlusion.

I love these individual sports and find watching them on television to be my preferred way to experience them, not out there on the mountainside. A wide range of music has been playing recently in the office and we also got to enjoy the story one of our patients told us about attending a classic James Brown Convert in the late 60's in Louisville. The mental picture he painted of the Godfather of Soul getting down on stage was quitte a joy for myself and my assistant.

As it has been the last few weeks, I continue to enjoy both Spotify and electronic music including some new bands like Class Actress and some moderately current bands like Grizly Bear and of course classics like Radiohead.