Cosmetic Dentist
Serving New York City & Manhattan, New York
May/June
2001 |
Cosmetic Dentist Article
Serving New York City & Manhattan, New York
Departures
Magazine
"Super Teeth"
Selected
excerpts
You're
relaxing in a fully automated, precision-adjustable
chair. Soft music fills the room; there's a TV and
a fireplace, a comfortable sofa, curtained windows and
cut flowers. The only clue that this is a dentist's
office - and it may not be much of a clue if you're
used to conventional dental techniques - is the small,
flat sensor in your mouth.It's
connected by a thin wire to a computer,
and as you take in the surroundings an x-ray beam is pulsing briefly
through your teeth, then into the sensor, which will
record the image of the teeth and transmit it to the
computer monitor. In
three seconds (six for a panoramic view of your teeth)
the digital x-ray image will be before your eyes, 400
percent bigger than an ordinary x-ray image. In the
"old" days of straight x-raying, you'd be
sitting in a sweaty chair for 15 minutes waiting for
film to develop. Moreover, the digital approach cuts
your exposure to x-rays by as much as 90 percent, an
advantage not only for the patient but for the dentist
and technicians who operate the machines.
Now
the dentist clicks a mouse, zooming in on a suspicious-looking
tooth, rotating, sharpening, and colorizing its image.
With the mouse he traces an area of decay, a cavity,
clicks again, and prints out a color copy. If you still
associate cavities with needles and pain, take heart -
to
the rescue comes The Wand, a computerized injection
system that blots out the sudden prick and burning sensation
of a shot (discomfort that is mostly due to the pressure
created by the flow of anesthetic.) A thin needle attached
to a pen-sized wand is placed near the gum, but before
the needle actually makes contact, a drop of anesthetic
numbs the surface tissue; as the cosmetic dentist gently glides
the needle into the gum, the tissue just ahead of the
needle tip is deadened by the anesthesia - and once the
needle is fully inserted, the computer takes over and
slowly releases a stream of pain-killer.
Worried
about the drill? Put on a pair of goggles, and instead
of suffering the anguish of waiting for the terror-triggering
whir, all you'll experience is the coolness of an air-abrasion
system - a thin, high speed stream of air-blown microscopic
particles that gently removes decay from your tooth in
a jiffy. A couple of missing front teeth? Piece of cake.
They'll bond a paired, natural-looking set right in,
and you'll be biting into food far more substantial
than cake in hours.
On
a recent visit to one highly regarded practice, New
York's Thirty-Third and Third Dental Associates, we
watched Manhattan Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Michael Iott, a whirling dervish of modern
dentistry, go into almost single-handed makeover mode
on what he called "an easy day": In three
hours he bleached a set of teeth, performed laser surgery on a receding gum line and sent the patient out in time
for lunch, placed two shining porcelain veneers on another, installed
a difficult and unusual bridge to replace a young man's
front tooth that had been missing for years because
no one else could figure out how best to do the job,
and did a CEREC-driven restoration. Taking a break from
his instant instrument sterilizers - from spectrocams
that do instant color analysis for perfect shade matching
in restored teeth to intra-oral cameras, plasma arc-lamps
that set the glue for veneers, and all the various mixtures
essential to what is now known as adhesive dentistry -
lott
says, "When I got into dentistry twenty years ago
I was not interested in advanced technology. Now I've
got a reputation, I'm willing to try anything that is
scientifically proven, and when I see patient satisfaction,
time saved, and great results I say, 'How can you not
do it this way?'"
"In
fact," says Dr. Iott, "I find I have to talk
some people out of dental work. They might decide they
want a veneer, and they figure that the guys who advertise
will always do it. But I wouldn't do one just to cover
something up. That's a lot of dentistry to accomplish
what a simple bleaching can often do."
Please contact our Manhattan Cosmetic Dentist Office for an initial cosmetic dentistry consultation with New York City Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Iott where you can meet his talented cosmetic dentistry staff and learn about the cosmetic dentistry procedures they offer.

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