So, we’re busy. As you well know. And we love it. We love meeting you and helping you smile with confidence. We also love to learn and grow as practitioners. We spend a lot of time going to events in our industry and studying our craft so that we can always offer what we think is the best service for our patients.

A few weeks ago we attended an American Dental Society of Anesthesiology event in Las Vegas. We were informed about the new discoveries and best practices about “taking a nap at the dentist.” Yes, we have offered this service for a while but we are always wanting to do better. It all has to do with providing IV sedation. It totally helps those of our patients who are nervous and overcome with fear about dentists. Some have put off getting care because of these fears, now there’s a better way.

Personal note: Dr. Coles has had two new additions to his family. They added two grand babies to their growing family. It was fun for them to go and visit their family in Memphis and Phoenix.

The health care bill just passed. No doubt this brings mixed emotions for a lot of you. I just wanted to let you know about some changes that you can expect on the dental side of things.

A lot of people talk about the massive changes that will take affect regarding health insurance, but lest we forget, dental insurance is wrapped up in the bill as well.

The ADHA has worked closely with lawmakers to help shape the bill. So how did it turn out? Here’s a quote from an article posted by www.medicalnewstoday.com about the bill:

“HR. 3590 contains a number of oral health provisions including a mandatory oral health benefit for children (up to age 21) as part of any essential benefits package offered through health insurance exchanges called for in the bill. The legislation also recognizes dental hygienists as primary oral health providers through the inclusion of dental hygiene providers, students, and education programs as eligible entities for workforce development funds. Additionally, the legislation provides for 15 demonstration grants to train or employ alternative dental health care providers to evaluate emerging workforce models that improve access to oral health care. Public health dental hygienists, independent dental hygienists, advanced practice dental hygienists, and dental therapist models are listed models eligible for the grants.”

The ADHA published a PDF that breaks down the impact the bill will have on dental hygiene. You can download the PDF here.

We have just returned from a great meeting for the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology (ASDA). It was in Las Vegas, and we learned a lot. We try and get to as many conferences and dental events that we can because it’s important to us that we’re on top of all the new trends and advances in our trade.

The entire Total Care Dental team attended, and we improved our skills in administering IV sedation to our patients. The ADSA is the only organization in dentistry that focuses on improving skills in sedation. They had some great speakers, and we learned many techniques to improve the patient’s experience while receiving IV sedation. We have been members for several years, and our goal is to help our patients have the most comfortable dental experience anywhere, at an affordable price.

As many of you heard, our office was inundated with what seemed like a tidal wave of water about a month ago. It goes without saying that one cannot underestimate how cool insurance can be. Pretty much the entire place is going to get a once over. We all can’t wait for the shiny new goodness.

Since the flood, we’ve pick up the pieces, well we’ve really just bootstrapped the pieces back together to that we’re not camping out at the neighbors office anymore Everything is rolling together like it’s supposed to. Just like the “ante-deluvian” days.

So… that being said. You’re welcome to come take a look at the damage. Even if you just want to stop by to say hi, we love that too. You don’t need an appointment for that, we’d love to see you any time but if you’re due for a check up. You can now reserve an appointment online. We’re taking a step up in the online world here folks! Just trying to be a little convenient is all

P.S. Join our Facebook page. It’s staring at you in all of its glory just to the right —->

I just returned from attending the 35th annual USC International Periodontal and Implant Seminar in Los Angeles California. Janet King and Dee Webb attended with me. The world leaders in implant dentistry were there. We listened to speakers from Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Korea, And the USA. It is exciting to be part of this discipline in dentistry, and learn about the changes that are happening around the world.

The theme of the conference was “The Age of Speed”. It focused on decreasing the amount of time that it takes to do implant dentistry. Some of the advances are exciting.

Most people won’t believe this, but it is possible to extract a failing tooth, and replace it immediately with a new tooth the same day. New grafting procedures make it possible to place implants in positions that make the new teeth look and feel just like the originals.

We are able to predictably do things that I never thought were possible 30 years ago. To be able to restore people smiles, health, and self esteem is exciting. To not only help patients be more comfortable and chew better, but to have teeth look and feel like new is exciting.

Our goal is to stay on the cutting edge in the field of implant dentistry. If you have missing or failing teeth we would love to discuss options to help you. You can easily schedule an appointment online or give us a call.

From Dr. Coles

This is Dr. Coles. I couldn’t be more excited. I am on the plane returning from the 115th annual event of the Crown Council. The Crown Council is an organization of exceptional dentists that stand for excellence and service. Dr. Jorgensen and her team received awards that I would like to tell you about.

Dr. Michelle Jorgensen received her lifetime achievement award. This is no small achievement. It takes 5 years, and is an exciting award for any dentist, especially those in the Crown Council. Michelle’s dentalteam received the Best Team Award for 2010 out of all the teams that had bids submitted throughout this last year and during the annual event. Yeah! We congratulate them for continuing to push forward and become even better at what they do. They certainly deserve it. We will have a video of them receiving the award posted on our website. We’ll keep you posted.

Remember the controversy surrounding cloning, and all the stir about stem cells and such? Well, science is always trying to figure out ways to rebuild what’s lost or wrong in our bodies. We would love it in dentistry too – wouldn’t it be cool if you could regrow a lost tooth?! We’ve introduced a cutting edge technology at Total Care Dental that doesn’t involve regrowing teeth or cloning sheep, but we think it’s just as amazing.

The technology is called Protein Rich Growth Factor (PRGF). That name alone sounds impressive… but just wait until you find out what it does. Do you hate to smile because of missing teeth? Do you know someone with dentures that can’t eat the foods they love? We can’t grow new teeth, but with PRGF, you can eat and smile again. We take your Growth Factor – yes, it comes from you, not someone or something else – and we use it to help rebuild your gums and restore you teeth with dental implants.

We’ve been using this technology for a couple of months, and have been astounded at the results! Patients have reported very little or no pain after their appointments, even on the day of surgery. And the healing – it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen.

As far as we know, we are the only dentists in our area using PRGF. We’re thrilled to be able to offer this to you, our great patients. If you have questions about how PRGF could help you, give us a call. We love to show off our new toys!

In case you don’t check your mail, we’ve made getting access to our newsletters quite simple. All you have to do is go to our newsletter page and download it straight to your desktop. There’s a special link where you can download our current newsletter.

This is ideal for those that aren’t on our mailing list. If you’re not on our mailing list that means you haven’t been to our office, which means that you need to come to our office. We can take care of that in just a couple seconds.

There’s a big button at the top right of this page that says “Click to Schedule an Appointment.” Just click the button and you’ll have your appointment requested instantly. It’s that easy.

Smiles

For our inaugural blog post, we are feeling a little reflective.   Four days ago, on Tuesday January 19^th, we walked into the office to a very unwelcome surprise.  Our washing machine had jammed mid-cycle and had gushed water into the office all night long.  Everything was covered in at least an inch of water.

Being new to this flood thing, we didn’t know where to even start.  We called a disaster cleanup crew, and the fun began.  We thought a few fans, some good wet vacs – that should take care of it…  Evidently we don’t know anything about water.  The cleanup crew immediately began cutting and tearing up all the carpet and throwing away the pad underneath.  We could handle that – then the baseboards went, followed by huge chunks of the sheetrock.  We have been out of the office all week, and it’s gone downhill from there!

We wallowed in poor-me world for a little while and stressed about how we were going to put things back together.  Then something much worse happened.  A very good friend of the family, Maurice Lacayo, passed away suddenly after a fluke accident at work.  We feel devastated for his sweet wife Yolanda and three little children.  Maurice had one of the biggest and best smiles ever (and being in the tooth-business, we know smiles!).  Kind, generous, thoughtful – that was Maurice.  All of a sudden, a little water doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Thankful is how we feel now – thankful and blessed.  We’re thankful for our families, for our work family, and for all of you as friends in our dental practice.  Carpet is just carpet, and walls can be repaired.  The things that matter most weren’t touched by the flood.

We have one favor to ask all of you.  As you come to the office in the next couple of months, join in as we joke and laugh amid the mess of reconstruction.  Let’s help each other remember how blessed we are.