Seeing is Believing

Seeing is Believing

                The hardest job for a dentist is to explain to patients the need for dental care before it HURTS  or BREAKS. I hear it every day “if it’s not broken then don’t fix it”.   The problem is if you wait until it hurts or breaks, you have waited TOO LONG!  That’s where the cost of dentistry goes way up.  When you go the tire store the technician generally put a penny in the grove of the tire to illustrate how worn it is.  If your tire is excessively worn you risk the possibility of bad traction which can lead to an accident. Do you drive with worn tires or do you get new ones?  If you let your old restorations wear out you are at a higher risk of your filling cracking or leaking.  This can lead to more serious decay resulting in a crown or infection leading to the possibility of the root of your tooth dying. Once the root dies you will need a root canal followed by a crown. I ask myself all the time why people don’t question the need for a new tire but they question or disregard recommended treatment for their dental health!!

 

In today’s world Dentists have 2 tools to help you “see” your own teeth and help you see with your own eyes why you need to accept your dentist’s prescribed care.  All x-rays let your dentist see the inside of a tooth and help them diagnosis cavities, bone loss, abscesses and abnormalities to name a few items. Digital X-rays deliver 90% LESS radiation then the typical film x-rays.  With the aid of the digital x-ray your dentist can display the x-ray of your tooth on a monitor and it can be printed up on a large scale. Your dentist can point out all of his or her concerns to you with the visual aid of the x-ray. The second popular tool dentists use today is a hand held intra-oral camera, which is the size of a pen. It can magnify a tooth up to 90 times.  Generally your dentist projects the image on a computer screen or a TV screen. By magnifying your tooth, your dentist can point out to you the small cracks in your teeth, how much your fillings have worn down, color changes in your gum tissue and on your teeth, and many other abnormalities that are not picked up on x-rays.  These are very important observations and complete the picture of the health of your mouth.   

Please don’t put off changing out those old fillings for new ones if your dentist suggests it to you.  You will save your tooth and also save a lot of money!!

                                                                                                                                                                    

 Please remember to swish, floss, brush and swish again every day and see your dentist regularly.

Please visit my website roberthwaldmandds.com and click on the Dental Video tab to learn about many dental procedures.

Keep smiling.

J Dr. Rob 

                                 

FOR CHOCOLATE LOVERS!!!!!!!!

YES!!!! IT IS HERE!!!! CHOCOLATE TOOTHPASTE!!!

CREST JUST CAME OUT WITH NEW FLAVORS OF TOOTHPASTE.

Crest calls the new toothpaste, "Be Adventurous". The flavors include:  Mint Chocolate, Vanilla Mint and Lime Spearmint.  I have seen them for sale at Walgreens and CVS and online.

Try it you may like it:)

As always remember to "Swish, Brush, Floss and Swish again!

Please visit my website, roberthwaldmandds.com, and you will find many helpful videos which will explain many dental treatments.

Keep Smiling.

:) Dr. Rob

Layaway Plans At the Dentist!!!!!!!!

Layaway Plans At the Dentist!!!!!!!!

You heard right!  Lay-a-way has always been a successful tool in budgeting your spending.  Yet I recognize that many people have not seen a dentist this year. Guilt on those who have benefits and fail to use them.

When I get asked "how is the Affordable Care Act affecting dentists" I smile when I hear that children are supposed to be covered by insurance until they are 26 years old. But does this mean that most or all children will have dental coverage? Adults now have to actively take a roll in buying medical insurance for themselves and their family but is dental insurance still optional for adults?

I find most people with dental insurance do not know what it costs them per month let alone per year for dental insurance. I try to make the case that preventive dentistry is very affordable. I hate when I  hear people say that they cannot go to a dentist because they don't have insurance. When I tell patients that you don't need dental insurance to go to a dentist and that a year's worth of preventive dental care costs less then $500. a year (that's less than $42. a month) most are surprised and say they try to get a family member who is no longer on their insurance plan to call for an appointment.  Most realize that if they can just plan and budget there is no reason they cannot continue to receive affordable and excellent dental health care.

That's where good old fashioned "Lay-a-way" is an approach I offer people.  Why not tell your dentist that you would like to pay for dental care by making monthly payments in advance and built up a small credit that you use at a future scheduled preventive care appointments. By making small payments you built a strong relationship with your dentist and become an active patient who can expect emergency and after hours services at any time. When you don't have a dentist it may be harder and more expensive to be seen for pain.  When you have no track record and you're looking on the Internet or in the yellow pages to find help... its not easy to find.

Talk to you dentist and ask them how they can help you afford your care.

 And as always remember to "Swish, Brush, Floss and Swish again

Please visit my website, roberthwaldmandds.com, and you will find many helpful videos which will explain many dental treatments.

AND KEEP SMILING:))

Dr. Rob

Elder Confusion

Elder Confusion

This  story  hits too close to home... I just found out that my mother-in-law, has been refusing to go to the dentist and when she did go, she refused to let her dentist take X-rays of her teeth! At 87 she felt no pain and didn't feel it was necessary to maintain the good habits she always practiced and preached to her family. Because they don't live locally, my wife and I cannot do as much as we would like to support our parents in their later years. We have been engaged in discussions of her medical health and helped advocate seeing specialists for changes in medications which have greatly improved her mental state. However this whole time we assumed she was continuing the high level of dental care she had committed to many years ago. We knew her "new" dentist when her original dentist retired. We knew the periodontal specialist she was alternating hygiene visits with. We thought we were very engaged in helping her stay healthy, especially her oral health.

Dental problems in our later years can come on swiftly and devastate even the healthiest of mouths. The excuses I've heard were "I'm just too tired at bedtime to brush my teeth", " I've been good and watched my diet my whole life, a little candy now can't hurt me", "I didn't want to go to the expense of dental care when nothing bothers me".

My mother-in-law's dentist was nice enough to email her X-rays and to review her treatment options with me. 7 teeth need to be extracted because of gum line cavities that could have been easily filled if found earlier. Prior to this she had lost only 1 out of 28 teeth! That tooth was lost 2 years ago and at that time none of the other teeth were decayed. She was getting her teeth cleaned 3 times a years and proud of the preventive dentistry she was more than happy to ask for.

Too often our parents are giving up on their teeth figuring its not important and it's too expensive. I think the opposite... Prevention is still the most cost effective way to be healthy. Our seniors should be strongly encouraged to see a dentist for X-rays at least  once a year and should have their teeth cleaned as often as possible because preventative cleanings are cost effective. It's very difficult to tell a senior that they are in good health but they outlived their teeth and now they must sacrifice their teeth in order to be healthy or else risk pain and infection.


Please tell your parents to Swish, Floss, Brush & Swish again and make sure they are still seeing a dentist (hopefully your dentist).

Please visit my website, roberthwaldmandds.com, and you will find many helpful videos which will explain many dental treatments.

Keep Smiling!

:) Dr. Rob

NO DENTAL INSURANCE...

NO DENTAL INSURANCE...........

With or without Insurance Dentists are there for you!

Our neighbors are my patients and my patients are our neighbors. I love Concord because Concord reminds me of my home town growing up, filled with diverse and hard working people. Having said that people always surprise me! I have a patient of over 20 years told me the other day that when her husband retires they will no longer have dental insurance. Then she asked me if she can still come to my office even if she didn't have dental insurance. "Of course you can"  I continued to explain to her that you don't need dental insurance to see a dentist and most dental care is very affordable.

Many people may think that if you don't have dental insurance you can't be seen by any dentist. Most people don't have dental insurance and the Affordable Care Act isn't necessarily selling dental insurance. But what puts the idea into people's minds that their dentist only sees people who are insured? Why do people who are insured feel that they can only go to a dentist "on the list" ?  Please remember that unless you have an HMO dental plan you can go to any dentist you choose and the coverage is usually the same.

We dentists do provide a very important service. I have found relationships with my patients to be very personal.  I tell all my patients my number one job is to tell them what's going on in their mouth not necessarily to fix everything. Medicine and Dentistry of the 21st century should be participatory.  Yet people surprise me when they say "if it's not broken, I won't fix it".
There's the rub! People with and without dental insurance wait until it breaks and it hurts and then complain about the cost of dental care. In real estate it's location location location. In dentistry its prevention prevention prevention! People need to stop making excuses, take responsibility and connect with a dentist who personalizes their care and takes a long term preventative approach to their health care needs. There is a phone book full of dentists yet 50% of all Americans do not see a dentist on a regular basis, only when it hurts.

During these summer months you owe it to yourself whether you have insurance or not to find a dentist who will be there for you and anticipate your needs and plan conservative affordable care with treatment options, instead of "just putting out fires".

"Swish, Brush, Floss and Swish again, and find a dentist who you can have a Great personal relationship with!

Please visit my website, roberthwaldmandds.com, and you will find many helpful videos which will explain many dental treatments.


Happy Summer!!!

Keep Smiling!

:) Dr. Rob