The Word from Charlie – Virtuoso

Dear Patient,

This website was created to help you, the patient, make an educated decision about any dental work you may be in the process of starting or planning for the future. It is in your best interest to better understand what goes into maintaining your oral health and these are some of the questions you the right to ask:

• How is the dentist perceived in his dental community, by his peers?
• Do they continue their education and implement what they have learned into their practice? Do they strive to be the best and give their patients the best quality care?
• Do they use in house equipment to provide services, a small quality dental laboratory or will they ship your case to a large commercial lab, with hundreds of employees?
• Will your case be produced here or overseas to better control their laboratory expenses?

You should also know if your dentist has a close team of partners; periodontist, dental technician and hygienist, so they can work together with you to provide the best possible oral care. A good dentist will have an open line of communication with each partner to make sure that you are well informed and a key component of the decision making process. After all, this is an investment you are making in your oral health and it is important that each step is explained to you in a way that you can understand. A good dentist makes sure that everyone on the team has the same goal in mind: to always strive for an esthetically pleasing restoration that improves the quality of life and oral health of their patients.

Finally, I am going to write a few words about today’s technologies in dental offices and dental laboratories.

So many new CAD (computer – aided - design) and CAM (computer - aided - manufacturing) systems are available to all of us and using these technologies does make the entire process of replacing missing teeth easier and faster. However, many patients do not realize that the crown that your dentist will provide for you is not made by that same dentist. It is created in a dental lab, such as Diamond Dental. The dental technician with solid education, years of training and experience uses many intricate steps which result in a life like appearance and functionality - the ultimate goal of tooth restoration and replacement.

Many dental offices are now using in-house equipment thus replacing the dental technician as one of their partners. One thing you have to keep in mind is that your dentist has education and years of training to provide you with a healthy oral environment and in most cases only a few months to a year, maybe two, to recreate the natural aesthetics of a missing tooth using this equipment. In my opinion a crown in a one visit does not work for every case because esthetics, not function, is compromised.

Also many dental laboratories are using different design software’s and large milling units to create crowns as a replacement for missing teeth. This is a trend that is happening now in the dental industry and principally is a very positive occurrence. But this also creates a scenario where many dental laboratories are relying almost solely on these machines, thus not fully utilizing the dental technicians creative and artistic ability to produce a natural custom made replacement for your missing tooth.

In my opinion, technology is a positive reality and it does give us the means to do more and to do our job faster - just as any other tool would. At Diamond Dental we are very careful not to rely on this in such a way where individuality and artistic ability of dental technician will become a thing of the past.

Replacing missing teeth is very costly to you, the patient, so my suggestion is: do your homework, check your options and ask a lot of questions.

Thank You

Charlie M. Cajdric CDT, MDT