Asheville Dental Care

I love being a dentist, and I love the way new technology (especially this new Facelift Denture) is transforming and expanding the profession.  Just this week, I had the most amazing experience, a new patient who was so motivated and excited about how we can work together to transform her smile, her looks, and the way she feels about herself.

My patient, an attractive older woman, has had six dentures made in the last eight years.  Trying, with no success, to find a denture that would function, be comfortable and look great. No matter what she tried, nothing seemed to work.  Either the denture didn’t fit correctly or it left her with that “denture look”.  You know the look, sunken face, droopy smile and thin lips. A look that unfortunately, made this otherwise attractive and outgoing woman, look old and act extremely reserved.

She had seen my interview on WLOS ABC Television, regarding the facelift dentures and called our office immediately.  During her appointment, I sat down and took some time to get to know her; trying to get a handle on what was most important to her, and what she really wanted out of a denture.  What I discovered, was that my new patient had a passion for life, and a desire to get back into it.  She wanted to look, what in her mind, was attractive again, and she wanted to feel confident both in her ability to enjoy a meal with her friends and engage in conversation without feeling self-conscious.

Now when I say attractive, understand that anyone can give you straight white teeth with a denture,  but unfortunately that is not enough to give you back your vibrant smile and feeling of confidence.  What I am talking about and what the facelift denture can do is, in addition to giving you straight white teeth, it can actually restore the youth and vibrancy to your face, much like a facelift.  For example, the intricate techniques give us the skills to restore your lips their normal position, we can reestablish the distance between your nose and your chin, and actually ease the wrinkles around your eyes and lips and get the strain out of your face.  The extensive training we receive to do this innovative procedure, does so much more for our patients than just renew their smiles.

Which leads us back to my wonderful patient, and what we were able to do for her and for her smile?  She walked into our office, defeated by both her experience with traditional and economy dentures and the belief that she would have to live this way the rest of her life.  She walked out of our office, once again the vibrant, attractive woman she had always been, with a denture that not only fit great and was far more comfortable, but with a denture that gave her back her full lips, her youthful face, and beautiful smile.

Yes I love my job, and I love the new technology and the way it is transforming the dental industry.  We invite you to explore the new face of dentistry; if you want to learn more about facelift dentures, CEREC, or the new advancements with dental implants, visit our website www.AshevilleDentalCare.com or give us a call 828-274-3882.

My wife and I were both traveling in California last week.  She is out here speaking and consulting and I am visiting dental practices looking at technology, systems and processes, as well as possible new procedures we are thinking of adding to our practice.

One of the offices we visited, insisted we take a side trip while we were there to the San Diego Zoo; an amazing place if you have not been. It is arguably the best zoo in the country. While we were touring around, looking at the monkeys, pandas and everything else they have in there, we wondered into the section on Africa. Now I will have to admit this section was quite amazing, home to the more popular creatures such as tigers and elephants, but also home to some of the most unusual and interesting animals and birds, most of which I had never seen or heard of before.

As we strolled through the Condors and read about the efforts to save the giant birds from extinction, I noticed the exhibit of the bones and remains of the dinosaurs and mammoths that used to roam the country. These creatures were massive, it is hard to believe they used to inhabit this earth, let alone believe something that big could just disappear. The size of their heads, the length of their bodies and oh yes, the size of their teeth, they were massive creatures and impressive to look at.

My wife took a photo of one of their teeth to show our staff the unbelievable size and shape. As I looked at the photo, it made me think about how important their teeth were to their existence, and I had to wonder what it cost one of these massive creatures in terms of ability to eat and survive when and if a tooth went bad or fell out. I mean really how important are, teeth right? For most of us, we never even think about it, we take our teeth for granted just always assuming they will be there, and they will be working just fine.

Truth is – that is no where near accurate. Teeth are very important and you need to take care for them, because you really need them. Your teeth are vital for your health and longevity.

Teeth enable you to:

1. Chew – to be able to chew our food properly and easily so we can eat the healthy foods we love and digest them properly.
2. Look Great – your teeth are critical to how attractive you look for yourself and others
3. Keep a Steady Jaw– they keep you jaw steady, your gums in place and your jawbone strong
4. Retain Bone – when you lose teeth you lose bone, and that distort the shape of your face. Without your teeth, you lose the support for your cheeks and it actually changes the shape of your face, making your look older.
5. Smile Big – without your teeth you cannot truly smile; not the type of smile that gives you confidence and makes others happy.Yes, no matter their size, teeth are critical to your overall health and well-being, and keeping them strong is something that is fairly easy to do. Brush two to three times a day, always floss, and get regular check-ups. I have to wonder where would that Mammoth be today, had he taken better care of his teeth!

Yes, no matter their size, teeth are critical to your overall health and well-being, and keeping them strong is something that is fairly easy to do. Brush two to three times a day, always floss, and get regular check-ups. I have to wonder where would that Mammoth be today, had he taken better care of his teeth!

I am passionate about dentistry today, and as many of you have heard me say I believe this is the best time to be in dentistry. Patients care about their health, they want beautiful smiles, and the dental profession is listening and answering the call by developing and providing some of the most amazing dental technology to come along in years.

One of my favorite examples is CEREC, a CAD/CAM technology that makes it possible for us to make a crown in a single visit. Just last week, one of my favorite patients called us frustrated and worried – he had just broken tooth. Not an uncommon dental problem right? Well, this particular patient, like many of my patients, is incredibly busy. He is the CEO of a very successful company, and he travels for weeks and months at a time. Having an unplanned dental appointment was not high on his priority list. As luck would have it, he was flying in and planned to be home for just one day and wanted to know if I could see him.

When he came in, the tooth was a little worse than he had thought. It was actually broken off at the gum line, and getting his healthy smile back, with traditional technology, would be quite an undertaking. However, after determining that he did not need an implant, and we could design his crown with the CEREC, we got to work. And the patient made good use of his time, we gave him a place to plug up his computer so he could get a little work done, cleaning out his emails and answering a few phone calls -all while we got busy designing his new tooth. Ninety minutes later he walked out of our office with a new tooth and a healthy smile – with no time wasted.

Now I have to tell you, as a dentist that has practiced for more than thirty years, this is amazing technology, and technology that I cannot imagine any patient or dentist going without. CEREC is fantastic for my patients. With traditional technology, this same patient would have had to fly in, come to my office allow me to drill, and prep his tooth and make a temporary. Then he would need to wear that temporary for a few weeks, while we sent the impression to the lab and waited for them to design and make it. Can you imagine how frustrating that would have been? Flying all over the world, making presentations and representing his company, all with an ill-fitting tooth?

Next he would need to make another appointment, fly back home again, and come in for another appointment. Then wait a few more hours, while we placed and fit the actual crown. If for any reason that crown did not fit, and believe me with traditional crowns it happens, we would start the process all over again. Talk about a waste of time and money.

Yes, CEREC is amazing. For the busy CEO, business owner, young professional or retiree who just has better things to do with their time. I love CEREC, so much so that I have done more than 8,000 to date. I feel it is better for my patients from a health perspective, time perspective, money perspective, and comfort, as well as peace of mind.

We would love for you to stop by and see this amazing technology, just give us a call 828-348-7663, or visit the website to see videos and here testimonials, www.AshevilleDentalCare.com .

Thank you for choosing Asheville Dental Care
Dr. Robert Powell

Last week I was doing an interview on WLOS’s Spotlight Carolina, discussing our new dental technology and just how far dental implants have come. We were talking about the computer guided programs now available for dental implants and the 3D cone beam x-ray that makes placing dental implants simple, safe and quick. One of the questions I was asked during the interview, was how long would it take, if someone broke or lost a tooth due to an accident? Meaning how long, with our new technology, would it take to actually replace the tooth and have the patient’s tooth completely restored?
While I answered the question, and we had a great discussion, it was ironic because first thing Monday morning I walked into the office and a woman had called with an emergency, and that is exactly what happened. She was not our patient, but she had seen me interviewed on WLOS, and over the weekend she had broken her tooth.

She broke it simply eating a piece of hard bread, and while chewing her tooth just fell apart. We told we could definitely help her and to come on in immediately. We asked that she work with us on scheduling, as we were working her in, and we did have other patients on the schedule who took priority, but I promised her in a few short hours she would walk out of our office with a restored smile.
Now just like all of us, this woman was busy, and she did not have time for this dental emergency. She was in the process of moving to Asheville, was still closing on her house, selling her other house, and planning a vacation. Again, the last thing she had time for was a broken tooth, and just to make things more stressful for her the broken tooth was right in the front of her mouth. The first thing people see when they looked at her.
Luckily, due to this amazing new dental implant technology we were able to design and place her implant that morning, and place a temporary crown so she walked out the front door, in a few short hours, with her beautiful smile restored. In a traditional setting, this dental implant process could take up to six months, and on the first visit the patient would leave without either a gap in their mouth or having to where a removable partial (dental “flipper”). As many patient’s know, dental partial’s can be aggravating to deal with because patient’s have to remove them and clean them every single time they eat, and at night patient’s are required to remove the partial, and place it in a jar while they sleep. Meaning, you may have to allow your spouse or family members to see you with a gap in your mouth.
So not only did our “new” patient leave with a beautiful new smile, and the peace of mind knowing she only has one more visit in our office. Just one more visit to check the implant and get her permanent crown placed (which we will do with a CEREC in just an hour.) Again, in a traditional setting this dental implant procedure could take six months or more, and require at least six visits. With our new dental implant technology we were able to restore her smile in one visit, and we were able to limit the entire dental implant procedure to just two visits.

What we can do with today’s dental implant technology is simply amazing!

This week was an amazing week at Asheville Dental Care. We received some advanced training on implants and the use of our new 3D cone beam x-ray machine, and were able to care for a patient for whom this new technology made an important difference.

First, the Division Leader for the East Coast Region of Sirona Dental, made a special trip to our office and spent the day doing hands-on, personal training with each member of our team. We spent hours learning the incredible capability of our 3-D Cone Beam x-ray machine and just how advanced and superior this technology is in terms of providing exceptional patient care.

In addition, to learning the conventional capabilities of this new machine, we received specific training on advancements in implant dentistry. We studied a technique that would allow us to literally plan and design an implant at the same time we identify a patient is going to lose a tooth.  Now, because of this new technology, before we extract the tooth, we can literally take an x-ray, with our 3D imagining machine, and then integrate that with pictures of the patient’s tooth and our CEREC machine.

Combining these two revolutionary technologies means that a few days later, when we actually extract the patient’s tooth, we can place the implant and the crown or temporary crown immediately. This means our patients leave our office with a tooth in place, and they do not have to experience the discomfort or embarrassment of having a missing tooth.

The 3-D Cone Beam x-ray machine provides us with so much more information and knowledge than conventional x-ray machines. This knowledge means we can design a much better dental implant and, the placing of each implant becomes a much more precise and easy process.

This same week, a new patient walked through our doors that happened to be the perfect candidate for this new technology. He was complaining of pain in his upper front tooth, so we took a 3D image of the tooth.  And, from this x-ray, we could easily determine that the root of the tooth was broken in half. Ironically, the patient had previously gone to a dentist, who had x-rayed the tooth using conventional technology that did not detect the fracture in the root. We were then able to use that same cone beam image to create a surgical guide, a map so to speak, that would allow us to see just how to design and where best to place the implant.  In a few days, when we extract his tooth, because of this new technology, we will be able to place his implant and a temporary crown immediately, and the patient will be able to walk out of our office, the same day, with a beautiful smile.

Yes, it was an amazing week at Asheville Dental Care. This is a very exciting time to be in dentistry!

Dental implants have been around for years. In the past, traditional dental implants, while a decent solution, have often been a difficult process for patients due to older technologies and procedures that made implants time intensive, costly and often a painful experience. Thanks to innovative new technology, Asheville Dental Care can create a much different patient experience and a far superior result.

The new science of dental implants has radically changed how Dr. Powell and Asheville Dental care are able to place implants and how affordable they have become. Traditionally, to place an implant the dentist had to cut away the patient’s gum tissue to see where to best place the implant. This was a painful process for the patient, and still did not guarantee the dentist a strong result.

Now, with recent advancements in Cone Beam Scanning technology it is possible for the dentist to literally see through the bone in 3D. This new scanning technology allows the dentist to literally design the implant to fit the patient’s unique needs according to the amount of bone they have and the desired result.

This new technology greatly minimizes the patients risk, maximizes their result and improves their experience by:

Reducing Failure – This new technology helps the dentist understand and determine the exact size, length, and width of dental implant the patient needs. The 3D technology gives the patient and the dentist the information they need to ensure the implant will fit and work before the implant is ever placed.

Improving Appearance – Because the 3D Scanning Device allows you to see, ahead of time, where the implant will be placed and how it will look, it gives both the dentist and the patient the peace of mind that the implant will look and feel natural. It guarantees a near perfect result for patients.

Enhancing Patient Experience - Most importantly, it greatly enhances the patient experience. What used to take up to a year can now literally be done in one or sometimes two visits. The 3D Scanning device, allows the implant to be placed with no more than a tiny hole made through the gum. There is far less cutting and manipulation than with traditional implants. With less cutting, there is far less trauma and therefore less recovery and much less pain for the patient.

New technology and advanced procedures has changed the face of dentistry and dental implants. Asheville Dental Care invites you to call our office to learn more.