Summer Fun

     Summer time comes and goes every year. Yet it seems like its a special that might run out any time and those gray Kentucky winter days will be here again. Its a great time to focus on your smile, whether just making sure to show it a little more with your summer tan or to get it where it needs to be. Summer would be a great time to whiten ones teeth, come in for an overdue cleaning or just get a solid check up and information about ones dental health.
     Summer is also a great time to take a vacation as several of our patients have done. I have not though. I'm never sure if "Blogging" should have a conversational casual tone where one might type "HaHa" as one would in a text message. For future reference in case you would like to know I am definitely a haha person and not really an LOL er...And on that note are emojis appropriate for blogging? Again I'm not sure.
      As far as music at the offices go, we've been sneaking in some country music here and there. At our Poplar office we recently made the switch to online music from our old school "boombox" that came with the practice when it joined us it at Eastern Parkway. In fact we've also been taking requests and on Wednesday played some surf music at the request of a patient and everyone enjoyed some Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. In my personal office its been a mix of Classical from our local public radio station WUOL and archived Grateful Dead shows. I went to my first and last Grateful Dead concert last year, mostly because they won't ever play again as the Grateful Dead.
      In dentistry notes we've done some anterior implant crowns with great results as well as some cosmetically excellent removable partial dentures as well as all the fun 'regular" things like crowns, fillings, bridges and other "cool" stuff haha.

What is cosmetic Dentistry?

I am reflecting on cosmetic dentistry today. We seated a denture last week and as I have mentioned before this was indeed cosmetic dentistry. But above all it was just good solid dental care. The individual needed their remaining teeth removed and we did that and placed a very beautiful full complete denture in place. The patient is very pleased and his smile looks better than it has for years.

This is a point I often make when I can to our team and patients. Cosmetic dentistry is not a specialty of dentistry, it is not a group, or test or a badge, it is an attitude and that attitude is reflected in everything from the shade of a composite filling to the all of the many other items we do in our offices. Whitening, Invisalign, and even dentures are cosmetic procedures.

Many people think of dentistry as a want based purchase in parts of the areas we draw our patients from here in Louisville. Others view it as a need based purchase because they understand that the health of their mouth and surrounding oral soft tissues affects their entire body. Educating patients to these facts is part of our job every day. Our work isn't just in the procedures we do to care for our patients, it is in educating them and passing along our decades of experience to them on a daily basis.

If money grew on trees and everyone loved teeth.

I love teeth. I'm not sure how true that is because if I loved them so much I wouldn't have taken so many of them out over the years, right? Well not so much as they say. Some teeth are just too costly to repair, some are non restorable and some are even removed on young people for orthodontics. A few folks even have extra ones, you be surprised how many folks have few or more than the most often seen 32.

But what I don't like about teeth is when people have to make financial decisions while making dental decisions. Sometimes this is due to neglect and others its just a lack of education or even bad luck. But money doesn't grow on trees and nothing is truly free. Often I hear "well I didn't have insurance for a long time" but if asked many of these folks with dental problems have nice clothes and cars and the latest Apple or samsung mobile device with its data plan and a nice protective case. In a lot of cases a monthly cell phone bill is more than the recommended twice a year cleaning.

Even if dental care or medical care were free people would probably still go to bed after a tasty Coca-cola or as it could also be described carmel colored, acidic, high fructose corn syrup beverage. Many of these carmel soda pops can be used to clean the build up off of batteries, yet many are surprised they are bad for their teeth. So even if money grew on trees many of the people that don't visit the dentist wouldn't have great teeth because they don't love them. But I'm sure they would have nice cars, clothes and cell phones or Ipads or whatever was cool to have in their social network and socio-economic area. We've been playing a wide mix of music these days but it seems Dave Matthews has snuck back into rotation and also up front the hygiene area and reception seems to have added in some country music to its mix: a little more Toby, Kenny and Sugarland seems to be floating around the office. I've been stuck on the last two Eric Church albums.