Health Talk: An Inside Look at Dentists

Each year millions of Americans will visit a dentist to get relief from pain, gum disease, and everything in between. Dentists are a dedicated group of professionals yet they face unique challenges.

According to leading doctor Dr. David Burt, “The biggest challenges facing dentistry are two fold. The first deals with the enormous amounts of technology available to dentists today and their fear of learning, embracing, and absorbing these technologies. Most dentists are taught ancient skills in dental school and then consider them to be dogma. Only 4-5% of the dentists in the country use CEREC or have a laser in their practice? Amalgam is 100 years old. Do we have better materials which are more biocompatible, esthetic, and safe? The second challenge deals with the access to care of the large segment of the population who do not have the financial resources for comprehensive care." Dr. David Burt has been practicing 29 years in a group practice.

Dr. Lawrence Dario of www.ritoothandimplantcenter.com said,” My biggest challenges are educating patients about treatments that are available to them, educating patients that dental insurance is not insurance but merely a benefit, and finding enough time to do all the work!”

The biggest challenge facing the American dentist is keeping abreast of advances in medicine and health care and its impact on the practice of dentistry. As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon I must always be current in the advances in oral surgery and oral medicine as well as general medical advances,” says Dr. Gerald Fine of Boston and Stoughton, MA Go to www.drfine.com or call (781) 344-7100 for more information.

My challenges are keeping high quality in the age of managed care- actual value and worth and taking out time for patient education to create perception of value and worth,” said Dr. Frederick Nau

He can be reached at 212-755-3030 or www.drnau.com

Our biggest challenges are dealing with the exceptional growth in our practice and the stress if places on the systems and staff and facility needs adds,” Dr. Bill Williams

J. Eric Hibbs DDS of Dallas said,“ The biggest challenge facing dentists is dental insurance and the effects it has on patient-dentist relationships, and how patients perceive and select dentists. Another issue is the mounting challenge of running a small business. Most dentists are not adequately trained for this aspect of dentistry and have to learn by trial-and-error. Finally, there is the ever-increasing pressure patients feel to spend their hard-earned money on things other than dentistry, combined with dentists' desire (and new-found ability) to make a substantial income. This has lead to dentists marketing their practices heavily, something that was once thought to be unprofessional/unethical, and is now common-place.”

As a high end Cosmetic Dentist, I find my greatest challenge is communicating with my patients. They all want big white straight teeth that they see on others, yet sometimes their own mouth has limitations precluding those same results. Sometimes, when questioned in more detail, they really don't know what they want. Patients don't know the names of teeth, the types of smiles etc. I spend allot of time condensing my four years of dental school and 34 years of experience into a 30 minute consult. I try to get inside "their head" and visualize their teeth as if I were looking at them through their eyes in their mirror. My second greatest challenge is patient follow up and home care compliance. I feel that I care more about my patient's teeth than they do. They spend a small fortune in my office, then neglect to come back for routine hygiene and maintenance. My third greatest challenge is keeping on time. Trying to juggle the challenge of trying to create perfect results with the economics of time constraints and patients individual needs can be stressful says,”.Dr. Albert J. Kurpis of Ridgewood, NJ.

To contact Dr. Kurpis at 201-447-9700.

Dr. Arthur Thurm is one of the very few general dentists certified in the administration of general anesthesia for general dentistry. According to the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology. He’s author of "A Consumer’s Guide to Avoiding Painful Dentistry"

He says,“ I don’t like going to the dentist any more than you do. Despite thirty years in the field and having helped thousands of nervous and phobic patients overcome their fears, restoring smiles, chewing function and self confidence, I don’t like sitting in the dental chair either. Unlike most of my patients, I don’t have a fear or phobia keeping me away from dental care and disease. But like most of my patients, the actual “event” of sitting prey in a dental chair, is most disturbing to me as well. The most common complaint among my patients is the fact that they have had an unpleasant prior dental incident. The experiences, which many patients relate, sound as if they have been through a nightmare. But after hearing the various stories, most of the problems that occurred in the dental chair are incidents of pain that could have been avoided. Many of these patients are adults with the history dating back to their childhoods. In defense of some dentists there are many patients who cannot tolerate traditional dental care.”

Dr. Thurm is located at 925 Haddon in Collinswood, NJ. To learn more, please visit www.thurmdental.com or call 800-858-2820.