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Is Cosmetic Dentistry a Luxury?

December 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Before Whitening

After One Hour In-Office Whitening

What is Cosmetic Dentistry?

Cosmetic dentistry describes procedures that restore or enhance your smile.  These include dental crowns, bridges, dental implants, porcelain veneers and whitening.

Even simple whitening can have a dramatic effect on your appearance. The before and after pictures to the left of one of or patients shows what can be achieved in just an hour.

The top reasons my own St Louis patients are having cosmetic dental procedures to restore and update their smiles include:

Single and looking for a mate. Often the confidence that comes from having a great smile transforms an introvert into an extrovert. For many of our patients, a new smile is a life transformation.

Professional Image. For professionals, executives and any career that dealing with people, having a nice smile is no longer just a competitive edge. It’s a necessity.

Health-conscious. Maintaining the functionality of your teeth is vital to overall health and its impact is felt more as you get older.  So many of our patients are health conscious. They exercise, eat right and try to stay away from medications. These same pateints understand the importance of maintaining the functionality of their teeth. These are people who do not want to have dentures in their older years.

So, is cosmetic dentistry a luxury? For many, that’s like asking if you can afford to exercise or eat right.

Filed Under: Cosmetic Dentistry, Dentistry Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Can a Great Smile Increase Your Net Worth?

December 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment

If you’re already a billionaire, your smile probably isn’t going to influence your income much at this point. But … since most people reading this aren’t billionaires, then lets’ take a look at just how influential a smile can be.

Do you ever see a winning candidate anymore with a bad smile?

What about successful Hollywood actors?

The new standard for smiling influences just about every area of life nowadays. It’s not just a nice thing to possess: it makes you more magnetic!

I’ve got St Louis patients in their seventies who are redoing their smiles. After all, age is completely redefined these days. Women and men who want to look more attractive to the opposite sex or maintain their appearance for professional reasons understand that they can’t let their smile deteriorate.

Even the look of dentures is becoming passé. Seriously … with implant technology, you can have a dazzling smile at any age.

Plus …. Did you ever consider the health benefits of restoring your teeth? Your chin and nose stop coming together, your chewing function is restored to normal which is a huge influence on your digestion and hence your health, and your jaw joints can actually function naturally, which often eliminates pain.

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Are Doctors Swayed by Big Pharma Propaganda?

October 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Seems the Massachusetts legislature has rankled Big Pharma Eli Lilly’s CEO. That state passed a ban on drug company gifts to doctors. Trips, sports tickets, expensive dinners and other perks are part of the Big Pharma sales process, which Eli Lilly’s CEO feels is responsible for educating doctors on medical breakthroughs. He is quoted: [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Dental Tagged With: , , ,

Is Your Smile Good for Business?

October 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Your smile is working for you every day … or not. It’s either inviting people or turning them away. If you’re in the business of dealing with people, you’re smile is actually an asset or liability. What if you’re in sales, marketing, public relations or customer service? Do you think getting your smile fixed would be a tax deduction?

Case in point: pharmaceutical companies have known this secret for years. Young, beautiful reps with gorgeous smiles get past the gatekeepers every time. It could be even considered that these smiles are responsible for the skyrocketing use of pharmaceuticals in this country.

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Research Reveals American Kids are the Most Medicated in the World

October 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment

A team of researchers from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands investigated prescription levels of kids in the three countries and antidepressant and stimulant use was three or more times greater in the U.S.

Researchers attributed the higher drugging rate to a larger number of child psychiatrists per capita in this country. Also, in this country there’s a higher use of two or more different psychotropic drugs for the same child in a single year. Drug advertising directly to the consumer is common in the US, but not overseas and is also thought to contribute to the higher drugging rate. Bear in mind the long term effects of raising a child on prescription drugs are not known.

Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , , ,

My 40th High School Reunion at CBC

October 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment

This past weekend I met up with schoolmates I hadn’t seen in many years. I introduced them to Martha – guys like Sam Catanzaro, who was part of a closeknit alliance of Italian kids like me. Others flew in who I hadn’t seen in decades and yet because we shared the experience of attending CBC in the 1960s, there existed an undeniable bond that erased the distance and the years. [Read more...]

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Use Less Invasive Dentistry as the First Alternative

September 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Sometimes the cause of your tooth pain is not always indicative of a clear cut procedure. Here’s a classic example of what I mean: Let’s say you bite down too hard on something and experience pain. If the dentist is too eager to do a root canal or extract your tooth he/she might miss that you just “sprained” your tooth. [Read more...]

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An Old-Fashioned, Inexpensive Gum and Tooth Remedy

September 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Some of my patients in St Louis who have been with me for a long time remember my dad, Dr. Sam Pagano, who practiced dentistry in St Louis for over fifty years. A short while ago, Dr. Sam and I were discussing long-forgotten, but effective folk remedies, when he relayed something I’d never heard mentioned in my dental studies. He told me that fifty years ago he and other dentists used tea tree oil for gum and tooth infections, swelling gums and overall gum health and that it was quite effective.

I did some research to find out more about tea tree oil. Turns out that because of its antiseptic qualities, it has many more uses than just making your gums healthy. I ordered some organic tea tree oil from Australia and will be trying it out.

I’ll keep you posted.

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Is That Physical Condition Connected To A Tooth?

September 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Back in the ‘80s St Louis dentist Dr. Pete was studying the interconnection between teeth and organs, glands and vertebrae. In a recently published book called REVITALIZE YOUR HORMONES (Wiley 2005), Dr. Theresa Dale shows a chart that enables you to trace a tooth, crown or filling that is causing pain to the organ and gland it is connected with. “If you have a dental problem like an abscess, you can easily see the relationship of that particular tooth to specific parts of your body.”

Check out the chart on pg 206 of the book or call the office and we’ll send you a copy of the chart.

Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , , ,

Hooked on Colas, Cookies or Late Night Sweets?

September 6, 2008 By Leave a Comment

If parting you from your sugar fix is like taking candy from a baby (why do they say that’s easy? Have you ever TRIED taking candy from a baby? It’s hard!), then maybe it’s not just a harmless little “treat.” Consider the following 5 Dangers of Sugar, from a list of 76, found in the book Lick the Habit, by Nancy Appleton, PhD:

1. Sugar can cause acidic saliva, tooth decay, and periodontal disease (which often leads to tooth loss).
2. Sugar causes food allergies (food allergies cause everything from skin rashes to indigestion to asthma).
3. Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
4. Sugar can increase your body’s fluid retention (Hello?? Water weight anyone?).
5. Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.

Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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