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Archive for the ‘Lumineers’ Category
Dr. Jason Pang meets Snap-On Smile inventor
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
This week I was fortunate enough to meet with Marc Leichtung the inventor of the Snap-On Smile. He was giving a lecture for advanced Snap On Smile providers and I was invited along. He is wholly committed to making the product as successful as it can possibly be and was giving us insights into the new manufacturing techniques and materials that make the product even better than before.
One of the new products that was made available was Snap-It! This is a product that only spans 6 teeth or less. It can be used in any area of the mouth to replace even a single tooth. It has been designed so that it does not cover the palate in any way and both protects and enhances the area where the missing/damaged/implanted tooth may be. It is manufactured with an advanced milling technique on computer so that the fit is perfect. The new material is even more flexible than before making it more durable and comfortable to wear.
He showed us many cases where the patients had been using their Snap-On Smile for over 5 years! When they come back to the practice for their periodic hygiene visits, he just gives the appliance a polish and it looks brand new again! He has his own Snap-On Smile appliance that he has worn on a daily basis for over 3 and a half years! Not only does it look great but he looks great with them on too.
While in the past it was only recommended to make the Snap-On Smile to one or two teeth past the last tooth in the arch, with the advent of mini-implants it is very easy to make a Snap On Smile with molars for chewing. And for patients that need something to improve the aesthetics while their standard implants are healing, the Snap-On Smile or Snap-It! covers them until they’re ready to be restored. For those interested in dental implants, please visit one of our Implant Open Days.
The Snap-On Smile is monochromatic ie. the entire appliance is made of the one selected colour, and while that looks great for most people, Marc showed us how to characterise the device. Individual teeth on the appliance can be made to look like a previously extracted tooth or made more yellow near the gum line for a more natural look. Some people have very distinctive teeth, and want to maintain that look as before. That’s all possible now in just a short time.
Other new things are the Lumi Smile which digitally simulates whitening, LUMINEERS and replacing missing teeth with the Snap-On Smile to show what your new smile will look like. I can’t wait for that to be available here!
There really are some exciting changes ahead so stay tuned!!
What is it you really want?
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011So many times we hear patients say that they only go to the dentist when they are in pain. And when the patient has a really sore tooth, all we can do is relieve their pain. We call this Emergency Dentistry. But is this really what the patient wants?
Sometimes it is but I think for others the questions is really,” Can you make sure that this does not happen to any of my other teeth?” or “Can you fix this tooth so I never have to think about it again?”.
If we know this we can put together a maintenance program with periodic recare appointments to ensure teeth are attended to when the issues are minor. Or we could repair the tooth in a porcelain material so that it not only restores the tooth, but also protects it during chewing and it will last a long time as the material is so strong.
When a patient is in pain, they just can’t verbalise what they really want. All their thinking is clouded by a red mask of pain. But extracting a painful tooth then means an empty space where the teeth was and a whole new set of questions about what to do with that space.
Likewise a patient does not come in thinking they really need to have a bridge, or a denture, a Snap-On Smile or an Implant. What they would really like is to be able to smile again and be able to chew their food without it hurting their gums.
I rarely have a patient come in saying they want veneers. What they ask for is whiter teeth, or a nicer smile or a different shape to their teeth. If I just made them veneers, I might make them something they like, but the end result may not be ideal.
It sometimes happens that the solution for their problem is completely different to what they might think. For example, if a patient has wants longer teeth, it might be as simple as a laser gum lift, it may be inclining the teeth forward with Invisalign, or even extruding the teeth with implants!
That is the wonderful thing about modern dentistry. There are now so many options to achieve the end result. More than ever it is important that we as dentists ask the right questions, and you as patients think about what it is you really want, and how much it is worth to you.
At Cosmic Smile Dental, we offer a complimentary smile consultation so you can tell us your concerns and we have an understanding of your dental values. We’ll show you some of the ways that we can get there and together we can decide how quickly we can make your goal a reality. Just make sure you think about what it is you really want =)
ZOOM teeth whitening of tetracycline stained teeth
Friday, June 10th, 2011I’m always getting comments about how white my teeth are, and getting asked by my patients if their teeth can look like mine. For most patients, they can. And it’s very simple.
My teeth were not always white though. When I was younger I was given tetracycline by a doctor. Tetracycline is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that causes teeth to get dark grey or brown banding. When the staining is severe, it can take many months of home teeth whitening to whiten the teeth to an acceptable colour. If the staining is too dark, it is not possible to remove the banding completely. The best solution is then to use Lumineers to mask the dark teeth which does not require removal of any tooth structure.
Lumineers on severely tetracycline stained teeth
Luckily my father who was a dentist, realised what I had been given and I did not take the full course of antibiotics. Still, for many years I had grey teeth that I was ashamed of. Over the years, I’ve done two lots of in-chair whitening and two complete treatments with home teeth whitening kits. Luckily my teeth were able to be whitened using both whitening systems in combination. The teeth are now a light natural white colour (B1 – see shade guide) and maintaining them is pretty easy. Keep them white only takes two or three sessions with a home whitening kit every years or so to get them back to the shiny white that they were.
Since it is getting to the end of the financal year we are offering Professional in-chair teeth whitening with the ZOOM or Sapphire Lumibrite system for only $590. This is such as great offer but it does not include the trays for home teeth whitening. It is really designed for the patient that already has them but just wants to get a quicker result. This offer is only valid until June 30th 2011. Give us a call for this or one of our other special offers!
LUMINEERS : The dentists’ choice
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011This week has been a LUMINEERS week. We seemed to have everyone come in for cementing of their LUMINEERS, getting final adjustments or coming in for review. Strange how things work out that way.
So, a dental colleague came to have LUMINEERS cemented. He has had gaps between his teeth, called diastemas, for close to 40 years and has not had any kind of cosmetic dentistry done to restore them previously. He finally chose to have them restored for several reasons:
- 1. He has learnt all about LUMINEERS and their placement
- 2. He now knows that it is one of the strongest ceramic materials available for restoring teeth
- 3. He knows that they have a limited lifetime warranty which gives him peace of mind
- 4. His teeth did not have to be shaved which means no temporaries had to be placed, and no sensitivity and nothing irreversible has been done to his teeth
- 5. They look great!
My colleague is a cosmetic dentist with years of experience, and I think that the fact that he chose LUMINEERS is a testimony to it being the choice of dentists. He is just one of many dentists I know that have had it done. With all the information and experience that I’ve had, I know that if I needed work like this done I would choose the most minimally invasive, longest lasting technique and would choose LUMINEERS.
