Our Dental Blog
Cosmetic Dentist serving Portland, Scarborough, Southern Maine and New Hampshire
Improve Your Smile * Improve Your Life
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
IACA Meeting
It has been quite awhile since we have had a posting on our BLOG, but we have been very busy this summer. A few weeks ago our office
team attended the annual meeting of the International Association of Comprehensive Aesthetics (
IACA) in Orlando, Florida. This organization is the leading organization in the world today that is bringing together the fields of functional
neuromuscular dentistry and the art of
cosmetic dentistry. The whole team enjoyed taking courses in all phases of cosmetic and neuromuscular dentistry. The day before the meeting Dr. Bufo was presented with an award by the
Las Vegas Institute (LVI) as the Full Mouth Instructor of the Year. This award is given to the outstanding Clinical Instructor in the LVI Full Mouth Reconstruction course. This course is a live patient treatment course where dentists from all over the world bring a bite reconstruction patient to LVI to be treated under the direction of a clinical instructor. The course has been completed by less than 600 dentists the world over and only a handful of the graduates are asked to return as clinical instructors. Congratualtions to Dr. Bufo!
posted by Mike Bufo at 11:21 AM
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Our new hygienist
Just a quick note to let you know about our newest
team member, Courtney. Over the last few years, many of our patient have become quite fond of Serena, our former hygienist. Serena decided to move to New York to be with her boyfriend, leaving a void that we knew would be hard to fill. Luckily we found Courtney, who has many years of hygiene experience and who fits right in with our practice philosophy of high quality care and personalized service. She has already attended her first course at the Las Vegas Institute to hone her skills in the latest non-surgical
laser therapy to treat
gum problems. Our patients have already given her rave reviews and I'm sure you will be pleased with the kind of care you recieve from her. Welcome Courtney!
posted by Mike Bufo at 9:27 AM
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Lumineers
Very often we get questions about "Lumineers" and if patients are a candidate for this type of restoration. A Lumineer is a specific brand of
porcelain veneer that is heavily marketed to be really fantastic because it can be done without anesthetic and without any tooth grinding. It is basically a "no preparation" (read "no tooth grinding") veneer that is made to be bonded directly over your existing tooth. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well in certain circumstances this really would be a great alternative. The only problem is that there are very few cases that would actually be ideal for "no preparation" type veneers. The ideal case would be when there are very small teeth with gaps in between. Unfortunately these cases are very rare in the cases we see when people want cosmetic dental treatment done. Most cases involve very crowded teeth and teeth that are poorly positioned and crooked. If we were to place porcelain veneers over these teeth without removing some of the tooth to make room for the porcelain, the teeth would end up looking very big and bulky. I think we all remember those cheap Lee "Press-On Nails" that you could get at dicount stores. That's kind of like what a Lumineer is like. You can press the plastic over your own nail, but it never really looks real because it just adds bulk to what is already there. So Lumineers, although the marketing hype sounds great, usually are not the ideal way to treat teeth cosmetically. When we do traditional preparation-type veneers, we remove some of the tooth to make room for the new porcelain.. The bad news is that it means we have to use anesthetic and we have to do some tooth grinding. The good news is that we always try to remove the least amount of tooth necessary to create the ideal cosmetic result desired. And this way the tooth always ends up
looking and feeling natural, without the excess bulk and thickness that a Lumineer can create. Check out our web site for some examples of how veneers can improve your smile. Or feel free to call for a free cosmetic consultation.
posted by Mike Bufo at 2:56 PM
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Case of the week:
This is a case that we just completed this week for one of our patients.
This is Janice who came to our
office because her teeth were worn and discolored, making her appear older than she really felt.
After treatment with upper
porcelain veneers, her smile is brighter, without the worn edges and her appearance is much more youthful that it previously was. In fact, we told Janice that it looked like the person in the before photos could be the mother of the person in the after photos. This simple treatment took years off of her appearance.
If you are interested in finding out more about porcelain veneers or any other of today's options for cosmetic dentistry, feel free to call to set up a
free consultation.
posted by Mike Bufo at 10:43 AM
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Teaching at LVI
I am typing this as I sit in a class on the fourth day of a course I am helping instruct in Las Vegas., Nevada. 5 or 6 times each year I am lucky enough to be able to travel to the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies
(LVI). LVI is the premier post-graduate dental teaching institute in the world today. I have been a clinical instructor here since 2001 and help teach other dentists how to provide the latest in cosmetic dental treatment. This particular course is focused on restoration of teeth with
esthetic fillings,
porcelain onlays and metal-free
crowns. There are 57 dentists and their teams from all over the US, Canada and the world (3 or 4 from Australia) here to learn how to improve their level of care for their patients. Even today these techniques are not routinely taught in dental schools. Many of these dentists (their ages range from 26 to 66 in this course) have never done these types of restorations, even though they are routine in my office. During the course they do live-patient treatment on the patients they bring from their own offices. The courses I instruct in range from this most basic to smile design and smile makeovers all the way up to full mouth reconstruction for
TMJ patients. I'm sure that many people give these doctors a hard time about a "trip" to Las Vegas, but the truth is that these courses are expensive and challenging. The doctors need to close their practices for a week, spend money on the course fees, travel, hotel and meals for themselves, staff and patients. All of this to spend 7:30am to 6:00pm every day learning and practicing new procedures so they can go back and improve their care for their patients. If you are looking for a great dentist, look for one of these LVI-trained dentists. They are truly the most caring dentists you will ever find and can provide care advanced far beyond the "average" dentist. Or visit our office. We help train the best dentists in the world, so you can experience world-class dentistry in your own backyard.
posted by Mike Bufo at 7:47 PM
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Welcome to our Blog
Good afternoon and welcome to our brand new Blog! Over the next few weeks and months I will be posting news of our practice, helpful information for patients and some examples of the kind of treatment available at our office. Feel free to return often to see what is going on in our office and to learn more about all of the wonderful advancements in
cosmetic dentistry and
TMJ treatment. Or visit our
web site anytime to find the answers to your dental questions. Or
e-mail me personally anytime. Talk to you soon!
posted by Mike Bufo at 1:59 PM
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Welcome
Welcome to our blog. Please come back soon to read more information about cosmetic dentistry.
posted by CrystalY at 12:07 AM
