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AUS to LAX: Nobel Bicoare Symposium 2014

user@domain.com — 2014-07-22T07:32:02-05:00

I just returned from a fantastic educational symposium hosted by Nobel Biocare in Los Angeles this past weekend. Show casing clinical work in advanced prosthetics and implant surgeries, this symposium re-energized my love for everything titanium! Fantastic cases and techniques were on display during sixteen hours of lectures that Dr. Widner of Widner OMS and I enjoyed. It was truly a pleasure to be invited as a guest to this event and even more gratifying to see lectures relevant to everything we do with dental implant prosthetics here at 38th Street Dental and Widner OMS. Everything from All on Four bridges to Snap On dentures was featured during two days of fantastically produced Audio/Visual information. Thanks to Chris Dubois, Alan Prewitt, Guy Orton, and Jill Vennes of Nobel Biocare for opening the door of this event to me!

Lecture!

user@domain.com — 2014-05-28T13:23:27-05:00

This past week I traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas at the invitation of Nobel Biocare to make a two hour presentation on dental implants in the general practice. It was such an honor to be asked to teach other doctors about our application of dental implants at 38th Street Dental. I felt like I was well received and enjoyed good interaction with the attending restorative doctors. I look forward to sharing more with my profession in upcoming dates around the state!

2014 Bicon VIP Meeting

user@domain.com — 2014-04-02T13:22:29-05:00

I had the distinct honor of being asked to present some of the reconstructive work that Dr. Steve Widner and I have been working on this past weekend at the 2014 Bicon VIP Meeting in Boston. Hosted at The Harvard Club, the event as attended by over 200 surgeons from Europe, Canada, the United States, and South America. It was a two day symposium presenting the latest research on both biomaterials and biologic considerations for the Bicon dental implant.

My presentation was concerning the failure of an implant supporting one of the "All on 4" prosthesis like you see advertised on television. The loss of one implant can cause the loss of the whole prosthesis which makes this a very interesting topic for those of us involved in full arch restorations. I was pleased to be received as positively as I was and proud to demonstrate the creative thinking we employed to save a very expensive prosthesis. Said one participant,"this was a very clever means to save the prosthesis!"

Austin Dental Implant Group Presentation

user@domain.com — 2014-03-18T08:51:04-05:00

Austin Dental Implant Group Presents

James K. Mah, D.D.S.
Director of Advanced Education Program in Orthodontics
University of Nevada at Las Vegas

Dr. Mah will present "Dental Misadventures in 3-D". The presentation will discuss 3-Dimensional Imaging using Cone-Beam CT (CBCT) and illustrate the need for advanced imaging with a variety of patient mishaps involving localization of impacted teeth, endodontics, TMJ and implantology.

So I'm off to listen to a great presentation on the use of 3d imaging in dentistry and it is my favorite kind of presentation. It is a lecture on "mishaps". Yes, we have mishaps in dentistry just like every other profession. It is my strongly held belief that these "mishps" are the most instructive experiences we have as professionals. It is the work that does not produce a routine or expected result that teaches us the most in life so I am very excited to go learn from those that have experienced the inconveniences of the unexpected.

Next week I am off to Boston to attend a two day meeting on Bicon dental implants and to make a presentation at that meeting on a case that did not go so right…but had a happy ending. I'll share more about that next week.

Restorative Driven Implant Failure

user@domain.com — 2013-10-21T07:59:00-05:00

It is not often that I attend a lecture that I leave and continue to think about over the weekend. Not only that, but that I beleve will actually change the way I practice moving forward. Well, I attended such a lecture last Thursday night hosted by Nobel Biocare. On top of that, I had the pleasure of having Ms. M. Flenniken-Searcy, my fantastic chairside assistant, in attendance with me. Ok, enough fluff, what did this lecture deal with…hold on to your hats, CEMENT! Yes, a two and half hour lecture about the evidence Dr. Wadhwani has collected on the dangers imposed by certain luting resins used in dentistry today for our implant restorations.

Dr. Wadhwani is a prosthodontist from Seattle, Washington who has spent years collecting data on different cements used in implant dentsitry and their role in failures of dental implants. I was espicailly intetrested in this lecture because of its focus on failure. I beleive that success is not instructive and we only learn from failure and that is why I made it a priority to attend this lecture. Needless to say, it was time well spent. Bottom line is that I will be adjusting some of my technicques and protocols relating to cementable restoraitons with dental implants. In addition, I will take a few of the prosthetic ideas shown in his lecture and work to perfect their delivery here in my practice.

Dr. Wadhwani presented a case showing his ideas on how to develop a cementable abutment where no marginal interface is subgingival and yet, the margins are not visible either. The abutments were customized with pressable lithium disilicate ceramic to allow for the crown margins to meet above the free gingival margin. Amazing stuff!

So I will get to work on this stuff for my next anterior case and meanwhile, if you are interested, check out Dr. Chandur Wadhwani's article on the Nobel Biocare website about the Rules of Engagement for Dental Implants:

Rules of Engagement

Bicon Lecture by Dr. Meek

user@domain.com — 2013-10-11T06:26:08-05:00

I had the privelage and honor to be invited by Bicon Dental implants to make a presentation in on the Practical application of Bicon Dental implants this past evening here in Austin. This marks the third time that I have been able to share with my peers the great surgery of Dr. Steve Widner and the cool restorations we have been able to produce using this innovative implant system. My lecture show cased the Bicon Trinia CAD CAM Metal Free Trinia Bridge, a Trinia Locator Overdenture, and a Full Maxillary Rehabilitation we completed with multiple implant systems and conventional fixed dentistry.

I have really enjoyed the last 18 months of work with Bicon. Their product stands by itself in the market place and in many cases makes implant dentistry possible where other systems either fail or require much more extensive surgical work to make fixed teeth possible. I am excited to begin work on my next presentation to include work with a failed implant and what we have done to preserve the bridge it supports. More to come! Here are some of the highlights from last night's lecture:

Not Implants, but a nice case nonetheless!

user@domain.com — 2013-10-03T10:57:18-05:00

Four Front Teeth Makeover!

A few years back a young lady presented to my office with an incomplete orthodontics case and I referred her to Dr. Randy Kunik to complete her care. Several Invisalign trays later, she had a straight set of choppers and a nice smile, but her front teeth were a little high in miles and needed a makeover to cover the stained bonding and fillings. We recently completed that case and I am happy to share the before and after photos. The ceramic work was eMax by Michangelo Studio in California. I really appreciate their attention to detail and quality!

Before

After

Nobel Biocare and Dr. Melanie Robinson

user@domain.com — 2013-08-12T07:56:54-05:00

Dr. Melanie Robinson, a long time referral of 38th Street Dental, is a fabulous periodontist here in Central Austin. I have enjoyed working with Melanie about eight years now and was so glad to receive an invitation to her implant meeting last Thursday night. Sponsored by Nobel Biocare, Dr. Robinson hosted an event with five mini meetings in her office. Each of the meetings dealt with some area of implant dentistry and it gave our small groups of 5-6 practioners an opportunity to talk about what works in our hands and tips and tricks that help with some of the challenges we face when working with implant dentistry. The two hour workshop was a nice way to end the week and to get to talk about my favorite type of dentistry…dental implants!

Thanks Melanie!!!!!!

Modern Implant Dentistry with Nobel Biocare

user@domain.com — 2013-07-23T08:50:25-05:00

With a lull in summer dog training due to the now etreme temperatures, it made sense to accept the invitation from Nobel Biocare to spend a morning listening to a practioner from Chicage talk about his applicaiton of Nobel Biocare implants. It was a lovely event hosted at the Westwood Country Club here in Central Austin. It was also nice to see that the techniques and procedures taught at this class are pretty much what Dr. Tasch and I are already doing here at 38th Street Dental with the Nobel system.

Implant dentistry has become part and parcel of our everday practice. In fact, I would much prefer to restore badly damaged teeth with the modality of extraction and dental implant over the historically conventional restoration of root canal therapy and crown. Not always, but in more and more cases, this is really a more cost effective and reliable means for rehabilitation. So, if you are checking up on me by following this blog and have a missing tooth, please come on in and talk with me about a better long term solution to a missing tooth!

Zimmer Dental Traebecular Metal Implant

user@domain.com — 2013-06-19T10:00:39-05:00

Zimmer Dental is another one of the implant companies that Dr. Tasch and I work with on occaision. We spent the afternoon yesterday hosted by Zimmer Dental so that we could learn more about a new line of dental implants that thier company is offering. Called the Traebecular Metal Implnat, it is remarkable in that we can place a final restoration as soon as four weeks after placement. This is 3-6 months less healing time than with standard titantium implants and offers a choice for patients that want an acclerated case result. Just one more tool in the tool kit for me, the restorative dentist and another example of how the art and science of implant dentistry is changing. Below is a video by Zimmer Dental showing off thier cool new implant!

Case Presentation in Boston

user@domain.com — 2013-05-01T07:40:56-05:00

I recently was invited to present the work I have been doing with Bicon dental implants at the Bicon World Headquarters. I traveled there with about twleve dentists and surgeons to present a handful of cases the Dr. Steve Widner and I have completed over the last year. It has been a great introduction to the system and I am sold on the products benefits. It was a great honor to be asked to share our work with other doctors from across the country. The powerpoint slides of the presentation can be seen here on our website:

Bicon Presentation

Bicon Trinia Overdenture-A First in the U.S.!

user@domain.com — 2013-06-01T07:29:31-05:00

I have been working closely with Bicon in Boston for over a year now and have enjoyed deploying their product line on a range of dental implant cases. Most have been the usual one or two teeth cases which at this point are all but a usual day at the office, but there have been a handful of exceptional cases relating to the challenges faced by patients that have undergone radiation treatments for head and neck cancer. Recently, I completed one such case using the Trinia composite product from Bicon. Trinia is a metal substitute and I had the pleasure of delivering the first, yes, first Trinia fabricated implant supported overdenture in the United States. Pretty exciting stuff espeically since the patient loves her twon new sets of teeth. So, here's the case…The pictures below show a totally implant supported Trinia bridge in the upper arch. It is not removeable and does not rest on the patient's tissues. She does not remove it at night and she can eat anything, yes, anything she wants with it! In her lower arch, there are two implants with the little gold snap fixtures, called Locators, that allow her lower Trinia Overdenture to snap in and be secure on her lower jaw bone. So far, very few sore spots in this oral cavity that is so friable and tender that sometimes, just looking at her tissues can cause a sore spot.

This is a very special case and we achieved a very special outcome for the patient. I think that we will be finding opportuntity to do many more cases like this in the future as this product represents a significant improvement over the solution offered by the All on Four procedure seen advertised all over the television and print media. It was a privelage to get to deliver the first Trinia Overdentrue in the U.S.!

Back to School-Two days with the Academy of Osseointegration

user@domain.com — 2013-03-12T13:28:08-05:00

Dr. Steve Widner and I popped over to Tampa, FL last week to spend two days digesting the material presented by the Academy of Osseointegration at their annual meeting. This is a place where the heavy hitters in the implant community come together to show their hardware and present research that has been in the making for sometimes up to 15 years. We spent Thursday morning in corporate forums looking at the current offerings from companies like Nobel Biocare, Straumann, Zimmer, and Dentsply. Lunch came and went and with Starbucks in hand, I managed another four hour general assembly presentation on the everything from fifteen year survival rates on dental implants to tissue stability studies related to facial plate thickness over implants. Basically, technical and surgical data to help further develop my point of view as a restorative dentist.

We did not see much new from the AAOMS meeting we enjoyed so very much last December, but it was good to go and spend time reviewing the current state of CAD/CAM digital dentistry as that is the next step we are going to be taking here at 38th Street Dental.

Dr. Meek Presents at a Bicon Meeting

user@domain.com — 2013-02-26T07:25:13-06:00

Dr. Steve WIdner hosted an Introduction to Bicon Dental Implants meeting last night at the Three Forks downtown location. Dr. Drauseo Speratti from the Bicon World Headquarters flew in to deliver a two hour lecture on the Bicon system. As you may know, Dr. Tasch and I were early adoptors of the Bicon system last year and in cooperation with Dr. Widner, we have restored well over fourty of these units since last April. We have enjoyed some very nice case results and Dr. Widner invited me to present a handful of our cases to the group. It was such an honor to tapped to show off the great surgical work that Dr. Widner has delivered for my patients and the caese were well received by the twenty five general dentists in the audience.

I am very excited about this implant system. Bicon has developed a restorative protocol that is simple and appears in both research and my wet fingered practice to deliver consitent and stable results that will likely function for many many years to come. These dental implants are the smallest on the market and are applicable to many dental situations where other systems will not work. If you are reading this, have missing teeth, want teeth, but are afraid of what you have heard about dental implants, please take a moment to consider coming and talking to me about this great system.

I'm off to Tampa, Florida next week to the Academy of Osseointegration meeting to continue feeding my passion for dental implants.

Best regards,
Dr. M

Medical Talk Tuesday

user@domain.com — 2013-02-13T08:35:03-06:00

I spent this last Tuesday evening with Janine Ray of North Austin Massage, Molly Johnson of the Integrated Motion Studio discussing Temporomandiublar Disorder and treatment modalities related to myofacial pain the the TMJ. The meeting was hosted and moderated by Ms. Pamela E. Ferguson and Insturctor of Asian Bodywork Therapy. We met at Satay in North Austin for two hours of talk about an issue that can be very difficult to manage. Chronic TMD is a persistent and frustrating condition that many suffer from either from chronic parafunctional behaviors or secondary to injuries like whiplash from auto accidents. With many paths to resolution it was a real treat to visit with practioners of other treatment modalities and talk about situations where each might be most helpful to our patients.

Coming up in the next two months are the Academy of Osseointegration Meeting in March and another trip to Boston to train at the Bicon World Headquarters. Stay tuned!

American Association of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgeons Dental implant Meeting

user@domain.com — 2012-12-02T07:46:05-06:00

Two days of REAL continuing education. I shot up to Chicago last Thursday with Dr. Steve Widner to attend what I believe was some of the best lectures on the current state of high tech dental implant techniques and restorative procedures. Seriously, this was outstanding material that reminded me of how remarkable the reconstructive care we are offering in cooperation with Dr. Widner really is. I also realized that we are rapidly moving towards digital restorations in conjunction with the digital imaging we are already doing with our case planning thanks to 3D Cone Beam CT technology. Below are some photos I took with my iPad show a brief glimpse of the sort of things we listened to at this fantastic research based meeting. Thank you Dr. Widner for making this meeting available to me, the restorative dentist!

Bicon Dental Implant for Austin Cyclist

user@domain.com — 2012-10-23T10:11:58-05:00

Bicon Dental Implants Produce Natural Lower Front Teeth for Austin Cyclist

As you may know from reading my blog, Bicon Dental Implants are becoming a bigger and bigger portion of my practice. I wanted to share this case since I have not shown off many Bicon dental implant cases to date. Yale, a long time patient here at 38th Street Dental, showed up one day with broken lower front teeth. No, he did not have a biking accident. Instead, his roots had been damaged by a process called external resorption. In the radiograph shown below, you can see the holes in the roots of two of the lower front teeth. This is not a decay process, but a reactive process that we see very commonly in daily practice. Check out the radiograph:

The problem with external respiration is that we are unable to fix the damage caused by osteoclasts in the periodontal ligament and the only choice is to remove the teeth and place dental implants. With Bicon dental implants, this is a very plausible scenario. So in the photo below, you can see his two Bicon dental implants along with the restorations seated on them. These photos were taken about six weeks after placement and demonstrate how nicely we can help a patient recover from the devastating effects of external respiration. Congratulations Yale! Your smile looks great!

Nobel Biocare Locator Denture Attachments with Widner OMS!

user@domain.com — 2012-10-18T10:20:22-05:00

Melissa Flenniken and I spent last Thursday night in a small meeting hosted by Dr. Steve Widner and Chad Mueller of Mueller Prosthetics. Our purpose…to review the very cool attachment system by Zest called a Locator. We have already delivered well more than a handful of dental implant retained dentures here at 38th Street Dental and love the Locator system. It and the traditional ball attachment give us great options to provide retention for dentures that is so good you can pick the patient up by the plate and give them a good shake! Just kidding, but if you are suffering with loose dentures and can't eat, these dental implant solutions offer a tremendous, life changing, improvement in your function. With as few as two dental implants, a denture can be secured for function. With four dental implants, which is ideal, we can make that plate rock solid in the arch and give a denture wearer great confidence and comfort when using their dentures.

Fun Day with Ultradent

user@domain.com — 2012-09-19T10:17:00-05:00

My clinical staff approached me several months ago about attending a seminar put on by Ultradent. We attended this meeting last Friday and enjoyed a day of speakers talking about tooth whitening and preventive dentistry. It was a nice break from dental implants and technical restorative dentistry. Along the way, someone snapped this little iPhone pic of us.

One heck of an outcome!

user@domain.com — 2012-08-23T09:11:17-05:00

I can't believe I didn't take a good preoperative photo on this case! So what you are looking at here is the shade photo and two post op photos of an implant supported crown for a fella's front tooth. Can you tell which tooth is the prosthetic tooth? Most of my dental friends are having trouble picking out the "falsy" so if you are uncertain, then the answer is the one one the right! Special thanks to Michaelangelo Studios in Los Angeles, California for their outstanding work on this case. This patient was in an auto accident and lost his front tooth just before immigrating to the U.S. I was so proud to provide him with this truly outstanding result. Congrats Keith!

PreOp Shade Photo taken for lab support

Post Op-Implant tooth is on the right!

AACD-Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Accreditation Journey Begins!

user@domain.com — 2012-06-28T16:33:36-05:00

Yes, member….so if you have been following my blog, you'll remember that I attended my first AACD annual meeting in May. The purpose of the trip was to get a feel for this professional organization and see if I had any interest in pursuing their accreditation track. Well, I was so impressed that I did some brushing up on my dental and aesthetics knowledge in between the required introductory classes, I threw the dice on the written accreditation exam. Let me tell you, this was one tough exam! I left it thinking…oh well, I have a year to study for this thing!

So I had basically written off the exam and of course, I had the Fellowship award from the AGD on my mind for June. Fast forward to Monday of this week. Riding the little wave of joy from the weekend trip to Philadelphia to receive the Fellowship award, I was surprised to see a thick envelope from the AACD land on my desk. Notices of failure are in thin envelopes. Organizations never send a consolation prize so seeing a thick envelope made my heart pound with excitement! Nervously I tore into the envelope to read a letter of congratulations from the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry notifying my that I had successfully completed their written accreditation exam!

So what's next…clinical cases. That's the challenge associated with this education opportunity. It isn't just about book smarts. Yes, I passed the exam. Yes, I studied. Yes, it was hard, but what comes next is even better…learning by doing and by receiving criticism from dentists that have made it through the Academy's school of hard knocks in accreditation.

I will be watching for good cases coming through the office in the upcoming year to begin developing my case reports on the five types of restorations I need to submit to complete my accreditation. I"ll keep you all posted and perhaps even publish photos of the cases while we refine them so you can see what I am up to in the world of cosmetic dentistry. Until then, have a great summer.

Best regards,
Dr. Meek, DDS, FAGD

FAGD Award - Philly and Back in a weekend!

user@domain.com — 2012-06-25T07:56:52-05:00

Sheri and I jetted up to Philadelphia this weekend for the AGD annual meeting and award convocation. Below is the press release related to receiving my FAGD award:

Austin Dentist Receives 2012 Fellowship Award from
the Academy of General Dentistry

CHICAGO (June 26, 2012)—The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), a professional association of more than 37,000 general dentists dedicated to providing quality dental care and oral health education to the public, is pleased to announce that C. Mike Meek, DDS,FAGD of Austin, Texas received the association’s 2012 Fellowship Award during the AGD 2012 Annual Meeting & Exhibits, held June 21 to 24, in Philadelphia.

The Fellowship Award is presented to dentists who seek to provide the highest quality of dental care by remaining current in their profession. To accomplish this goal, Dr. Meek completed 500 hours of continuing dental education, passed a difficult comprehensive exam, and fulfilled three years of continuous membership in the AGD.

As a recipient of the Fellowship Award, Dr. Meek joins growing ranks of AGD Fellows who understand that providing great smiles and good oral health for their patients are the result of going above and beyond basic requirements.

“We are proud to honor Dr. Meek for his commitment to the profession,” says AGD President Jeffrey M. Cole, DDS, MBA, FAGD. “He has distinguished himself professionally among his peers and is a role model to both fellow dentists and to the members of the community.”

Dr. Meek graduated from University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio in 1997 and currently practices dentistry in Central Austin at 38th Street Dental. When asked about the award, Dr.Meek responded, “For me, education and the pursuit of a greater understanding is the key to maintaining my enthusiasm for helping people and their smiles. Achieving this recognition simply acts to further energize my passion for dentistry!”

About the Academy of General Dentistry
The Academy of General Dentistry (AGD) is a professional association of more than 37,000 general dentists dedicated to providing quality dental care and oral health education to the public. AGD members stay up-to-date in their profession through a commitment to continuing education. Founded in 1952, the AGD is the second largest dental association in the United States, and it is the only association that exclusively represents the needs and interests of general dentists. For more information about the AGD, visit www.agd.org.

Bicon Dental Implants in Austin

user@domain.com — 2012-05-17T07:25:13-05:00

Dr. Steve Widner hosted a three hour lecture by Dr. Drauseo Speratti from the Bicon Institute last night. It was a nice refresher on the Bicon system and Dr. Speratti provided an overview of this clever implant system and also showed us some cases and uses of Bicon implants that were not covered at the three day meeting I attended last October. As I use this system more and more, I like it more and more. The simplicity and conservative nature of these short implants is very attractive for use in reconstructing patient's function. The biology of reconstruction is never straightforward or simple so having a system that in a great number of instances "cooperates" with the atrophic ridges and ever present sinus structures is a wonderful thing. Seriously…our biggest challenge with implant dentistry is having enough osseous structure left at a site after the ravages of periodontal disease or trauma. Having an implant system where the fixtures are 1/2 the size of other implants is a SERIOUS ADVANTAGE.

Dr. Widner and I have planned and placed over twenty of these implants to date. I have begun restoring them and have been please with the outcomes. So bottom line is that I believe that this tool has a place in my armamentarium and I look forward to applying the Bicon system to more advanced and more complex cases moving forward.

American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Scientific Conference

user@domain.com — 2012-05-04T07:55:43-05:00

I flew up here to check out this organization. As I shared in January, I have been looking for the next challenge in dentistry to help keep things interesting around 38th Street Dental. Well, I have found it. The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) is a large group of quality minded dentists AND lab technicians. I spent three days looking at work and listening to speakers talk about contemporary aesthetics and realized that I WANT to learn from this group. I got so excited that I spent one afternoon taking their written accreditation exam and hopefully, in July, I will learn that I passed the exam.

So at the end of three days of school, I can honestly say that more great things are to come in my search to learn more about delivering fantastic and in some cases, unbelievable dentistry. Stay tuned!

Then Naturally Aging Dentition…Mother Nature Makes Them Crowd!

user@domain.com — 2012-04-13T05:48:39-05:00

Dr. Randy Kunik hosted an event last night for about thirty dentists and specialists to talk about why teeth crowd. Almost daily, patients ask me, "Doctor, my teeth have shifted just a little. Is that going to get worse?" Well, according to Dr. Kunik, and I agree, yes, once the shifting begins, it accelerates and worsens more quickly over time. I had never really given it a lot of thought, but Dr. Kunik sure has. He suggested that for those patients concerned about crowding, we should consider fabricating them a set of retainers to wear once a week to prevent crowding and continued collapse of those pearly whites! What an a-ha moment! Seriously, this makes complete sense to me and for years I have simply had nothing productive to suggest for this concern that many of my patients express.

So here is what those little retainers look like:

We can fabricate a set of these for you to wear once week for just a couple of hundred dollars. So for modest fee, you can protect that orthodontic investment and keep your smile looking young, vital, and perfect!

Feeds and Dust-TImes are a Changin'

user@domain.com — 2012-04-09T05:45:59-05:00

I have kept this blog now for over a year and simply relied upon my patients to stumble upon this little newsy bit on our website. From time to time, one of you will comment that you found it and liked that I share what I am up to professionally. Well, if you really like it, you can receive updates from this blog by subscribing to the RSS feed that I recently setup and listed with Feedburner. So go ahead, click to the right and add the RSS feed URL to your browser, iGoogle, or your reader service, and you'll receive each and every update immediately after I post!

If you have been by the office in the last fews weeks, I'm sure you have noticed the construction going on around the front desk. We are preparing to tear our the old admin station and install the new admin desk and make room for a new operatory. We are planning our big demo day for April 20th and I am so excited to get on with expanding our physical plant. By the middle of May, we are hoping to be ready to have new equipment installed in the operatory and be ready to handle emergency and limited care issues out of this new bit of clinic real estate. Meanwhile, please excuse our dust!

Best regards,
Dr. M

FAGD…It's official! I'm headed to Philidelphia!

user@domain.com — 2012-03-21T13:26:12-05:00

I received notification just yesterday. The Academy of General Dentistry approved my application for the Fellowship Award. If you have been following my little doctor blog, you'll understand that I am very excited about making it across the finish line of this goal I set in October 2010. The process involved lots of lectures and travel without my honey to not so ideal metropolitan areas, but I brought a lot of good information and education back to the practice. Since taking on this project, I have added invisible braces to our practice, increased delivery of "no prep" veneers, begun to address oral pathology in office versus referring out, increased the quality of the endodontics delivered, and begun delivery of moderate complexity periodontal surgery. All of this stems from taking on a greater understanding of current treatment modalities and techniques.

I plan to continue accumulating additional hours of education in the upcoming months. As I have shared previously, I am investigating fellowship with the Academy of Cosmetic Dentsitry so stay tuned! Meanwhile, I'm headed to Philly to accept the FAGD award in June!

Academy of General Dentistry: The Expansion of the Esthetic Vision

user@domain.com — 2012-02-23T05:53:27-06:00

I spent Friday as the guest of Randy Kunik, orthodontist, and Steve Widner, oral surgeon, at the Sarver lecture here in Austin. Dr. David Sarver is a widely published orthodontist that focuses on the esthetic aspect of orthodontics and its relationship to restorative and cosmetic dentistry which, as you know, I am very interested in. We spend so much time focusing on the specific procedures relative to what we do as restorative dentists that it was good to hear about cosmetic dentistry from the perspective of another specialty. If you have ever visited with me about cosmetic dentistry, I have likely shared with you that most cosmetic issues are not just about the teeth and Dr. Sarver spent the day talking about just this: the multidisciplinary nature of well designed cosmetic dentistry.It was a very nice day of good information from a real student of dentistry. It was also wonderful to have this opportunity right here in North Austin at the Pickle Campus. Thanks to the AGD and Steve Widner for the opportunity!

A New Year Brings a New Challenge

user@domain.com — 2012-01-10T09:10:25-06:00

The New Year always makes us stop and think about what we would "like" to become in the next year. With the completion of the Fellowship award from the Academy of General Dentistry, I feel like its time to look for another educational challenge. In thinking about the kinds of issues that my patients consider important, aesthetics and cosmetic dentistry comes to mind first. In realizing that, I have found an accreditation program through the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentists that seems to mesh well with my interests in dentistry, the issues that are important to all of you that support me here at 38th Street, and my desire to challenge myself professionally. So, it looks like the next three years will be directed towards that end.

The accreditation is very challenging. Only a handful of dentists in the Austin metro area have managed to complete this program because of its massive number of case requirements and testing. I am hoping to stike hard at the educational aspect of this in May and then work steadily towards the fifty case submissions over the course of the next two to three years. There will be opportunities for those of you in my care to help and when those times present, I'll reach out and ask for willing participants.

Here's a link to there site:

Back From Boston and Two Days with Bicon!

user@domain.com — 2011-09-27T07:23:31-05:00

Bicon Dental Implants...I spent an afternoon with them back in May and realized that perhaps this "outside the mainstream" style dental implant stood further investigation. Through the summer, I did additional reading and had more than one conversation with my favorite implant surgeon, Dr. Steve Widner, about this protocol and product. We concluded that additional education was in order so on Sunday morning, well before daylight, Dr. Tasch, Dr. Cash, Dr. Root, Dr. Loveless, Dr. Widner and I boarded planes to fly to Boston to the Bicon World Headquarters. It was a very full two days of titanium implants, surgical protocols, and restorative procedures injected with good fellowship and one good meal at a fabulous steakhouse in Boston.

The Bicon system is know as the "short dental implant". It is very appealing to me because it allows us to place dental implants at sites that would normally require bone grafting and sinus lifts to allow for the normal 12-14mm long dental implant to be placed. This eliminates some significant cost to having an implant, eliminates additional surgery, and opens the opportunity to replace teeth to a much larger cohort of the population.

I am pleased to report that my first Bicon case was placed just last week and that my second case is in line for placement in the upcoming weeks. That is how cool this style of implant is! Much less risk in placement and little need for grafting or sinus lifts. If you need a tooth replacement there is just not much to say no to here with the Bicon short implant!

Before you check out the video, I want to thank Dr. Steve Widner for inviting me to attend the Bicon seminar with him. Dr. Widner is a tremendous asset to my practice both with dental implants and also with all my surgical needs and I can't imagine practicing without him on my team.

Here's a video to watch about the process:

Local CE-Sybron Endo and Root Canal Therapies!

user@domain.com — 2011-06-12T17:04:46-05:00

I know, I know...you would rather __________ than have a root canal. Well, I don't disagree, but there are times when it just has to happen and Dr. Tasch and I enjoy the challenges of endodontics. On Friday, we ventured over to Round Rock to attend a course hosted by Sybron Dental. Sybron is one of the two top names in endodontic equipment and the company does an outstanding job of providing evidence based education for dentists. Our speaker was a endodontist from Houston that had some really great, down to earth, recommendations on how to succeed in an area of dentistry that typically only has about an 80% success rate over time.

By the end of the day, we had reviewed diagnosis, procedure planning and delivery, and also performed "root canal therapies" using the most up to date equipment on extracted teeth we brought from our practice. It was a great day of dental continuing education here in Austin and I really enjoyed having Dr. Tasch along.

I'll be taking a break from dental education over the summer, but I am already planning a trip to Boston in September for a restorative course on the Bicon Dental Implant system. I will be a two day, intensive course on the ins and outs of putting teeth on their unique product.

Until then, have a safe summer and let's hope I don't get an opportunity to show you my cool endodontic skills in the meanwhile!

Dr. M.

The Texas Meeting-The Texas Dental Assoication Annual Meeting

user@domain.com — 2011-05-06T17:04:09-05:00

Each year, dentists in Texas flock to San Antonio for three days of continuing education. I was right in there with them for three classes. Thursday after working the morning at the office, I pointed my VW Touareg south and made it for an afternoon class on local anesthesia for difficult to get numb patients. Most all of you are what I call a cheap date at the dentist. One or two injections and we can work all day on you without any "ouch" events. Unfortunately, there are great number of people in the world that don't enjoy this sort of confidence. Due to variations in neuroanatomy, they often have had to endure dental procedures with only partial numbness. That just doesn't work for me and I have always worked for better and more reliable local anesthesia techniques. This course was all about that! Three hours of reviewing the anatomical variants and how to handle them so that the hard to numb patients can look forward to working with me. I love when I finish a procedure and the patient tells me that that was the first time they have had treatment that didn't hurt! Talking about good for your ego!

On Friday morning, I attended a class on oral surgery techniques. It was a hands on class where we gloved up and extracted teeth, performed mock "biopsies", flap procedures, and frenectomies, on pig mandibles. Yes, that is correct, pigs parts! It was a great technique review course and the three hours flew by as be elevated, sutured, excised, and extracted teeth and tissue of these fresh from the market pig jaws. I was pleased with the review and happy to report that I didn't learn much of anything new, just received reinforcement that the way I do things operatively is A-okay!

Friday afternoon was a bit more dry: Lithium Disilicate restorations(LD). LD restorations are all the rage in restorative dentistry today. The material is tremendously more strong than the porcelain you are used to having on your crowns and there is no ugly metal substructure to make that black line along the gums. I have placed many of these restorations and spent the three hours in this course to just pick up a few more facts and techniques relating to this material.

All things told, all three courses were really great to continue reinforcing the work we do at 38th Street Dental. The tools that are available to us as practioners are more and more specialized and diverse and I absolutely love it! Take a look at the "Real Cases by the Doctors" page to see some of the cool work that we are up to day to day at the office and don't be afraid to come in and talk with me about what we can do for you and your oral health!

BICON-Short Dental Implants...What?

user@domain.com — 2011-05-04T17:03:37-05:00

Short dental implants....it is sort of an idea that runs counter to conventional thinking about what a site needs to be successful with a titanium dental implant. I had to go to this course. Wednesday afternoon found me sitting in Salon D at the Hilton next to Austin's Convention Center. The speaker was a doctor from Germany and he presented a ton of data relating to the clinical success of the Bicon Dental Implant system, and although I am not interested in the surgical placement of implants at this time, the system did demonstrate another way to get the same fantastic result that we have been delivering with the conventional length dental implant systems.

I'm not entirely certain that this product is exactly the right thing for wide spread, universal application, but it does offer us one more choice for challenging cases where a patient has been without teeth long enough that mother nature has resorbed most of the jawbone leaving us little osseous structure to place an implant. Because of this, I give it a thumbs up!

Here's a little blurb and video from their marketing materials:

The Bicon System is a unique dental implant system, offering the worldwide dental community a comprehensive solution since1985. Bicon’s engineers and clinicians have been responsible for many of the innovations in implant dentistry for decades. Bicon’s unique plateau design follows sound bioengineering principles which allow for the use of SHORT® Implants. Its unique bacterially-sealed, locking taper, implant to abutment connection provides for 360 ̊ of universal abutment positioning— offering restorative flexibility unmatched by other implant systems. The sloping shoulder of the Bicon implant consistently provides for gingivally aesthetic restorations. These restorations are easily achieved because the bone that is maintained over the shoulder of the implant provides support for the interdental papillae. Bicon’s unique design and its revolutionary clinical techniques have not only passed the test of time, but also continue to lead the field of implant dentistry. We welcome your joining Bicon clinicians from around the world, so that both you and your patients may also enjoy the clinical benefits of Bicon.

Dental Lasers-Standard Proficiency-The World of Laser's in Dentistry

user@domain.com — 2011-04-15T17:03:01-05:00

It was time to get back on the road for a little more class work in lasers so Thursday afternoon found me driving back to Houston. I have been involved with lasers in dentistry going on five years now, but you can always learn something new. Two days of lecture and hands on work with diode lasers will definitely allow me to bring another pearl back to the practice and Dr. Coluzzi and Dr. Hoopingarner, the course instructors, are some of the most well know names in laser dentistry education. I'm talking about real fun here folks!

Seriously though, I couldn't practice without my 980nm Sirolaser. The surgical control that use of a diode laser doing both soft tissue cosmetic work and the day to day crown and bridge makes great outcomes easy to achieve! My patients get to enjoy excellent crown fit, healthy gum tissue, and faster/less painful recovery times. In addition, my crown procedures are about twenty to thirty minutes faster than they were when I used to prepare for a final impression with the conventional cord packing method.

One of the most interesting aspects of this two day class was a presentation by one of the associate professors there at the UT Dental Branch. Dr. Patel spoke on Low Level Laser Therapay(LLLT). That is a big old bunch of doctor talk for using light to accelerate healing. It is also known as "Photobiomodulation." This particular area of laser application is useful for things like treating apthous ulcers so they won't hurt during their seven to ten days of healing. It is also useful for desensitizing exposed root surfaces, but may also be used for managing facial pain.

I have treated a handful of cold sores and sensitive roots with our 980nm Sirolaser over the last few months and in every instance, we have improved the situation for patients. I have struggled to understand HOW this works and have even frustrated a couple of previous speakers trying to get a simple explanation. Well, Dr. Patel helped me understand more fully the mechanism by which radiating a lesion with collimated light works. This is a very exciting and intriguing aspect of laser dentistry for sure!

So next time you are in the chair and we hand you those funny dark green glasses, know we are working right on the cutting edge of soft tissue management, we are going to get a great result, and we are going to do it a lot more quickly than we did five years ago!

Here's the course description and a little bio about the speakers:

Course Description
Drs. Coluzzi and Hoopingarner will present lectures about laser fundamentals, tissue interaction, and safety as well as include a review of currently available instruments. Numerous clinical cases demonstrating soft and hard tissue procedures with several different lasers will be shown, and there will be a discussion of the benefits, advan- tages, and limitations.
The workshop sessions will use short demonstration methods and extensive hands-on procedures using several dif- ferent laser instruments. Participants will be guided in performing a variety of dental laser applications on pig jaws. For the dentist we will cover soft tissue surgery, soft and hard tissue crown lengthening, and tissue manage- ment for final impressions and tooth preparation with an Erbium laser. For the dental hygienist we will cover how to perform laser assisted Phase I periodontal therapy and special emphasis on procedures where lasers can be used to replace or supplement traditional dental instruments. We will cover procedures that are within guidelines of the TSBDE position statement approved on April 16, 2010 regarding the use of Lasers by Dental Hygienists. A wide variety of lasers will be utilized, including: Diode(s), Er:YAG, ErCr:YSGG, and Carbon Dioxide.
A Clinical simulation examination will be given and preparation material for the Academy of Laser Dentistry Standard Proficiency examination will be presented.

Juliana Barros, DDS, MS, received her doctorate degree from University of Uberaba, Brazil and her post-graduate training in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Michigan, School of Dentistry. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston where she co-designed and co-directed an elective summer laser course at the University of Texas Dental Branch.

Donald J Coluzzi, DDS, is a 1970 graduate of the University of Southern California School of Dentistry, retired from private practice after 35 years, but he continues as an Associate Clinical Professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry. He holds Advanced Proficiency certificates and Mastership from the Academy of Laser Dentistry.

Charles Hoopingarner, DDS, is a 1973 graduate of The University of Texas Dental Branch at Houston. He has maintained a private practice in Houston Texas since 1973. Dr. Hoopingarner is an adjunct Associate Professor at UTHSCH for eleven years and a Clinical Instructor at the Las Vegas Institute since 1997. He holds advance and standard proficiency certification by the ALD, is a Master of the Academy of Laser Dentistry.

Shalizeh Patel, DDS, received her degree from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School. She is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Dental Branch at Houston in the Department of Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials. Dr. Patel co-designed and co-directed an elective summer laser course.

Lumineers-The No Tooth Reduction Veneer

user@domain.com — 2011-03-14T17:02:25-05:00

I left from work Thursday evening to drive to Houston and attend a two day course on "Lumineers". As you may know, we place Lumineers here at 38th Street Dental and with each case I deliver, I grow to like the product more and more for veneering teeth. DenMat, the company that owns Lumineers, has really done a nice job of offering us a number of options for conservative, no tooth reduction or limited tooth reduction, veneers. With little or no grinding on the teeth, patients can have straight, white teeth. This two day course examined preparation, case submission, trouble shooting, and biomaterials involved in delivery of dental veneers for conservative cosmetic dentistry.

If you are interested in this patient friendly and practically reversible procedure, please call us and set up a consultation. I can even show you a real live example of Lumineers because one our office administrators recently asked me to Lumineer her smile and we completed her veneers case in the last week. When you hit the front door, ask Tina to show off her smile!

CPR Update

user@domain.com — 2011-02-23T17:01:51-06:00

We had Mark G. of CPR Resources in the office today for our biannual CPR review. It has been fun to watch the American Heart Association revise the guidelines for how to revive a person in serious trouble. Nowadays, the AHA says we just need to compress that chest til EMS arrives! Research has shown that the need for the "mouth to mouth" stuff is unecessary...just keep their heart pumping!

I'm also proud to report that 38th Street Dental now has a Zoll Automatic External Defibrillator in the office along with state of the art pulse oximetry and blood pressure monitoring equipment. We are ready if that unspeakable event occurs in our office.

Las Vegas-Nobel Biocare/Widner OMS Implant Symposium

user@domain.com — 2011-02-18T17:01:16-06:00

I was invited to attend a Nobel Biocare sponsored event in Las Vegas, Nevada with several dentists from here in Austin. We spent the better part of two days discussing the challenges of delivering both surgical and restorative care with dental implants. It was a wonderful event in a truly incredible setting. I managed to stay away from the casino and kept my head in the academic game both days and came away excited about the level of implant care we have been delivering in our practice and also about some additional procedures that I want to deploy with my patients. Dental implants are truly the best we have to offer in prosthetic care in dentistry and they have become an almost daily part of our general practice. If you are missing teeth or know someone who is, please, tell them about my passion for this procedure and have them come visit with me.

Okay, nothing else of my CE calendar for the next few weeks. I spent a few minutes at a couple of little meetings in Austin over the last two weeks, but have run out of events to attend. I'm looking forward to the Texas Meeting in San Antonio in May. If there is something you'd like me to go learn about, shoot me an email and I'll see if I can find a course!

Best regards,
Dr. Mike

Greater Houston Dental Meeting

user@domain.com — 2011-02-07T17:00:36-06:00

Wednesday of last week found me loading up the truck and heading to Houston in the face of the coldest front we have seen in a good while. I checked into the Hilton next to the George R. Brown and spent the next two days immersed in all the in's and out's of enteral conscious sedation. The course was a two day, 12 hour certification course to allow for permitting to sedate with oral meds in combination. We spent hours talking about medical emergencies and how to handle them. Drugs to administer, drugs to avoid, drugs to avoid in combination. You name, Dr. Luce talked about it. By five o'clock Friday evening, we were all saturated in the nuances of benzodiazapines and narcotics!

Due to the horrible ice storm, I elected to spend one more night on the twenty second floor of the Hilton and attend another class on Saturday morning. Now this was truly a light study class....Dr. Rod Kurty speaking about his Kor Bleaching system. It was fun to see a doctor that has been successful in whitening teeth and hear about his experiences. Be sure to ask me about it if you are considering an in office procedure here in Austin. I think I'll provide some info that will cause you to pause!

So noon time Saturday rolled around and I hopped into my truck and hurried back on dry, safe roads to my honey!

Southwest Dental Conference

user@domain.com — 2011-01-17T16:59:56-06:00

Now that the holiday season is over, it is time to get back to continuing education. I left for Dallas last Wednesday afternoon to attend lectures on a variety of topics. Thursday found me listening to speakers report on the current trends in rotary endodontics. That is root canal therapies and how to do them faster and better than we have been. This is an interesting area of dentistry because no two teeth are alike when you go to save them from extraction.

On Friday, I spent the day learning about one of my current favorites in daily practice-LASERS! I currently use a 980nm diode laser for managing soft tissue issues during surgery and I am constantly looking for expanded applications for this fantastic tool.

Saturday morning found me sitting in a lab class where we worked with denture impression techniques. Dentures are another interesting area of prosthetics and Dr. Strong brought some fantastic observations and techniques to teach us about making complete prosthetics more successful.

My next trip is first week of February to Houston for the Greater Houston Dental Meeting. I'll be taking a two day course on enteral sedation. Until then, I look forward to seeing you at the office!

Utilization of the 980nm Diode Laser in Dentistry

user@domain.com — 2010-12-04T16:59:13-06:00

Friday the third found me up early and on a plane to Dallas for a day long presentation about the use of diode lasers in dentistry. Topics ranged from basic laser safety to Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedures and their delivery using a diode laser. We rounded out the day doing "pretend" laser surgeries on pig mandibles and I hopped on a 6:00 plane to race home to my honey. We have been using a 980nm laser in the practice for the last three years and this course shed light on some of the issues surrounding expanded use of our SiroLaser for periodontal treatments and even reduction of pain from apthous ulcers!

Hurray! Passing Score on the Fellowship Exam!

user@domain.com — 2010-11-03T16:57:59-05:00

I spent Wednesday afternoon at the Prometric Testing Center in Pflugerville taking the Academy of General Dentistry's Fellowship Award examination. It was 252 questions from sixteen areas of dentistry in the form of compound true/false and multiple-multiple choice questions. Talking about a real brain teaser! After about two hours of grinding through all the questions and tapping into knowledge I stored in the old noggin years ago, I clicked "finished" on the computer screen and reported to the front desk for results. I was elated to learn that not only did I pass the test, I passed with a wide margin! So that gets this little hurdle out of the way in my quest for the Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry Award(FAGD). Now, just 106 hours of lecture to attend and it'll be in the bag!

Fellow of the Academy of General Dentistry FAGD Exam Review

user@domain.com — 2010-10-28T14:48:00-05:00

Thursday after work found me boiling my way to Dallas for a two day, intensive review course on everything dentistry. Over the course of Friday and Saturday, fourteen different lecturers presented material from sixteen different areas of interest in general dentistry. By 5:00 Saturday afternoon, I was in information overload, but felt good about the time spent. With another week of review, I should be in great shape to smash the FAGD accreditation exam.

Clear Correct Invisible Braces-An Alternative to Invisalign

user@domain.com — 2010-10-08T14:48:00-05:00

I jumped on a plane this last Saturday morning at 6:50 am and flew to DFW where the Houston based, Clear Correct Orthodontics company, was holding a course on use of clear aligner therapy in orthodontics. Who likes brackets and bands anyways? So after eight hours of somewhat entertaining information, I'm home with lots of good info about straightening teeth without brackets or bands. This is a new product to compete with the widely know Invisalign and I am very happy to be able to delivery this less expensive alternative. Give us a call to learn more about clear braces!