Let Me Say It Again

I cannot say this often enough:

I AM NOT RETIRING!!!!!!!!

Tricia says that the reason we are not attracting a lot of new patients is because people think that I am old and will be retiring soon and why would anyone start with a new dentist that will be leaving..

I will be taking care of tens of thousands of teeth before my retirement. AND I can make sure that patient's mouths will do well for the next 15-20 years after I am gone so that they won't have to worry about problems.

I am STILL doing my best work today AND my colleagues around the globe can attest to that.

Something to think about.

Hats Off Night? Not in 2018

For the first time in 20 years, the City of Saratoga did not host a Celebration (called Hats Off) for the opening of Saratoga Race Track.

In my opinion this is poor planning on the part of our local government. I know that our Government  did not was not the prime mover in this event but the City of Saratoga should have pushed businesses to continue with the tradition of an opening Celebration.

Sad....

Another Farewell

I have been going to Pilates at the Reform Pilates Studio, located right next door to my office, for the majority of the time that I have been in Saratoga. Last week, the owner decided that the Studio was going to close at the end of the Summer.

Had I not taken Pilates twice a week, I probably would not still be working full time...It is THAT important.

Like my office, Reform's reputation was that it was excellent but expensive. As you can imagine, I adamantly DISAGREE with part of that assessment. Both Reform Pilates Studio and my office always aimed for excellence and in today's business environment, that is truly exceptional.

With regards to dentistry, making large sums of money is dependent on cutting down lots of healthy tooth structure for crowns. What is NOT healthy for teeth: cutting them down for crowns and the use of crowns must be limited especially in young people. I have NEVER destroyed your teeth for my personal gain....NEVER.

For Reform Studio, having a beautiful environment to strengthen our bodies was important. It is very hard to provide excellence in a place that is old, run down and moldy.

If folks think paying to stay healthy with Pilates is expensive then they should try paying for illness which is tens of thousands of dollars more costly....

Many Americans no longer feel that excellence is important and/or worth paying for.
I emphatically disagree and when excellence ceases to exist, folks will find out how TRULY expensive mediocrity is.

PS: We have had one of the slowest months (June) in more than a decade so I fully understand
Reform Pilates Studios situation.

80 years and Farewell

Bill and Lee started in my practice around 1980. Each has been an exceptional patient in that they always accepted my recommendations. Bill is moving to the Northwest and Lee, now in his mid 70s has decided that traveling from Albany is too much of a challenge for him at this stage of his life.

I am so honored to have taken care of both of these patients the past 4 decades.

I have always been saddened when a long-time patient passes away, moves away or can no longer make the journey to our office.

Thank you Bill and Lee; you have my deepest gratitude and appreciation for your loyalty.

I wish you both well.

What Things Should Look Like

This is what a perfect, beautiful strawberry should look like. Unfortunately, this is NOT the strawberry that we find in our super markets. So what do we do? We buy it because we lower our standards and buy the strawberries even though they are half ripe.

This is what beautiful direct bonded fillings look like. Unfortunately, 90+% do not look like this nor do they last the approximately 20+ years that these fillings will last. Why? Because the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that a dentist is a dentist and a filling is a filling... Show me your fillings and I will show me mine. Yes quality costs more but you will save your tooth for your entire life and perhaps you will avoid a tooth destroying crown.

What Do Other Dentists Think About MY Work?

The last THREE teeth on the left of the photo are examples of my DIRECT RESIN BONDED FILLINGS.

But you don't see anything?

That is the beauty of the technique that I use to do YOUR fillings. And this is why my work is lasting more than TWENTY YEARS. When most dentists are cutting down your teeth for crowns, I am buildup UP your teeth with strong, long lasting conservative Composite Resins.

So what do some of my colleagues that I know for 20 years think of these fillings when I posted them on my FACEBOOK page?

Excellent as usual

You are the master of direct (RESIN)

There are reasons that you have selected our office for your care. Excellence is one of them.

Young Dentists

I am still on several Facebook Dental Forum for what reason, I don't know.

I am what is described as a Fee For Service Office  (FFS) which means that I do not permit an insurance company to tell me and you what is best for you. The majority of dentists in the country do participate with insurance which in actual practice  means that they don't spend as much time with the patient, use cheaper materials and labs, don't use a rubber dam and run from room to room treating 2,3 or 4 patients at a time.

The best clinical dentists in the country tend to be FFS....with little exception.

Today a young dentist asked the question on the forum if the other dentists charge a patient if a crown comes off after two years.  The majority of young dentists blame the patient for 'SOMETHING' that they did to cause the crown to come off and charge the patient.

My stated opinion was that well done crowns DO NOT COME OFF regardless of what the patient does or does not do.

One young dentist said that, "You must be a FFS dentist who spends more time with their patients  (paraphrased) and you are one of the lucky dentists who can do that.)

Sorry, young dentists have to learn to be better clinical dentists and to treat their patients with dignity and respect. Well done crowns do not fall off...Period.

The young dentist has perhaps 5-8 years of experience and he has the audacity to challenge  a well regarded clinician with 40 years of experience who is still working 5 days a week i.e. not a relic. lol.

Where does a young dentist get off offering an opinion to challenge an expert in the field. After all, the only thing that I do is fix teeth and restore implants.

PS I will be teaching senior dental students at SUNY/Buffalo in the Fall...

The Apprentice (Not Political)

This is the lead story at 10:48 on CNN Website:

Justice Dept. says it's lost track of some parents

Isn't it time that someone gets fired???

Stupity and Rudeness

Friday night in July in Saratoga is usually mobbed and trying to go to a restaurant between 7 and 8 pm if you don't have reservations is next to hopeless.

We were at one of our favorite restaurants tonight and 8 people walked in without reservations and asked for a large table to seat 8. The restaurant seats about 65 people and a table for 8 does not exist without reservations. The owner, very kindly informed the people that they could have 2 tables for 4 and they became ENRAGED. One elderly man used the F word to express himself in conversing with the owner. To his credit, the owner requested that the 8 people remove themselves from the restaurant.

America is in big trouble and it is because people think that it is acceptable to be rude and nasty EVEN when THEY make a mistake.

Will we survive?