The Best Dentistry Ever!

Best /best/ adj. 1. Of the most excellent, effective or desirable type or quality.

What is the BEST dentistry?  And where can you get it?
 
These two questions are important, and lucky for you, easily answered.  What is the best dentistry and where can you get it?  At my office of course! Wink, wink.  Completely kidding, I swear.  Seriously, I’m totally kidding.  So what’s the answer?  The best dentistry you can ever receive is……. No dentistry.   Want even better news?  Where can you get the best dentistry?  You don’t need to go searching for it.  You already have it, you were born with it (in most cases, excluding rare genetic and development influences). Wait, What?!.  Did a dentist just say the best dentistry is no dentistry?  Yep, I did.  But let me clarify.  When I say dentistry, what I’m talking about is irreversible work a dentist does to your teeth like fillings, crowns, root canals, implants, periodontal surgery.   I’m not talking about preventative care like regular cleanings, fluoride treatments, sealants, having braces to align your teeth in better positions for cleaning.  Is all this work needed, absolutely!  Many dentists around the world, including myself, do this work daily because there is such a need.  But, the point I’m trying to make is most of us (all but a very small percentage) are born with the best.  Naturally. 
 
We are extremely lucky in this country to have access to amazing dental technology.  We can even replace individual teeth now with dental implants (I have one!).  But hands down nothing is as good as your original teeth.  Every time a tooth gets a filling or a crown or has a root canal it gets weaker from a loss of natural tooth structure.  Also, everything has a life, everything breaks down.  Meaning, once you have a filling, that filling will breakdown in the future. It will need to be replaced.  Your crown will eventually breakdown, as well as your root canal, your implant, and all dental work will need to be replaced in the future.  This leads to a cycle of needing work and then replacing that work once it starts to break down.  Again, this work is vital to keeping our teeth for a long time, and it’s inevitable that at some point in your life you will probably need some dental work.  But less is more.  If you can delay your first filling until you’re 22, as opposed to 7, then you’re buying longevity of your natural teeth and pushing out the eventual breakdown even further.   None of our fillings or crowns or even implants are as good as natural teeth. 
 
It gets better, we know how and can prevent the need for ever needing dental work.  If, at starting from a young age, you visit the dentist for regular cleanings, expose your teeth to the recommended amount of fluoride, get sealants and brush your teeth daily we can almost guarantee you will not need extensive dental work throughout your life.   The less dental work you need throughout your life because your teeth and mouth are healthy, the better for your teeth, the better for your overall health, and the better for your wallet.
 
In the following posts, I’m going to clarify the different parts of our mouths, talk about their importance, and explain how you can preserve those amazing natural teeth we're given for free!