The Final Session of Our Live Patient Course

The 'show' went on despite the fact that I was out of town attending the Memorial Celebration for my good friend Howie Leifer. I made a live 'appearance'  via amazing technology. Francisco Banchs and I decided that I could 'attend' the course using the app FACETIME on my iPad. While I could not see our students, they saw and heard me  on a large monitor just before it was time for me to go to the Memorial Celebration.

There are virtually (no pun intended) no limits on what we will be able to accomplish using technology. Not only had there never been a live patient course like the one presented at Root Canal Experts there also had never been one of the faculty members appearing to be 'beamed in'  like in the 40 year old TV Series, Star Trek.

I was honored to be asked to be the clinical director of our course. I was extremely happy with the outcome of our patient treatment using almost all of the specialties in dentistry. What an incredible learning experience for our students.

My Friend Howie

Neil Leifer, the renown sports photographer (now retired) had a Memorial Celebration for my good childhood friend and his brother, Howie  on Friday evening in Manhattan. There were about 100 people present, mostly over 60 years old who had known Howie from different times of his life and his career.

At various times, Howie was a teacher at the French American School in San Francisco, an artist, a puppeteer, a musician, a performer and a manager for Neil's famous photographs.

Everyone who spoke at the Memorial said the same thing: Howie was the nicest, kindest man that they ever knew who never was in a bad mood and always had a smile for everyone.

I was given the honor to say a few words about my friend and I told the story that had a profound effect on my development and life.

I grew up in Laurelton in Queens, a suburb of New York City. It was a lower middle class area that was all white  neighborhood with no people of color in the homes or the schools. This meant that I grew up with no preconceived ideas or negative thoughts about non-white folks.

On the evening of the Floyd Patterson (who was black)  and Ingemar Johansson  (of Sweden) Heavyweight Boxing Championship match, Howie and I sat down to watch the fight. I asked Howie who he was rooting for and he said, "Patterson, the American, of course." At that moment I understood that being an American was more important than whether someone was white or black or what religion that they practiced. For an 11 year old kid, this was a profound concept as it preceded the Civil Rights Movement by about 5 years.

I will be forever grateful to Howie for opening up my mind and for being an incredible human being.

Impossible numbers

In Mondays New York Times, there was a story about Hedge Fund managers who earn 10 figure incomes. For those of us who are not very good at math, that means that they earned more than ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

You read that right.

David Tepper:  $2.2 Billion
Ray Dalio  $ 1.7 Billion
Steven A. Cohen:  $1.4 Billion
James Simons:  $1.1 Billion

What did these men do? What products did they create? How many people did they employ?

What was the average amount of Federal Income Tax that they as a group paid?

zero

Not one penny in Federal Income Taxes. Oh yes, they did pay 15% capital gains taxes but they paid NO SOCIAL SECURITY AND NO MEDICARE TAXES.

I am a pretty smart guy but this makes no sense to me. Call your Congressperson and ask them why really rich people  don't pay Federal Income Taxes.

Maybe the  billionaire Leona Helmsley was right when she said, "Only the little people pay taxes." in the year 1989.

Something to think about.

Minimizing Negatives

Many patients do not want or need a full smile make over. They do want to improve their smiles but they either do not want to spend the money OR they only want to  treat that part of their smile that they do not like. I have coined the phrase, "Minimizing Negatives" to describe these kind of cases where a relatively small amount of treatment yields tremendous improvements at a relatively small cost.
I am thrilled that my patient decided to 'minimize her negatives' and treat only 4 teeth.
Her gorgeous smile and youthful lips are the perfect example of what we, as dentists, can do for our patients. No one says that a patient must have a perfect smile. What  we do think needs correction are glaring problems in their smiles.

I truly love this smile.

Congratulations to Our Friends at Root Canal Experts

Drs. Francisco Banchs and Allyson Byrne  (husband and wife) opened their second location  on Route 146 in Clifton Park. The office is not only beautiful but it is also world class with state of the art technology.
With the finest Zeiss Microscopes, 3-D Scanning technology and first rate computers along with their passion for excellence makes Root Canal Experts THE PLACE to have all of your endodontic procedures.

Our patients, my staff and our families trust Root Canal Experts.

If you think root canals are expensive think how expensive they really are when they have to be redone. Root Canal Experts has THE HIGHEST success rate in root canal treatment of any office I have ever seen.

Best Wishes to our friends at RCE.

Final Photos of an Incredible Case

 

Drs. Francisco Banchs, Allyson Byrne (Root Canal Experts), Brian Byrne (Orthodontist), Tim Kelling (Oral Surgeon)  and I (a general dentist who limits my practice to Restorative Dentistry) are thrilled to show you the final photos  of our our three year course that we offered to local area dentists. We charged neither our students nor the patient for the opportunity to learn how to diagnose, treatment plan and execute exceptional dental care.  As far as we know, this concept has never been done, the way we did it, anywhere in the country.

We are very proud of what we have accomplished and we hope that you agree that this is exceptional care.

We pursued excellence without regards for our cost or what efforts it would take.

I am honored to have been a part of this team.

Changing Faces of America

Outreach honored: Dental student coordinators for the Community Dental Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry include, from left, Luis Gutierrez, Chris Kim, Ryan Ray Dela Cruz, Osvaldo Amezcua, Crystal Chang and Pamela Bui. The clinic received the 2012 ADA Foundation Bud Tarrson Award for its mission to treat homeless clients

Some Americans in their 50s, 60s and 70s  are having a hard time understanding that the 'old' America of their youth is no longer the America that we live in.   I have no idea of whether the young dental students in this picture were born in America but there is no doubt that they ARE Americans. These are the future names and faces of our country.

The dental class at SUNY/Buffalo in 1972 had TWO  female dental students. My class of 1973 had FOUR females and the class of 1974 had SEVEN.  The fact there there were female dental students at all was dismaying to the faculty at the time. Today, 53% of professional schools...Medical, Dental and Law..are female.

This is a different and perhaps a better America. What a great country we live in.

36 Years of Trust and Caring

I am always thrilled and honored when a patient calls or emails and asks for my opinion about something other than teeth.

About 15 years ago one of my long time patients called me in confidence and informed me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer at a local hospital but that the  doctors could not feel the lesion nor could they delineate it on radiographs. The treatment was a full mastectomy. My patient asked me what I would suggest if she was my wife. "SLOAN KETTERING  for a second opinion " was my response. She told me that I was the second person that told her that and she would call them immediately. The breast surgeon at Sloan COULD feel the tumor and her radiologist COULD isolate it on radiographs so the treatment was a lumpectomy. My patient survives and she remains a grateful patient.

On Friday, a relatively new patient, emailed me  asking for suggestions about a retina problem that he is having. I suggested either the Eye,Ear and Nose Institute in New York City or the Massachusetts Eye Institute in Boston.. My patient thanked me and informed me that he had an appointment at the EEN Institute in NYC next week. He also said the following:

"I appreciate your taking the time to help me with your thoughts in this area.  For some reason I believe that you not only are a great dentist but you probably have to know something about other parts of the body near the teeth to practice your profession.  Besides that you have a very caring heart."

As you know, I truly believe that the Doctor/Patient relationship is one of the most sacred of human relationships. It is not husband/wife or parent/child but it is right up there in importance. When another human being asks you to take care of them  and trusts that you will do so, it is an awesome responsibility.

Dentistry has never been about the money. It has always been about taking care of my patients....And I am very happy that it shows.