What Does Comprehensive Dentistry Mean to Me?

So what is comprehensive dentistry and what does it actually mean to you? When I was trained in Dentistry, we learned a basic skill set. We learned how to identify a problem and how to fix that problem for you and that is how medicine and dentistry has been for several years. What I realized when I started to go through more and more education courses is that, if we take a step back and we look at the big picture and not just maybe one isolated problem, maybe we can get to the root cause and find out why these things are happening. So for me, we modeled out entire practice on the idea of the less expensive, less involved and less potential pain you give to things before they actually become issues so what that tells us is that we need to be practicing a model of preventive care vs. reactive care. So let’s go over what that is – reactive care is when a tooth breaks. Now you call your dentist and you find out that – Oh I need a dental crown or I need a root canal. Maybe this is something that could have been preventive care years ago with a proactive approach. Maybe it is something as seeing you more frequently for your cleanings or making over the counter recommendations from one of our hygienists, or finding out why teeth have been breaking over the last several years and in some of our patients – maybe it is just a small fix or in some patients it might be a bigger fix which means we need to get more involved.

Years ago if we had just taken again a step back and said okay the tooth broke – why? Maybe it was just a bad bite – not just in one area, but overall. Maybe the teeth had worn to a point where now you are more susceptible to needing more care, maybe you have lost the tooth and you lost that tooth because of something that could have been taken care of not just yesterday or the day before that but many many years ago – if we had taken care of you gum disease in your 30s or 40s instead of waiting for your 60s or 70s. So we like to talk to our patients – whether you are 5 years old or 95 years old, about trying to keep your teeth for a life time. We also do this by working and being a part of the metal community now more than ever so I will talk with your physician your medical specialist. Not just my dental specialist as things we have identified in our office that might be a little different from what we are used to like taking your blood pressure at every visit. I have an example and his name is George, George came to us he had not seen a physician in several years but he had a tooth ache. He came to us and he had a dangerously high blood pressure to the point where we actually had to get him to the emergency room. He was this
close to having a cardiac event. That is why we practice the way we practice and screen for the things we screen for. I know people in my family that have been over weight that have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and believe it or not dentists now a day can help assist your medical specialist in that diagnosis. We look in your mouth more than any other provider in the world. SO now we have an opportunity to work with your medical professional to identify your risk for things like sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. So that is why we have comprehensive in the name of our practice because we are not just looking at
teeth anymore we are looking at the whole you.