The general dentists and specialists at HealthPark Dentistry enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. We give bright colored carnations to our patients and Dr. Mason gives bright red helium heart-shaped balloons to the kids!

If you’re in the Tipp City and Troy OH area and love Valentine’s Day as much as we do – come see us next year on February 14th!

Dr. Charles Smith and Dr. Steve Pierson, general dentists at HealthPark Dentistry, provide a written warranty on dental treatment.

The warranty is good for all major treatment – let’s take crowns, for example. The way the warranty works is that if your crown chips or fails in some way within 3 years of placement, then the dentists will repair or replace it at no fee to the patient, as long as the patient has come in for regular checkups. This same warranty holds for fillings – and even sealants. So, for $36 you can have a sealant placed in your child’s mouth – and if it chips off, then we will replace it for you at no fee for up to 3 years!

Providing a written warranty for dental treatment is unique. Many dentists will say they stand behind their work, but we have never seen another dentist willing to put this into writing, the way HealthPark does.

So – why offer a written warranty? Dr. Smith and Dr. Pierson practice conservative, high-quality dentistry that they feel confident will last. They also want to encourage people to come in for their regular checkups - that way, they can catch a problem that is just starting - perhaps a rough edge – and that can be smoothed out, avoiding more significant problems in the future. They also realize how expensive dental treatments have become, and by offering a warranty, patients can feel more confident in investing in their mouths knowing that they won’t have to turn around in the short term and spend the money again.

For all patients at HealthPark Dentistry, if you have had dental treatment – then you have this warranty right now! To make sure that your warranty doesn’t expire, please be sure to stay on time for your regular checkups. If you’re not sure when your next due date is for a dental cleaning and exam, just call or email us and we’ll be happy to check for you!

You can’t watch an evening of TV without seeing at least one commercial selling glue to hold your dentures in!

In almost every case, the problem is the lower denture. The upper denture has several advantages:

1. The roof of the mouth is covered, which creates suction.

2. The tongue doesn’t continually move the upper denture around.

3. The upper ridge is almost always bigger than the lower and stabilizes the upper denture better.

Today, there are several technical improvements to help people wear a lower denture.

1. The teeth in the lower denture are flattened so they don’t catch on the cusps of the upper back teeth and push the lower denture side to side.

2. The back teeth are set in a slight curve to allow some overlap of the front teeth while balancing the front and back teeth so they always support each other.

3. Implants solve the problem of stability of a lower denture, but they add to the cost.

By the time people have used up their natural teeth, they are tired of the way their teeth look. In fact, they often stop showing their teeth when they smile. As a result, when it’s time to choose the teeth for their denture, they often pick perfectly white, perfectly straight teeth. The problem with this is that now everyone knows you’re wearing a denture! Today, there are several advances to help you have an attractive, natural smile.

If you have a set of dentures that don’t fit – or you think you’re ready for your first set of dentures and you live in the Tipp City and Troy OH area, you’re invited to come in and meet Dr. Smith. He has been helping people with their dentures for 40 years. It takes some adjustment to learn how to chew with new dentures – and Dr. Smith works with people for several appointments to help them make this learning curve as smooth as possible. Just call and schedule your appointment with Dr. Smith to talk about your concerns with dentures and find out how he can help you.

You can buy chocolate, gum and candy that actually help reduce tooth decay! Yes, chocolate that’s good for your teeth!!

We met Dr. John of Dr. John’s Candies at a dental conference last February and taste-tested his delicious treats – and they were absolutely wonderful.

Check out their candy store: http://drjohns.com/candystore/c-5-candies-with-xylitol.aspx  and use code AAAJ (which I think gives you a HealthPark Dentistry discount) when you purchase.

If gum is your preference, we think Epic brand gum tastes the best – plus it comes with a guarantee – if you register for their program and actually chew gum or eat candy regularly and you end up with more cavities than when you started – they give you all your money back!! I can tell you, you’ll spend less on gum & candy than you will on the smallest filling – and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the experience of gum & candy far more than getting a dental filling. Here’s the link: http://www.epicdental.com/

Here’s to sharing the gift of health to your children and loved ones this holiday!

http://yourepeat.com/watch/?v=I0s3XlZXumo

If you haven’t been to the dentist in a long time – just call us to schedule your appointment so this doesn’t happen to you!

Dr. Smith and Dr. Pierson have been successful at helping our regular patients stay decay-free. Last year, our regular adult patients were 81% decay free and our children who came in regularly were 89% decay-free. We hope to provide the same level of custom coaching to help our Amerigroup patients enjoy the same level of health.

If you know anyone that is searching for a dentist and has the Amerigroup Medicaid plan, please encourage them to call our office. If you have any questions, you can reach us at 667-2417.

It’s great to have him back home and he is opening his schedule starting Monday, January 23rd – so new patient children are welcome! As always, we recommend bringing your child in as early as age 1 so you can review your family’s oral health habits and keep your child decay free for a lifetime. Getting started right can save your child’s teeth and avoid the drama and upset of coming to the dentist for fillings and repairs. Not to mention the expense for the parents!

Starting with Dr. Mason, Pediatric Dentist who takes care of children starting at age 1 to help them grow up with preventive care and avoid cavities plus providing dental treatment for children with major treatment needs or developmental delays.

Next, Dr. Khan, Orthodontist helps children as young as age 7 with early orthodontic treatment to take advantage of their growth spurt in elementary & intermediate school to help expand their jaw so their teeth can have enough room to come in straight. He also provides teens and adults with braces to straighten crooked teeth – offering both traditional braces and Invisalign.

Next, Dr. Hayes, Oral Surgeon provides wisdom teeth extractions, implant placement and other oral surgery available under IV sedation so you can be comfortable during your procedure. Plus, Dr. Hayes is the only oral surgeon in the area providing Saturday morning appointment time – so you don’t have to miss work or school!

Finally, Dr. Hamal, Periodontist is our gum specialist and she can help you save your natural teeth. It seems unfair but gum disease and bone loss can rob you of your teeth even if you never get a cavity! For people with diabetes or other significant health issues, gum disease can be a major problem and she creates customized care to help patients keep their teeth and maintain their overall health. She also places implants and provides gum surgery to help secure teeth that have experienced bone loss.

We recently created a video to share more about each of our specialists – it’s available here: http://healthparkdentistry.com/specialists/

Dr. Khan new video

Please enjoy!

• Save the tooth with a root canal or
• Remove the tooth and replace it

Since this tooth was important for chewing, he really wanted to save it – but, he was afraid of having a root canal. He was planning to extract the tooth rather than go through a root canal because of all the bad stories he had heard. Dr. Smith (who has personally experienced root canals, thanks to his days of being the soda jerk in Tipp’s only soda fountain drugstore from 1956-1963) told him he believes these “war stories” are exaggerated. Usually a good root canal was a long, boring appointment where the patient only feels a little pressure. The patient decided he would give it a try and scheduled the appointment. Dr. Smith spent some extra time with this fellow to help him get comfortable by using laughing gas (nitrous oxide) for the first time (which really helped our patient relax and make the time pass more quickly) and that started this appointment off very smoothly. Next, an assistant started a movie and he settled in. Dr. Smith rubbed an anesthetic gel on his gums and gave him an injection to quickly numb the tooth and a second one to keep him numb for a couple hours past the appointment to protect the tooth from aching after the procedure. Our patient told Dr. Smith that he never felt the initial injection to make the area numb – and he “never felt a thing” during the entire visit!

Dr. Smith successfully completed the root canal for our patient and was pleased with the ideal result achieved.

This fellow plans to return to our office for a final filling to protect the tooth after the root canal. Generally a crown is best, but this patient was concerned with cost so Dr. Smith agreed to shorten this tooth so that the patient can’t put significant stress on this tooth – and then place a filling as the final restoration. This story is a great example of how Dr. Smith partners with patients to help them accomplish their goals – in a conservative manner.

All our dentists spend the time to get to know our patients and help them improve their dental health – in this case, by controlling the pain and anxiety during the root canal so he could save his tooth! Moving forward, this patient knows that he can trust the dentists at HealthPark to really work with him. We have the best interest at heart for all our patients for the long term.