Armed to the Teeth
By Natalie Slater
Filling in one day at the reception desk of his wife, Dr. Margaret Mitchell’s dental office, Jeffrey Doan noticed that even though her patients seemed to love her, none of them appeared all that eager to see her. Determined to change this, Doan and Mitchell created Mitchell Dental Spa, a revolutionary approach to dentistry in the professional suites of Water Tower Place. Patients are treated like guests at a high-end spa, offered champagne and Frappuccinos at check-in and given complimentary spa treatments after each appointment. “Wouldn’t you rather go to the spa than the dentist?” asks Doan.
It’s not uncommon to see patients at Mitchell Dental Spa sitting on leather couches in plush robes, sipping Nutrisoda and looking over the treatment menu which features a lip-replenishing treatment, several types of massage, aromatherapy, facials and more.
Dental spas, lofts and even boutiques are popping up all over the country as dentists tune into American’s reluctance to get regular check ups. Even traditional dental offices are turning to high-tech cosmetic procedures and painless practices to put those ideas about sadistic, drill-wielding dentists to rest.
Sliver and gold teeth are great if you’re a pirate, but for the rest of us, Dr. Kenneth Milin of Winnetka Contemporary Dentistry recommends composite, or white fillings and porcelain crowns. Not only are the old fillings dark and unattractive, but studies have also shown that composite fillings can make teeth stronger. Composite fillings bond with tooth enamel and form a permanent seal, whereas metal fillings expand and contract with heat and cold, weakening teeth over time. Perhaps the most appealing feature of white fillings, however, is the fact that they require less removal of tooth structure. That’s less drilling for your filling- always a good thing.
Now that you’re fillings are pretty and strong, you’re going to want to brighten up that smile, and there are a number of quick and easy ways to do so. Tooth bleaching and whitening systems have been around for about 10 years, but new products like Zoom2! can get your teeth six to ten shades whiter in as little as 45 minutes. Many dental offices have an array of whitening products and your dentist can work with you to find one in your price range that fits your lifestyle. There are several in-office procedures from bleaching to lasers and some dentists even offer at-home treatments, which are stronger and more effective than over-the-counter whitening systems.
Most patient anxiety stems from a fear of pain, but modern dentistry counters this fear with “painless” procedures. Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, is probably the most notorious form of pain control in the dentist’s arsenal, and it’s still very useful today. But there are a plethora of other modern options to keep you relaxed and comfortable in the dentist’s chair. Some dentists offer conscious sedation, which can both ease the nerves and save time. Under sedation, patients are awake and comfortable and can sit for multiple procedures. Problems that might have taken months or even years to treat before now require as little as two visits.
Many dentists now use topical numbing solutions before administering injections; this numbs the mouth and changes the feeling of getting a needle in the gums from a tearful event to an annoying little poke. A device called The Wand is also used in high-tech offices to administer local anesthetic. Surprisingly, the needle itself is not what causes the pain you feel when you get a shot. Rather, it’s the pressure from the amount of liquid being administered. The Wand controls the amount, administering smaller measurements and eliminating pressure. Because less medicine comes out at once, it also cuts back on the post-op numbness, which is handy for those of us who prefer not to drool all the way home.
Even with advances in pain control, some patients find themselves at the mercy of their own imaginations. The mouth is numb, but the sight and sound of the drill is enough to make us imagine we can feel everything. For this reason, many dental practices like Mitchell Dental Spa offer flat-screen TVs in every exam room, noise-canceling headphones and massage chairs. “Dentistry at its core isn’t all that pleasant,” explains Doan, but extra amenities like these are “as good as dentistry gets.”
Shows like ABC’s “Extreme Makeover” have made complete smile makeovers one of the most popular cosmetic options today, and even with some procedures costing upwards of $1500 per tooth, a new smile is still one of the most affordable ways to a “new you”.
Tooth bonding and veneers are two dramatic ways to change your smile. Bonding can close gaps and repair chipped teeth, and although as a concept it’s been around almost 25 years, advances in materials and techniques have made bonded teeth virtually undetectable and very long lasting. But the strongest and longest-lasting restoration modern dentistry has to offer, according to Dr. Milin, are veneers. Veneers are an extremely thin layer of porcelain, permanently affixed to existing teeth to make them appear whiter, evenly-spaced and uniformly sized. A bad veneer job can be worse than a bad set of real teeth, so Doan warns patients to be conscious of what lab their dentist uses to create veneers and false teeth. The lab Mitchell Dental Spa produces some of the most beautiful, realistic veneers on the market, even incorporating microdots of color to create shading and to complement the patient’s skin tone and eye color. These veneers have texture and hand-sculpted detail; each tooth is individually rendered by painstaking professional “tooth artists.”
Another futuristic technique dentists are using in smile makeovers is the gum lift. Gum lifts, or cosmetic soft tissue recontouring, use lasers to reshape gum tissue, exposing more tooth enamel and eliminating the appearance of short, square teeth. Dr. Milin says this procedure is very effective on teenagers who don’t yet appear “adult” because their teeth haven’t fully emerged from the gums, and never will without dental intervention.
As dental technique evolves, says Dr. Milin, diagnoses also evolve. Dentists these days are venturing more and more into the medical field- treating acid reflux, Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder and even diagnosing oral cancer. This exciting innovation can result in a healthier, more beautiful smile, and it can also save your life. Not every dentist has access to the equipment to diagnose and treat these problems; in fact, Doan says there are only about 1100 Joint Vibration Analysis (JVA) devices, machines that gauge the amount of vibration present in the TMJs, in the country.
So if you don’t know a JVA when you see one, how do you know if your dentist is up to par? Doan recommends patients check for several criteria when shopping for a new dentist. First, of course, your dentist and his or her staff should be friendly and helpful. Second, says Doan, “If the office isn’t clean, turn around and walk away.” There is no excuse for an unsanitary exam room, and most dentists are up to code on this; but if you are suspicious, ask about the autoclave and trust your instincts. Third, ask if the dentist wears loupes (pronounced “loops”). Doan says any dentist over 35 years old should wear the magnifying binoculars for optimum patient care. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, inquire about your dentist’s continuing education. A top-notch dentist will attend several classes a year to stay on top of every new procedure and technology. Dr. Mitchell attends several such courses each year, spending upwards of $50,000 to stay modern.
Most of us will never equate an afternoon in the exam room with a day in the park, but advances in pain control, technology and cosmetic procedures are making it easier than ever to walk in -and out- of the dentist’s office smiling.
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