Bicon Dental Implants in Austin
Dr. Widner and I have planned and placed over twenty of these implants to date. I have begun restoring them and have been please with the outcomes. So bottom line is that I believe that this tool has a place in my armamentarium and I look forward to applying the Bicon system to more advanced and more complex cases moving forward.
American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Scientific Conference
I flew up here to check out this organization. As I shared in January, I have been looking for the next challenge in dentistry to help keep things interesting around 38th Street Dental. Well, I have found it. The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) is a large group of quality minded dentists AND lab technicians. I spent three days looking at work and listening to speakers talk about contemporary aesthetics and realized that I WANT to learn from this group. I got so excited that I spent one afternoon taking their written accreditation exam and hopefully, in July, I will learn that I passed the exam.
So at the end of three days of school, I can honestly say that more great things are to come in my search to learn more about delivering fantastic and in some cases, unbelievable dentistry. Stay tuned!
Then Naturally Aging Dentition…Mother Nature Makes Them Crowd!
So here is what those little retainers look like:
We can fabricate a set of these for you to wear once week for just a couple of hundred dollars. So for modest fee, you can protect that orthodontic investment and keep your smile looking young, vital, and perfect!
Feeds and Dust-TImes are a Changin'
If you have been by the office in the last fews weeks, I'm sure you have noticed the construction going on around the front desk. We are preparing to tear our the old admin station and install the new admin desk and make room for a new operatory. We are planning our big demo day for April 20th and I am so excited to get on with expanding our physical plant. By the middle of May, we are hoping to be ready to have new equipment installed in the operatory and be ready to handle emergency and limited care issues out of this new bit of clinic real estate. Meanwhile, please excuse our dust!
Best regards,
Dr. M
FAGD…It's official! I'm headed to Philidelphia!
I received notification just yesterday. The Academy of General Dentistry approved my application for the Fellowship Award. If you have been following my little doctor blog, you'll understand that I am very excited about making it across the finish line of this goal I set in October 2010. The process involved lots of lectures and travel without my honey to not so ideal metropolitan areas, but I brought a lot of good information and education back to the practice. Since taking on this project, I have added invisible braces to our practice, increased delivery of "no prep" veneers, begun to address oral pathology in office versus referring out, increased the quality of the endodontics delivered, and begun delivery of moderate complexity periodontal surgery. All of this stems from taking on a greater understanding of current treatment modalities and techniques. I plan to continue accumulating additional hours of education in the upcoming months. As I have shared previously, I am investigating fellowship with the Academy of Cosmetic Dentsitry so stay tuned! Meanwhile, I'm headed to Philly to accept the FAGD award in June!
Academy of General Dentistry: The Expansion of the Esthetic Vision
I spent Friday as the guest of Randy Kunik, orthodontist, and Steve Widner, oral surgeon, at the Sarver lecture here in Austin. Dr. David Sarver is a widely published orthodontist that focuses on the esthetic aspect of orthodontics and its relationship to restorative and cosmetic dentistry which, as you know, I am very interested in. We spend so much time focusing on the specific procedures relative to what we do as restorative dentists that it was good to hear about cosmetic dentistry from the perspective of another specialty. If you have ever visited with me about cosmetic dentistry, I have likely shared with you that most cosmetic issues are not just about the teeth and Dr. Sarver spent the day talking about just this: the multidisciplinary nature of well designed cosmetic dentistry.It was a very nice day of good information from a real student of dentistry. It was also wonderful to have this opportunity right here in North Austin at the Pickle Campus. Thanks to the AGD and Steve Widner for the opportunity!
A New Year Brings a New Challenge
The New Year always makes us stop and think about what we would "like" to become in the next year. With the completion of the Fellowship award from the Academy of General Dentistry, I feel like its time to look for another educational challenge. In thinking about the kinds of issues that my patients consider important, aesthetics and cosmetic dentistry comes to mind first. In realizing that, I have found an accreditation program through the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentists that seems to mesh well with my interests in dentistry, the issues that are important to all of you that support me here at 38th Street, and my desire to challenge myself professionally. So, it looks like the next three years will be directed towards that end.
The accreditation is very challenging. Only a handful of dentists in the Austin metro area have managed to complete this program because of its massive number of case requirements and testing. I am hoping to stike hard at the educational aspect of this in May and then work steadily towards the fifty case submissions over the course of the next two to three years. There will be opportunities for those of you in my care to help and when those times present, I'll reach out and ask for willing participants.
Here's a link to there site:
