Mead Family Dental

"Do you have ESPN?"

The March Madness brackets came out on Sunday.  Shelly handed the remote to a patient and he asked, "do you have ESPN?"

Wait a second...this guy is at the dentist office!  And there are TV's?  And he can watch what he wants?  

Yup.  We have ESPN.  And a whole bunch of other channels, too.  

Shelly's pick: game show network...ideally Lingo or Chain Reaction

Doc's pick: How it's Made, Mythbusters or Spongebob Squarepants.  

But it's not about us.  It's about you.  What do you want to watch?  Let us know ahead of time and we'll have the channel on for you.  

Hey, if you've got to have some dental work done, you might as well watch what you want!

Should we set a channel for you?  Email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com or call us for an appointment at (989) 799-9133.  I would love to be your Saginaw dentist!

Microscope madness!

I've been a "magnfication junkie" for as long as I've been practicing dentistry.  I began using loupes (the magnfiers mounted on glasses) while I was still in dental school and began using a loupe mounted headlamp in 1998.  Many patients may remember that I would often forget to remove the fiberoptic cable from the lightbox in the operatory and I would practically strangle myself when I walked away.  Good times!

I have increased the magnification of my loupes from 2.0 to 2.8 to 3.8 and now finally to 6.0.  The greater the magnification the more detail I'm able to see.  3-4 years ago I attempted to move up to 8.0x loupes.  The problem with those was that I literally couldn't hold my body still enough for the magnification.  It was so much magnification that the slight movements I made while breathing, even when I was sitting still, made it impossible to see well.  Also, there really wasn't enough light, even with my new LED headlamp (brighter, not attached to the counter).  

So I had reached my limit of magnification.  Which was still awesome at 6.0, but I wanted more!  For years I had been kicking around the idea of getting a dental operating microscope.  I had seen them in the offices of root canal specialists and I had a chance to see them at dental meetings.  I had even tried them in my own office with demonstrations.  I held off on buying them because 1) they require a complete change in the way you work and 2) I didn't want it to become a very expensive coat rack in my operatory.

Finally, in November of 2010 I went to the Academy of Microscope Enhanced Dentistry (AMED) meeting in Santa Barbara, California.  I had a chance to see lectures from some very forward thinking dentists as well as try out all the different models and features.  

At the end of November I went ahead and got one.  
My only regret is not having done it sooner!  It takes care of the "not enough light problem" as well as the "slight movement of my body causing blurring of my visual field" problem.  

The microscope is a Seiler Instruments xR6.  I have a camera mounted on it that allows me to take high resolution still images as well as high resolution video.  My next project is to put high resolution monitors into the operatory that will allow patients and assistants to see what I'm seeing through the microscope in real time!

Why do I go through all of the trouble for my magnification habit, you might ask?  The answer is easy.  Better magnification makes me do better dentistry than I can do without it.  Simple as that.  Now that I'm incorporating a camera, it also allows me to communicate with patients and other dentists much better.  

This is one of the most exciting developments of my entire dental career!  I promise to keep you posted on this exciting piece of technology!

Questions or comments?  Feel free to email me at: alan@meadfamilydental.com.  I read and answer all of my own email and love to hear from readers of the blog! 

 

We've got wifi now.

So you're thinking, "O.K., Mead.  You're high tech.  You've got digital cameras, digital x-rays, TV's in the rooms and all the cool gadgets but...why can't I get on my computer with wifi?"

My only answer: now you can!

Just ask for a guest log in and password and you can merge into the information superhighway and have your teeth whitened at the same time!

The best shot ever!!!

Let's face it...no one likes needles.  Dental work is dreaded by many and for lots of them it's all about the shot.  As a dentist I'm supposed to talk about "adequate anesthesia" and "profound numbness."  I'm not supposed to mention the shot.  Good dentistry requires good pain control and that almost always means an injection of local anesthetic.  Which means...the needle.

I pride myself on being able to deliver anesthesia well.  But no matter how good I am there are some spots in the mouth where delivering anesthesia can be painful.  I think I've found the solution to this problem.  Enter the "STA."

This computer controlled anesthesia unit works by delivering anesthetic so slowly that it sneaks in under the patient's pain threshold.  I would be lying if I told you I wasn't skeptical of this technology at first.  The company was so so sure of their product that they allowed us to try the unit out before getting one of our own.  My loyal staff/guinea pigs allowed me to give them shots with this machine to prove to ourselves that it really was painless.  To our surprise...it works as advertised!  I actually remained skeptical until I was able to have another dentist give me a shot with it just this weekend.  I can say from experience that I couldn't feel when he was numbing me.  The other cool thing about being numbed by the STA is that your lip and tongue don't get numb along with your tooth!  I've found a lot of technologies that haven't really panned out for dentistry, but I have to say this one really delivers!

We think that the Mead Family Dental experience is pretty special.  This new technology is truly icing on the cake!  We'd love to have you come experience how comfortable and enjoyable taking care of your teeth can be!

Call us for an appointment at (989) 799-9133 or email me at: alan@meadfamilydental.com.  We'd love to hear from you!

Come see our new baby!

O.K.  So it's not a REAL baby.  The office just had a new digital panoramic x-ray machine installed and frankly it's VERY exciting!

Now I am known to get excited over things that the average dental patient might not get that excited about.  However, this high tech machine is bound to make your dental experience quicker and easier. 

In 2007 our office switched to digital x-rays which use 1/5 as much radiation to take phenomenal images that appear instantly on a computer monitor.  This machine is similar but takes an x-ray of your teeth and jaws within 5-7 seconds!  A panoramic x-ray is useful in many situations:

• shows wisdom teeth, even when they can't be seen in the mouth!
• it can show developing permanent teeth in kids of all ages
• helps determine the need for braces
• can show pathology (cysts, tooth infection, "extra" teeth or congenitally missing teeth) that often can't be seen in other types of x-rays
• patients who don't tolerate films in their mouth can finally have a thorough but comfortable x-ray experience

Probably the best part about all of this is how easy it is to have a panoramic x-ray taken.  The machine zips around the outside of your head (no uncomfortable film or sensors to bite on)in about 7 seconds with no discomfort.   On top of that, the amount of radiation that a patient is exposed to is about 20% of a conventional film x-ray.

Most insurances cover a panoramic x-rays and Kathy can give you the details about your coverage.

For an appointment or more information about our panoramic x-ray machine or any services available at Mead Family Dental please email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com or call the office at (989) 799-9133.   We're happy to hear from existing patients as well as anyone just interested in their dental health!