Dental Info

  I like shopping at Ikea. The prices are great and the furnishings are good looking, but I have some traditional furniture that I inherited from my mother or purchased from crate and barrel that has held up extremely well and I expect it to serve me well for many years to come. My Ikea purchases have  not always held up as well. I have thrown out all the rugs I bought there after several years and I do not purchase any upholstered furniture there.  There are some parallels that can be drawn with dentistry. Are crowns and other restorations the same regardless of which dentist we choose to help us? After all, all dentists we see are licensed and have received the same training in dental school? Also if I see a dentist with a well maintained dental office and busy practice, (with lots of nice google reviews) they must be pretty good? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, since the test of quality dentistry is how it holds up over time. Also the ability of a dentist to treatmen...

 The goal of dentistry should be to help a patient preserve their dentition  to minimize tooth loss and preserve their oral health. A dentist's ability to help his patients becomes apparent over the course of the time a patient is under their care. Recalling patients for check ups and cleanings is a key component as well as proper diagnosis and treatment planning will help further this goal.  Patients can help themselves by  maintaining  a good diet,  oral hygiene, and by following their dentists recommendations.  I believe a patients cooperation is one or the most important factors.   Using a well designed electric tooth brush and cleaning between your teeth either with floss or an interdental pic or brush will tend to keep the tooth surfaces free of plaque.  Plaque can cause both cavities and gum disease and the ability of a patient to keep their teeth clean between their recall appointments is a key to maintaining oral health. Th...

  Ok, I confess to loving spaghetti westerns, samurai movies as well as some of  Bruce Willis' movies. I also love movies with Don Quixote type themes. One man fighting against the odds in a corrupt and immoral  world. That being said the last few years, between my time spent teaching and maintaining my dental practice have definitely reinforced this sort of world view.  Five years ago , I shared my  floor with five  other dentists, an opthamologist, an internist and an acupuncturist. Now I am the last remaining of these tenants. My floor still has neighbors but they all have  moved to the 6th floor in the last year. The fact is that the last three years have been a rather wild ride here in NYC and many people that I know, patients included,  have moved away from NYC. Others working mostly remotely from our suburbs. Thankfully they still come into to see us for their check ups and cleanings, just not as frequently as before when it was more c...

  A   rōnin  ( / ˈ r oʊ n ɪ n /   ROH -nin ;  Japanese :  浪人 ,  IPA:  [ɾoːɲiɴ] , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') [1]  was a  samurai  without a lord or master during the  feudal period  of  Japan  (1185–1868)  word  rōnin  literally means 'wanderer'. It is an idiomatic expression for 'vagrant' or 'wandering man', someone who finds the way without belonging to one place. Probably I have been binge watching too many Japanese Samurai dramas, but the thought occurred to me that young specialists  sometimes display some similarities to Ronin Warriors. They may have developed mad skills but they have no allegiance  to one dental practice. Instead they can function like hired "gunslingers" who work for wealthy practices that desire specialists to work part time one to 4 days a month. More and more  dental  practices are choosing to provide  dental specialties services in h...