Dirty, Lying, Stealing, Crooks

Who could I possibly be describing?

Insurance Companies of course. All they care about is profit and by denying you coverage of your benefits, they earn lots of money at YOUR expense.

Prove it, you say!!!

Remember that I told you that virtually EVERY mercury filling and Every crown that has lasted 25+ years will have leakage, tooth decay or both underneath.

EVERY ONE!!!!

I replaced two 30 year old crowns for a patient in April and we received a note from her insurance company stating that the X-Ray showed no reason to replace the crown.

But

As you all know, I photograph virtually every tooth that I fix for you. See photos below:

Look at the tooth decay on the INSIDE OF THIS CROWN

You do not have to be a dentist to see all the tooth decay on the inside of the old crown or the decay on the supporting teeth.

The Insurance Company will pay for the replacement crowns!

But now even YOU  can see why I call them Dirty, Lying, Stealing Crooks.

Would You Like to See Great Dentistry?

This patient came to my office 3 years ago for veneers. I informed her that she was not a good candidate for veneers because too much tooth structure would have to be removed from her teeth which would weaken them dramatically. BUT, I informed her that Dr. Cooney, my orthodontist, could straighten her teeth with  Invisalign Therapy in a relatively short period of time and that it was important for her to pay him a visit.  Dr. Cooney showed the patient how he would move her teeth and what the final result would be. The patient accepted his recommendations and he successfully moved her teeth. It was then my job to remove her old mercury fillings and all the tooth decay underneath them and rebuild her teeth with very strong bonded resin fillings with no healthy tooth structure being removed. I will tell you with the highest degree of confidence that the vast majority of dentists would have placed crowns on virtually every back tooth in theses photos which, by my count would be 10-11 crowns. In my office, the total cost for crowns, if I did them would have been about $18,000-$20,000. In my office, the bonded resin fillings cost approximately $4,000. Not only did the patient save a considerable amount of money but more importantly she saved her OWN TEETH. (Aside: I thought that Dr. Benjamin is very expensive? Do the math $18,000 minus $4,000 is a saving of $14,000. I am ALWAYS offended when people say that they heard that I am very expensive.)

Sorry for the diversion.

Dr. Cooney calls this one of the most amazing cases that he has ever done and one of his favorite cases. He lectures all over the Northeast lecturing about this case and dentists are amazed by this case. I am honored to have treated this patient and to have contributed to her happiness and joy when she saw the results. And what do dentists from around the world say when I posted this case on DentalXp?  They too are amazed and I hope that you are too.

One of my colleagues wrote the following on a dental forum:
Hi Gerald,

That’s some freakin’ awesome dentistry!  The ortho call was 

obvious, but to restore all those teeth with “just” composite 

is clinically amazing.  

I would’ve likely done crowns on #’s 3, 4, 13, 14, 19, 29, and 30, 

and composites on the others needing restoration.  Frankly you saved 

the patient lots of tooth structure and money.  Congrats!

Here We Go Again

A neighbor stopped me in the hall this evening and told me that the word on the street is that I am retiring:

IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM NOT RETIRING ANY TIME SOON!!!!!!

Many of my patients are more concerned about me going away than I am.

I do my very best dentistry today, JUNE, 22 than any day in my career. Why would I retire?

For my entire 40 year career patients have expressed their fears that I would retire and 40 years later, I am still here.

By the way....was anyone else offended when the President said that he had to go all the way to Indiana to find hard working Americans.

Really?

I usually work about 50 hours a week...Is that hard enough, Mr. President?
My last vacation was 1986...Is that hard enough, Mr. President?
I don't care how you feel about the man but he has no right to be disrespectful of those of us who have worked hard our entire careers.

Crowns are Valued by Patients

Dentistry has done a great job with convincing patients that crowns are a very good thing and should be valued. Resin bonded fillings are a mediocre restoration and should take little time and should be cheap.

Unfortunately, the truth is just the opposite.

Crowns are the worst possible restoration for a tooth and should only be placed as a treatment of last resort when no other restoration will save a tooth. The lone exception is back teeth that have had root canals which MUST be protected with crowns.

Patients have been convinced that having a crown is a very positive thing and their insurance company usually even pays for HALF of it which further supports the belief that crowns must be a good thing.

The BEST way to save a tooth is to leave the most amount of natural tooth structure when restoring or fixing a tooth. A crown takes the MOST amount of tooth structure and dramatically weakens the tooth. So why is a crown so valued?????

Placing crowns is a good way to make money.

A good way to save teeth is for the dentist to learn to place well done bonded resin fillings under a rubber dam. Many dentists will tell you that the hole in the tooth is 'too big' for a filling...Sorry that usually means that there is a lack of talent to place a well done bonded filling under a rubber dam.

To sum up this lecture: Well done bonded resins placed with a rubber dam are highly beneficial for a tooth and crowns are highly destructive  to a tooth and should be used sparingly.

(And in my office, you can have 3 1/2 well done resin posterior fillings  for the cost of ONE CROWN.)

OK class dismissed.

(PS: I expect this blog will make many dentists very unhappy.)

No One Gets Bored by Compliments

I received the following card the day after I treated a patient:

I never get tired of receiving thank you cards and notes of appreciation from my patients. I have probably received hundreds of cards like this one over my career and I know that other dentists receive them as well.

What I try to do every day of my professional life is to pursue excellence and try to be one of the best dentists ever. Any dentist that does not try to be the best has become accepting of mediocrity. Most important to me is that many of my patients take notice of our efforts to deliver excellence and be as good as we could possible be.

Why would any patient want to go to a physician or dentist that does not strive to be the best?