How has America changed?

The answer is very simple...We stopped wanting to be the very best. We decided that it is not necessary to PAY for the very best...The best teachers, the best doctors, the best universties.
In other words...Average is good enough.
Im sorry...I still want to be the best and if you dont think that you deserve having someone who strives for excellence take care of you....You probably won't want to be my patient.
Please think about this and consider being our patient.

Mentoring my young colleagues

Several months ago, I received an email from my mentor's staff asking me to consider teaching at his new direct patient care teaching facility in Scottsdale, AZ.
At around the same time, an online friend and one of the TOP One Hundred dental educators in the world sent me an email asking me if I would teach a course in Maryland in April.
Why am I telling you this?
I am honored to have people who I trust and respect, ask me to help other dentists begin their own path towards excellence. Both Dr. Frank Spear of Seattle, WA and Dr. Gregori Kurtzman of Silver Spring, MD, believe that I do a wonderful job of taking care of YOU, my patient, and they feel that other dentists would benefit from hearing me tell them about HOW I take care of you. I am honored that you give me the privilege to take care of you so that I can help other dentists take care of their patients.

Are you a 'regular dentist?'

Hi
I get asked this question all the time. People want to know if I only do cosmetic dentistry for patients or am I a 'regular dentist.'
I AM A REGULAR DENTIST. That said, I basically only fix teeth and restore implants. Specifially, I do fillings, crowns, onlays, and veneers. I do my very best to make my work rise to the level of art.
I have earned a Certificate of Proficiency in Esthetic Dentistry which means that I am a general dentist with a specialty in Esthetic or Cosmetic Dentistry.
If you are looking for a good restorative dentistry......then Iwould be happy to be your dentist.

Thanks!

For my current patients.
I thank you for your friendship and your loyalty these last 30 years in Troy, NY. While I still will see patients in my current Troy office for a while, this will be my last Christmas season in this location.
I owe my current patients a great deal of gratitude and thanks and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you all.
I sincerely hope to see you in Saratoga beginning January 7,2009.
The promise that I make to every patient is that I will ALWAYS try to do my very best.
My office motto has always been, "DO THE RIGHT THING.......PERIOD."
Gerald Benjamin

People actually read my posts

I was thrilled to learn yesterday that someone actually reads my post. A young (less than 25) patient informed me that she frequently goes to my website to read my blogs. It is good to know and I will continue to offer interesting ideas that you may not read anywhere else. If you want me to discuss a general topic in dentistry (I can't diagnose over the internet lol), please send me an email at drgcbenj@nycap.rr.com and I will be happy to think and blog about it.
Have a healthy and happy Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year

The simple fact: Quality costs more

Many of us who are older have finally come to accept and understand the old cliche, "You get what you pay for." There is a huge differences in quality of houses, cars, teachers, carpenters, lawyers and professional golfers (Recall Tiger Woods) The exception to this is dentists and dentistry where many folks believe that 'a dentist is a dentist.' My wife and I both flew to Seattle, WA because that is where the best dentists in the world are for the type of treatment that we needed and wanted. Now I drive 4-5 hours to Buffalo, NY to have my teeth fixed...
I know dentists and dentistry and I will tell you that a dentist is not a dentist and if you truly want great dentistry, It will cost you more than average work.

Floss to save your heart

There are plenty of published studies relating poor oral hygiene to heart disease, kidney problems, low birth weight and premature deliveries. If you value your health, have your teeth cleaned 3 times a year and brush and floss several times a day.
If I were a cardiologist, I would demand that my patients have 3 cleanings a year WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAD DENTAL INSURANCE.
Brush and floss to save your heart.

A different way to look at things

I want my physician to be paid to keep me healthy rather than get paid to make me well when I am ill. Likewise, patients should want to pay a dentist to let them keep more of their own tooth rather than pay a dentist (more) to cut down beautiful natural [irreplaceable] tooth structure. My restoration of choice to restore a tooth is a beautiful, strong, tooth conserving, bonded resin restoration placed under a rubber dam. The cost is several hundred dollars. My least favorite restoration, costing slightly more than a thousand dollars is a crown. Hint: Save your own tooth structure!
After a bonded resin filling, the best choice is either a bonded lab processed restoration or a gold onlay.

"The Billy Joel Question"

I am thrilled to announce that we have completed our new office at 18 Division Street, Saratoga Springs, NY and will start seeing patients in that office on January 7, 2009

Every week of the last 15 years someone would ask me the 'Billy Joel Question' of "Man What Are You Doing Here" in Cropseyville. And my only answer was that I have been here for 30 years and getting pretty 'old' to start over.

Last year it became obvious to my staff and me that we did indeed need to move if we wanted to continue to deliver fine restorative dentistry for our patients. Most dentists see more than one patient at a time or they schedule patients every 15 minutes. For the past 30 years, I have scheduled patients for a minimum of one hour with no 'double booking' because I wanted to deliver the best possible dentistry that I could.

There are two qualities that people should look for when they hire a physician, dentist, lawyer, accountant or even car mechanic...Is the person passionate about what they do and do they hate to fail. I am indeed very passionate about my dentistry and I hate when my work fails.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW OFFICE IN SARATOGA SPRINGS

Mercury filling ruling by FDA

I have placed strong,white, resin bonded fillings using a rubber dam EXCLUSIVELY for almost two decades. I stopped placing mercury amalgams for several reasons and now according to The Natural News http://www.naturalnews.com/024993.html, the Food and Drug Administration has reluctantly admitted that mercury fillings my be detrimental to pregnant women and young children...When mercury fillings are delivered to a dentist's office, there is a toxic materials handling fee. When a dentist removes mercury fillings from a patient's mouth, the mercury must be gathered up and treated as toxic waste. Up to now, the government believed that the only 'safe place' for mercury was in a human beings mouth!!!!!!!! Makes no sense. Well now the government agrees that for some groups of people, mercury fillings can be dangerous!
In any case. I place strong ,long lasting and beautiful white fillings that are a wonderful material for our teeth. Please see http://www.benjaminsmile.com/gallery-general.html for examples of our beautiful work.

"I don't want you to cut down my tooth, Doc"

I don't like cutting down beautiful, natural, healthy tooth structure to place a crown or an onlay...UNLESS, I absolutely have to. Why, you may ask? There is no material that I can put there that is better than natural tooth structure....NOTHING.
I have studied with the best in the world and have made it my goal to be a master of my craft so that I have many different treatment options available for my patients. Another thing is that our materials have become advanced to the point that they can tolerate the forces of biting and still last a long time.
So why do many dentists cut down so many teeth for crowns or onlays? Because it is hard to rebuild a tooth, takes a fair amount of time and because insurance companies won't pay dentists to encourage them to save natural tooth structure.
Don't worry though... If you are my patient, I will do my very best to help you keep your beautiful, natural tooth structure with a strong, beautiful direct bonded resin filling.

Why is this happening to me, Doc?

Many of us middle aged folks forget that most of our parents did not get to be our age and have all their teeth. In fact, we are the first generation in the history of the world to get to be this old with most or many of our own teeth. And we can thank American dentistry for this.
Last week I fractured one of my back teeth and it will have to be extracted later this week. Unfortunately, this is the fourth molar that has fractured and has to be removed and a dental implant placed. I'm not happy about this and neither are most of my patients when they come to my office with a similar problem.
There isn't a whole lot that any of us can do about this since these teeth had root canals and crowns 25-30 years ago and that is all we can reasonably expect these teeth to survive.
In any case, I am not happy about having to lose another tooth so you see that I am just like you when bad things happen to our teeth.

Dental Insurance

Dental insurance was created in 1961 to help pay for dental treatment. The limit in 1961 was $1,000. Let's put things in perspective for the year 1961: A nice house cost $14,000-$15,000; a car cost $3,500 and $1,000 bought more than 8 crowns. Almost 48 years later...yes you read that correctly... A house is $200,000, a car cost $30,000 and the limit on MOST dental insurance policies is STILL $1,000 which as many of you know, pays for less than ONE CROWN.
If dental insurance had kept pace with inflation and patient needs, the maximum benefit would be $8,500.
Interesting isn't it?
Dr. B