Why the Direct Resin Mockup IS Important

After thinking about a Smile Makeover for the last 5 years, you FINALLY decide that you are going to have it done. You go to a few dentist's websites and you make 2 or 3 appointments to talk to the dentist.
You also realize that you are used to looking at yourself in the mirror and see that huge space and you find it hard to imagine what you will look like with it closed.

If I was one of the dentists that you consulted with, I would perform a direct resin mockup so that you can visualize, in advance of actual treatment, whether you would like your new look. Many times when I hand my patient a mirror to see what a new smile would look like, they will say:
"It doesn't even look like me." and burst into tears of happiness.

Make your dentist step up and show his or her talents  to you before you let them treat you  so that you know what they are thinking . Both the dentist and the patient need to be on the same page with regards to treatment, expectations and outcome.

The Dean Pays Me a Visit

I refused to step inside of my dental school for the first 15 years after I graduated from SUNY/Buffalo because of how poorly the school treated the students. After almost 40 years, the majority of dentists that graduated in 1977 have refused to give any financial support to the dental school.

In 1994, I decided to forgive the sadistic treatment that my classmates and I received at the hands of the Dental School  and became involved in creating the world's first Dental Esthetic Center within a Dental School. The school became nationally recognized as "The Place" to learn about cosmetic dentistry.

The full time faculty hated the Esthetic Center and forced it to close 7 years after opening. When the Esthetic Center closed, I again withdrew from the Dental School despite being appointed Associate Clinical Professor (visiting). I have made a few visits to the school to  teach the top seniors at the request of my chairman.

This evening, the Dean of the School made a journey to Saratoga to request that I re-establish my relationship with the school. The Dean stated that he wants my expertise in restorative and cosmetic dentistry so that the students will learn  standards of Excellence.

I told him that I would have to think about this.

I Can't Believe It

Moore, Oklahoma has been struck by many tornadoes over the years including the most powerful winds every recorded on earth at 303 mph. This made me wonder why  few have storm cellars  and schools don't have basements.

I was watching Anderson Cooper this evening and  I learned the answer to my question.  Anderson asked the same question that I asked and was able to find the answer.

I hope that you are sitting down:

It is not required by law and  it would cost too much money to build a basement in a school.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  People need the government to pass a law to  MAKE them do the right thing?

One more thing? The people of Oklahoma don't want any government telling them what to do (like building a storm shelter) but when bad things happen, the first thing the people do is to call the Federal Government to give them money...

Am I the only one that thinks that something is wrong with the thought process of some folks?

Read about this subject in today's New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/shelter-requirements-resisted-in-tornado-alley.html?pagewanted=2&hp

As one of the builders pointed out, they want demands for storm shelters and basements to come from the people and not the government. And how is that working for them?

65

Yesterday was my birthday and became 65. It is a magic number that even the government recognizes as the official start of the beginning of the end of your life. The government forced me to take a government handout  (Medicare) even though I work full time, earn a good living and would rather have remained on my previous insurance plan. I would have preferred have my own insurance and when I retired have the option of selecting Medicare if I wanted.

Well I am now in the final quarter of both my life and my professional life and to date, have few regrets which is a good thing.  I have had two surgeries in the last two years but both have healed well with little if any residual pain. Susan and I played 9 holes of golf yesterday and neither my shoulder nor my knee played any role in my lousy performance. lol

What are my goals in my final years of dentistry and life?  I want to do the best dentistry of my professional life and I want Susan and I to remain healthy and active.

Very little else really matters.

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.