Dentaltown October 2023 - 48

OFFICE VISIT
You love surgery. Tell us some of
your favorite procedures and musthaves
for surgical treatments.
If there are any dental procedures that
involve blood, I'm doing them-from
full-mouth extraction cases with
alveoloplasty, immediate implant
placement with surgical guides, bone
grafting and tori removals to incision
and drainage.
For these kinds of treatments,
I recommend:
* NuOss Plug 80% xenograft
particulate/20% collagen.
This combination with collagen
allows for the bone graft to be
compact and extremely easy to
place into sockets, especially on
maxillary teeth.
* Luxator periotomes. Especially
for root tip extractions. The thin
blade allows for cutting on the
membrane around the tooth to
gently ease it out of the socket.
* #MD3 Mead serrated extracting
forceps. The beak-like shape
of these forceps allows for a great
grip around the neck of premolars
and incisors, which means less
bicep action during extraction.
* SMOP or SprintRay printed
surgical guides. Guided implant
surgery should be the standard
of care. We should be using
advanced machinery and imaging
technology to deliver predictable
surgery outcomes for our patients.
Tell us about a case you're
especially proud of.
Many patients I see have delayed dental
treatment, so my practices tend to
see a lot of people who need dentures.
Nothing makes me prouder than
giving a smile back to a patient, so any
What's a trend in the profession
you love? What's a trend you're
not crazy about?
I love digital dentistry. I am the least
tech-savvy person you'll meet-I even
had a tough time trying to turn on my
OCTOBER 2023 | 48 | DENTALTOWN.COM
case that involves my patients loving
their new smile is my favorite case!
What I'm even more proud of is
how far Aspen Dental has come as an
organization in producing denture
products of high quality and aesthetics-both
particularly important for
me and my patients. Materials have
evolved since the initial launch of
digital dentures years ago. I've been
able to evaluate many of the materials
and, with no surprise, there were
failures during these iterations. But
with constructive feedback from
both patients and doctors, this led us
to the next generation of products,
which have drastically improved. Pictured
below is a case in which I used
SprintRay High Impact and Lucitone
digital-print materials.
newly purchased laptop. But when I
say I'm excited about the digital trend
in dentistry, I'm not kidding!
We have completely incorporated
the digital workflow in our office.
From intraoral scanners to printers,
we have been able to increase efficiency
in the office, decrease production
time, and enhance product
quality without sacrificing patient
care. This is a trend I'm hopping on!
What I'm not particularly crazy
about is how dentistry is treated
differently than other areas of health
care. For example, patients are
more willing to wait a few weeks or
months for other health care appointments
than they are to wait for a
dentist appointment.
As providers, we always want to
put our patients first, so we've done a
great job at adapting, but as a whole,
dentistry is increasingly held with a
high level of convenience standard.
As someone who is leading multiple
practices, this can get tricky with balancing
schedules and work-life balance,
and having thicker skin when it
comes to negative online reviews.
What's your most controversial
opinion regarding the profession?
Dentistry is so divided about corporate
versus private! Whether you
choose to work with an organization
that allows you to focus solely on
dentistry or decide you can manage
all aspects on your own, we're all
still dentists, and our common goal
is still the same: to treat our patients
with the highest standard of care.
I'm surprised by how many negative
comments I receive when I tell other
dentists that I'm the owner of an
Aspen Dental practice.
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Dentaltown October 2023

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