1. Welcome Message from Dr. Hack
2. What’s New? 
3. A Success Story: An Inconvenient Tooth
4. Recommendation: Dental Implants
   
5. Offers
6. Rhymes With Gingivitis: Cartoon by Fritz
7. More Dental Trivia

Welcome Message
Dear *|FNAME|*,

As you read our sixth monthly newsletter, our current and past patients are still enjoying the content, before/after success stories, and more. So if there’s an article you particularly like, please let us know.

Keep smiling!
Mike Hack

What’s New?

NEW DVDS TO WATCH. If you’re a patient with an upcoming appointment, we have a vast library of DVD movies for patients to watch. Some of our most popular movies are: 

• Comedy –– “The Freshman”, “Igby Goes Down”, and “Kissing Cousins”, a romantic comedy written and directed by a patient’s son.
• Drama –– “Breaker Morant”, “Gallipoli”, and the Oscar®-winning “A Man For All Seasons”
• Music –– “Standing in The Shadows of Motown”
• Sports –– “When We Were Kings” (Mohammed Ali/George Foreman “Rumble In The Jungle” in Zaire)
• TV –– “Curb Your Enthusiasm” for shorter appointments.

A Success Story: An Inconvenient Tooth
Karim’s teeth were malpositioned with spaces between them. We initially did composite bonding, but it chipped and fractured so we decided to do more durable porcelain veneers. (I wish I had the photos of before I did the bonding.) Now he smiles with confidence, knowing his teeth are beautiful and natural-looking.

Recommendation: Dental Implants
Most people these days have heard of dental implants, but not everyone knows what’s involved. The history of the current generation of dental implants goes back forty-plus years to Sweden where they were discovered accidentally by an orthopedist by the name of Ingemar Branemark. He was doing an experiment on a rabbit using titanium as a vehicle to attach electrodes to its femur. Upon attempting to remove the electrodes, the bone broke and the titanium broke before the bond of the titanium to bone fractured. I like to say that I would have probably decided to use another medium instead of titanium the next time. But Dr. Branemark was more intellectually curious and figured that there may be ways to take advantage of that strong titanium-bone bond.

The rest, as we like to say, is dental history! It took about 15 more years for the concept to get to this country and there have been countless improvements and modifications since that time. We are not really sure why the titanium bonds to bone. It’s believed that an oxide layer that is formed on the exterior of the titanium integrates with bone cells. Thus, the term “osseointegration” is used to describe the process.

So what is the procedure? First, the number and desired position of the implants is determined by the surgeon and restorative dentist (that’s us). The bone level and quality is carefully assessed by means of X-rays and/or MRIs. When the aforementioned analysis has been completed and has been approved by the patient, the implant(s) is/are inserted. The implants are covered for three to four months while the integration process takes place. After that period of time, it is uncovered and the crown(s) can be made in much the same way a crown is made for a natural tooth: an impression is taken, sent to the laboratory which fabricates the crown, and it’s then cemented in place. The whole procedure is painless and done in the Financial District Dental offices.

Implants have revolutionized dentistry. Before implants, we had to go to almost heroic lengths to save teeth. Now a tooth that is extremely questionable can be extracted and an implant can take its place. They can actually be stronger than natural teeth and, depending on the situation, can have a 96-98% success rate, which very few procedures in either dentistry or medicine have. Questionnaires have unequivocally determined that people are completely satisfied with their dental implants, which often given patients a renewed ability to chew and smile. That can be life-changing for some people, so it is therefore one of the most rewarding things we do in dentistry.

Offers
Lots of our patients are asking us about this popular offer. To brighten your teeth, take  advantage of our BRIGHT, WHITE OFFER –– Teeth Whitening for just $173 (normally $453).

And, as part of our “Refer A Friend” Program, if you refer someone to our office and they use our FREE WHITENING offer, they’ll pay just $367 for a comprehensive examination, cleaning, a complete set of X-rays, and FREE whitening (normally $453). That’s a savings of $200! And for referring someone, we’ll give you a Gift Card good for FREE WHITENING for yourself.

BOTH OFFERS EXPIRE OCTOBER 31, 2009.

Rhymes with Gingivitis


Dental Trivia
The correct answers to patient Gil Zeimer’s May/June Trivia Quiz regarding movies about famous dentists who had other careers were: 1) Cary Middlecoff (golfer); 2) John Henry ”Doc” Holliday (gunslinger and friend of Wyatt Earp; he and Dr. Hack both went to the same dental school, the University of Pennsylvania); and 3) Val Kilmer (who portrayed “Doc” in “Tombstone”.
 
No one has just correctly answered our July Trivia contest so we’re running these questions again. These questions focus on more questions about more dentists who became more famous with their second careers:

Question #1: What California-born dentist made Olympic swimming pool history?
Question #2: What dentist once played football for the Oakland Raiders?
Question #3: What current high-scoring European soccer player was a dentist?

Congratulations to our May/June Gift Card winners: Annette K. and Matt D.

FALL TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
The first three responses to correctly answer these questions will receive a Starbucks Gift Card. Former winners are not eligible to participate.
RESPOND

© 2009. Financial District Dental. All Rights Reserved.